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Railway Bridge

Location McIvor Road BENDIGO, GREATER BENDIGO CITY Level Included in Heritage Overlay

[1/1] Bendigo Railway station c1891

Statement of Significance

The historic importance of the Echuca Railway hinges on the number of extant structures dating from the opening of the fine. They include the Elmore / Elphinstone design for station buildings, which is peculiar to this line, and the number and diversity of examples of the Carlsruhe group of buildings. The line also includes the largest and most spectacular collection of early stone and iron viaducts. The use of available local building materials adds interest to these structures. The construction of the line during the 1860s is the further interest in that it reflects such strategic economic issues of the day as that of providing a rail outlet for the lucrative river trade of the north-western plains and the New South Wales Riverina. The construction of the railway line and associated works, as the largest building enterprise in the colony at that time, was the focus of the battle for improved working conditions and the venue in 1859-60 for a strike against the principle of sub-contracting, for the direct importation of indentured German masons to undercut locally established conditions and rates of pay, for a partial alliance between German and local masons and for the final collapse of the established level of wages.3