BRIDGE OVER MERRI CREEK

The Merri Creek Bridge was built by Pentridge Prison labour for the Coburg District Road Board. It was commissioned in 1870 and completed in 1871. Bluestone for the large single span bridge was extracted by prisoners from a quarry situated within the penal reserve but outside the walls of the prison. The bridge was constructed during the short administration of Claude Farie, the fourth Inspector General of Prison Establishments, and formerly Sheriff of Melbourne. Farie died in August 1870 before the bridge was completed, and his name is memorialised on the foundation stone. In 1962 the bridge was doubled in width on the north side by the Country Roads Board.

Why is it significant?

The Merri Creek Bridge on Coburg's Murray Road is of architectural, historic and scientific importance to the State of Victoria.

How is it significant?

The Merri Creek Bridge is historically significant for its association with Victoria's Pentridge Prison. It was built during a phase in Victoria's penal history when prisoners were employed outside the prison walls on quarrying and construction works around Melbourne. It is one of the few public structures built by Pentridge Prison labour that is known to survive.

The bridge is also of historical significance for its association with the short administration of the fourth Inspection General of Prison Establishments, Claude Farie (c.1817-70), whose name is carved into the foundation stone of the inside north parapet wall.

The bridge is architecturally and scientifically significant for its 25.9 metre single span, making it one of the largest, segmental, single arch stone bridges in Victoria, and the largest known bridge to be built by prison labour.

Group

Transport - Road

Category

Road Bridge