First Creek Bridge, Adelaide, SA
The Adelaide Botanic Garden was established on its current site in 1854. In 1866 the Board of the Adelaide Botanic Garden purchased 34 hectares of the Police Paddock. In 1874 the second director of the gardens, Richard Schomburgk, revealed plans for the creation of a Botanic Park.
The Botanic Park included a carriageway with an avenue of the trees. The carriageway needed to cross First Creek, one of the many creeks that flowed from the Adelaide Hills and fed the River Torrens.
To cross the Torrens a bridge was constructed. Between 1876 and 1877 the board tendered and awarded a £1210 contract to Mr Anderson to construct the bridge that was supervised by C.T. Hargrave. The bridge was completed in 1879 at a cost of £1,400.
This bridge was a vertical laminated timber bridge. The use of vertically laminated timber for bridges in South Australia was used for fifteen bridges in South Australia including the Angle Vale Bridge and the Currency Creek Bridge.
The vertically laminated bridges were a response to the need for the Colony of South Australia to identify a cheap and reliable form of construction to replace the imported iron construction.
South Australia generally did not have a supply a suitable hardwood timber. Edmund Wright, engineer and architect, wrote an essay that identified laminated timber as an option.
Initially the timber was traditionally horizontally laminated, but these were found to suffer from durability issues. To overcome the exposed laminations engineers changed to vertical laminations which allowed the joints to be covered by iron to prevent ingress of water.
The original laminated timber arch bridge was replaced in 1954 with a concrete deck carried on five steel beams.
References:
Schomburgk, R “Report on the progress and condition of the Botanic Garden and Government Plantations during the year 1876” South Australia, 1877.
Schomburgk, R “Report on the progress and condition of the Botanic Garden and Government Plantations during the year 1877” South Australia, 1878.
Schomburgk, R “Report on the progress and condition of the Botanic Garden and Government Plantations during the year 1878” South Australia, 1879.
Schomburgk, R “Report on the progress and condition of the Botanic Garden and Government Plantations during the year 1879” South Australia, 1880.
Register 29 January 1886 page 7f
The Express and Telegraph 21 June 1884 page 2 “Opening of the Botanic Park Carriage Drive”
Engineering Heritage in the City of Adelaide – a self-guided tour covering some of the city’s heritage” The Institution of Engineers Australia, undated
Kemp, DC; Pickles, JM; and Ward, RA, “Adelaide – Engineering and Industry – A guide to aspects of our engineering and industrial heritage in the City of Adelaide", Engineering Heritage Branch, Institution of Engineers Australia South Australian Division, March 1992.
Stacy, B and Venus, R “Bridging the Torrens: Pre- and post- Federation Technologies” unpublished.
“Heritage of the City of Adelaide – Botanic Gardens and Precinct” City of Adelaide, undated
