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Bet Bet Bridge

Other Name Nat Trust Timber Bridge Database No 0299 Location Bet Bet Creek crossing, Marybourogh-Dunolly Road,, BET BET VIC 3472 - Property No B7030 File Number B7030 Level Regional

[1/2] B7030 Bet Bet Bridge [2/2] B7030 Bet Bet Creek Crossing

Statement of Significance

The Bet Bet Bridge is historically significant at aregional level.
It is situated at what has been an important main-road crossing place since goldrush days, and is apparently only the second bridge built at the site around which the township of Bet Bet grew up. The once-thriving little township of Bet Bet which was built on gold mining and agriculture and road traffic is no more, but the old timber bridge survives as a significant reminder of the settlement that was created around its predecessor.
The current bridge's main claim to historical significance is that it is the only known surviving Victorian example of a large timber bridge to have been constructed during the difficult days of World War 2, when materials and manpower became extremely difficult to access,and when bridge construction generally was put off until better times. It was the final project in the construction of the first bitumen motor road between Maryborough and Dunolly. When the war ended, Victoria faced a new set of transport challenges which would translate into new bridge-construction technologies, so that the Bet Bet Bridge is very likely to have been the last example of a large bridge constructed to the post-1930 timber-bridge specifications of the Country Roads Board.
Classified: 08/11/1999