|
|
One takes off for points south, these days with a choice of either the highway or the Lakes Way and despite a few rough spots here and there stands a good chance no matter what the weather of reaching a destination southward of our starting point. But there was a time when travellers rang the Police Station at Nabiac and made distinct inquiries of the state of the water over the causeway. The Wallamba (or to name it correctly - the Wollamba River), is no huge waterway as we find in some of the land's rivers. But, there was a time, and not that far back when a rise in the stream of but a foot or so would effectly cut the stream of traffic until the water fell again.
Back in the 1860's, the crossing of the river at Clarkin's Crossing or Clarkson's Crossing was not of great importance except to those few hardy settlers who lived on its opposite side from the depot where goods were either sold or bought. A few were inconvenienced by the fluctuations of the river. As we have said before times change and needs alter, and thus it was in September 1958, not quite a year before we had our own miracle bridge officially opened, that some 5,000 people gathered by the river to watch Mr. Sherrard, Commissioner of Main Roads officially open a bridge which, in that day cost round $320,000, over the Wallamba. It is 668 ft in length and 24 feet wide and consists of "six steel girder spans each of 56 feet 8 inches long at the southern end, two steel truss spans each 120 feet long over the main channel and one steel girder span of 56 feet 8 inches at the northern end, the deck being of reinforced concrete". You and I and a million others have blithely rolled across this structure at speeds of all degrees of hurriedness and probably never spared a thought for what it means.
It is there, it works, and in a flash in our journey it is passed, but next time you cross this structure give a thought to the situation back in the early days, Carmichael (who by the way was little more than just a Government surveyor, for we find that he was Henry Carmichael, M.A., J.P. of Seaham), waded across the stream, his son-in-law William Henry Ralston McClymont drove his bullock teams across much as we see on our picture, and Clarkin, Joe Franklin, Donald McKinnon, George Riley, John Dargaville (although John did arrange his own -"Dargaville's Crossing") a little further up stream, George Greenaway, James Nixon, the Allways, Meads, and a host of others edged their bullock drays down the embankment and across the stream back years ago.
Later came the work of gathering rocks and building a causeway above the bed of the stream and thus made crossing a little easier. But that was where it stopped until the powers that be were of a mind to re-align the Pacific Highway from inland route through Taree, Wingham, Krambach, Gloucester, Bulahdelah and over the mountain to Booral, and follow a route through Nabiac. Came the concept that a coastal scenic route was preferred and so the present line of the Pacific Highway was developed, but it seemed that it rained quite frequently, the river rose, and then traffic either stood still or was re-routed back over the old route, which in places had fallen into some disrepair - a not very satisfactory arrangement. So one can imagine that apart from the 5,000 who observed the opening ceremonies and those who attended the celebratory dinner there were regular travellers from far and wide who expressed some pleasure at the opening of the Nabiac Bridge.
|
|
Copyright © 2002, Great Lakes Historical Society Ltd, C/- Great Lakes Museum, Capel Street, (P.O. Box 23), Tuncurry, New South Wales, Australia, 2428. Original content in these Web pages is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be produced by any process or any other exclusive right exercised without written permission from the copyright holder. |
