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Ambyne Bridge - Deddick River Crossing

Location Beside junction of Ambyne Settlement Road and Bonang/Gelantipy Road,, DEDDICK VALLEY VIC 3888 - Property No B6797 File Number B6797 Level State

[1/1] B6797 Ambyne Bridge

Statement of Significance

The Ambyne Bridge is historically and scientifically significant at the State level. Opened in 1935, it is a unique surviving exmple of a Country Roads Board suspension bridge constructed for vehicular traffic. It is one of only two surviving Victorian examples of suspension bridges constructed for vehicular traffic, and its interesting combination of suspension and truss main span and simple-beam approach span is unique in Victoria. It modifies traditional colonial pedestrian suspension-bridge design to suit motor-vehicle use, by a clever use of Pratt-type through-trusses to provide essential rigidity and stability. This bridge belongs to the period of pioneering closer settlement in north-eastern Gippsland, having been expressly constructed to service settlers at the recently-created Ambyne Settlement. Its mode of construction, and the nature of material used, were largely determained by the historic flood that hit the Snowy River watershed in 1934, destroying large and important river bridges at Orbost and at McKillop's Crossing. Steel and timber from a temporary suspension bridge erected on the Princes Highway at Orbost, and from the wreckage of the original McKillop's Bridge, were "recycled" in the Ambyne Bridge. Persistent floods had rendered the previous ford at the site untenable, and the debris-strewn mountain torrent necessitated a long-spanned high-level structure. The bridge's high-country setting on a mountain stream adjacent to the picturesque and historic McKillop's track tourist route, enhance its intrinsic aesthetic qualities.
Classified: 03/02/1997