REDESDALE BRIDGE

 

 

 The Redesdale Bridge (also known as the Mia Mia Bridge), a wrought iron and timber structure with bluestone abutments. The bridge was designed by Thomas Bingham Muntz and constructed in January 1868. 

The Redesdale Bridge is of historical and technological significance to the State of Victoria. It satisfies the following criterion for inclusion in the Victorian Heritage Register: 
Criterion A Importance to the course, or pattern, of Victoria’s cultural history. 
Criterion F Importance in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period. 

 

The Redesdale Bridge is historically significant as a crossing over the Campaspe River on an important route that linked the nineteenth century townships of Kyneton and Heathcote. The ironwork was imported from England on the Herald of the Morning and intended for a new bridge over the Yarra River at Hawthorn. This vessel and its cargo sank in Hobsons Bay in 1859, and the ironwork was subsequently retrieved and became part of the Redesdale Bridge. 

 

The Redesdale Bridge is technically significant as an uncommon example of an iron lattice triple through-truss bridge with paired arches. The bridge is one of the oldest surviving metal truss bridges in the State and is an important demonstration of early iron bridge construction techniques. Constructed of iron and masonry, at a time when most bridges were timber, it survived the devastating floods of 1870 which swept across Victoria, destroying many weaker bridges. The bridge is one of the most distinctive bridges in Victoria, located above a broad and deep river valley