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Tragedy Bridge over Pyramid Creek

Other Name Brick Kilns Bridge Location Lower Loddon Road,, KERANG VIC 3579 - Property No B6925 File Number B6925 Level State

[1/6] B6925 Tragedy Bridge 1996 [2/6] B6925 Tragedy Bridge [3/6] B6925 Tragedy Bridge deck [4/6] B6925 Tragedy Bridge 2009 [5/6] B6925 Tragedy Bridge [6/6] B6925 Tragedy Bridge side view

Statement of Significance

What is significant? Tragedy Bridge is a very rare surviving large all-timber shire road bridge, dating from 1927 and in unusually authentic condition. Built to the standards of the early motor age, it has eleven spans, transverse-timber decking with longitudinal running planks, and wooden rails. The deck is 67 metres long, 4.8 metres wide. The bridge features round log-stringers and corbels, with the outer edges of those situated on each side of the bridge being squared-off for aesthetic purposes.
The bridge has been by passed.
The name refers to a tragic incident during construction: the contractor completing the timber side-rails allegedly was attacked on site by an aggressive rival bearing an adze, and retaliated, with fatal results.
How is it significant? Tragedy Bridge is significant for technical, historic and aesthetic reasons at the State level.
Why is it significant? Tragedy Bridge is historically significant as the only known surviving substantial Victorian shire bridge dating from the 1920s. It retains intact a wide range of original timber features.
Tragedy Bridge is of technical significance as an intact shire bridge of the 1920's. The systematic squaring of the external faces of round stringers and corbels represents typical practice for the 1920's, as do the spiking planks over stringers and the transverse-timber deck with longitudinal running planks. The bridge also retains traditional timber piers and abutments, timber gravel beams and timber side-rails.
Tragedy Bridge is of aesthetic significance, featuring squared side-beams and corbels and a lengthy transverse-timber deck with running planks. It is in a quiet rural setting on a country road traversing the lower Loddon River Valley.
Classified: 03/08/1998