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159-574: The Prince Alfred Bridge is a wrought iron truss and timber beam partially-disused road bridge over the Murrumbidgee River and its floodplain at Middleton Drive, Gundagai , Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council , New South Wales , Australia. The heritage-listed road bridge was designed by William Christopher Bennett and built from 1864 to 1867 by Francis Bell . It is also known as Prince Alfred Bridge – Iron Road Bridge and Iron Bridge over Murrumbidgee River at Gundagai. The iron bridge

318-532: A British patent for a configuration of repetitive equilateral triangles that could support a road on either its top or bottom chord. Warren's name became synonymous with this form. The first major spans using this configuration were built in England, and English construction firms built prefabricated versions for use in the British colonies, especially India. Thomas Kennard then applied a more detailed analysis of

477-524: A bar, expelling slag in the process. During the Middle Ages , water-power was applied to the process, probably initially for powering bellows, and only later to hammers for forging the blooms. However, while it is certain that water-power was used, the details remain uncertain. That was the culmination of the direct process of ironmaking. It survived in Spain and southern France as Catalan Forges to

636-514: A capacity of 20 people. There was also a cabin. The minister onboard, Rev. William Bussell, doubled as captain. On 16 August 1898, Etona arrived at Renmark , where the Bishop of Adelaide , Rev. Dr. John Harmer , held services the following Sunday with the assistance of Rev H M Wylie. In September of the same year, the service due in Holder on the 18th was suspended due to the vessel grounding on

795-582: A carbon content of less than 0.008 wt% . Bar iron is a generic term sometimes used to distinguish it from cast iron. It is the equivalent of an ingot of cast metal, in a convenient form for handling, storage, shipping and further working into a finished product. The bars were the usual product of the finery forge , but not necessarily made by that process: Wrought iron is a form of commercial iron containing less than 0.10% of carbon, less than 0.25% of impurities total of sulfur, phosphorus, silicon and manganese, and less than 2% slag by weight. Wrought iron

954-470: A final product. Sometimes European ironworks would skip the shingling process completely and roll the puddle balls. The only drawback to that is that the edges of the rough bars were not as well compressed. When the rough bar was reheated, the edges might separate and be lost into the furnace. The bloom was passed through rollers and to produce bars. The bars of wrought iron were of poor quality, called muck bars or puddle bars. To improve their quality,

1113-425: A foundation in coarse gravel and detached pieces of rock, the deepest being founded about 9 metres (30 ft) below low water level. After the opening, work continued with construction of the rest of the high-level bridge with work expected to finish within eight months. The second configuration of the bridge was built by the twenty-three northern approach spans being replaced by a much longer structure which spanned

1272-545: A high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales. The Prince Alfred Bridge is of state heritage significance as is an important work of a prominent designer, William Christopher Bennett, who made use of the design technology that was patented in England less than 15 years before the opening of the bridge (1853 the Warren and Kennard patent). Bennett's innovations include the support arrangements for

1431-463: A high silky luster and fibrous appearance. Wrought iron lacks the carbon content necessary for hardening through heat treatment , but in areas where steel was uncommon or unknown, tools were sometimes cold-worked (hence cold iron ) to harden them. An advantage of its low carbon content is its excellent weldability. Furthermore, sheet wrought iron cannot bend as much as steel sheet metal when cold worked. Wrought iron can be melted and cast; however,

1590-487: A joint-stock company and built a substantial three span timber bridge over the Murrumbidgee River in order to direct traffic from the surrounding districts through the town. It was reported that as a financial speculation the bridge has proved successful. A similar bridge had been erected over the Murray River at Albury . The NSW Government was forced to act in order to turn the flow of wealth towards Sydney. Not only

1749-527: A list of birds and mammals . George "Chinese" Morrison , then aged 18, navigated the river by canoe from Wodonga to its mouth, in 65 days, completing the 1,555-mile (2,503 km) journey in January 1881. Shipping cannot enter the Murray from the sea because it does not have an estuary . However, in the 19th century the river supported a substantial commercial trade using shallow-draft paddle steamers ,

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1908-434: A low scale to supply the steel to the artisan swordmakers. Osmond iron consisted of balls of wrought iron, produced by melting pig iron and catching the droplets on a staff, which was spun in front of a blast of air so as to expose as much of it as possible to the air and oxidise its carbon content. The resultant ball was often forged into bar iron in a hammer mill. In the 15th century, the blast furnace spread into what

2067-449: A lower melting point than iron or steel. Cast and especially pig iron have excess slag which must be at least partially removed to produce quality wrought iron. At foundries it was common to blend scrap wrought iron with cast iron to improve the physical properties of castings. For several years after the introduction of Bessemer and open hearth steel, there were different opinions as to what differentiated iron from steel; some believed it

2226-459: A modest amount of wrought iron was refined into steel , which was used mainly to produce swords , cutlery , chisels , axes , and other edged tools, as well as springs and files. The demand for wrought iron reached its peak in the 1860s, being in high demand for ironclad warships and railway use. However, as properties such as brittleness of mild steel improved with better ferrous metallurgy and as steel became less costly to make thanks to

2385-733: A need. A public meeting was held in September at the Gundagai Court House and resolutions from the meeting together with a subsequent petition from the district were forwarded to Sydney for consideration by the NSW Government . The river crossing had become a major obstacle for travellers and teams following the Hume and Hovell route to the Riverina and Victoria , and there had been regular petitions and deputations to

2544-557: A new town site had been chosen on the high ground north of the floodplain and its main street, Sheridan Street, became part of the Great South Road , subsequently the original Hume Highway until it was bypassed in 1977. On 30 January 1861 The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the NSW Legislative Assembly had rejected a motion for a road bridge at Gundagai due to lack of funds and lack of evidence of

2703-402: A number of both historic paddle steamers and newer boats offering cruises ranging from half an hour to five days. The Murray River has been a significant barrier to land-based travel and trade. Many of the ports for transport of goods along the Murray have also developed as places to cross the river, either by bridge or ferry. The first bridge to cross the Murray, which was built in 1869, is in

2862-603: A number of patented processes for that, which are referred to today as potting and stamping . The earliest were developed by John Wood of Wednesbury and his brother Charles Wood of Low Mill at Egremont , patented in 1763. Another was developed for the Coalbrookdale Company by the Cranage brothers . Another important one was that of John Wright and Joseph Jesson of West Bromwich . A number of processes for making wrought iron without charcoal were devised as

3021-410: A process for manufacturing wrought iron quickly and economically. It involved taking molten steel from a Bessemer converter and pouring it into cooler liquid slag. The temperature of the steel is about 1500 °C and the liquid slag is maintained at approximately 1200 °C. The molten steel contains a large amount of dissolved gases so when the liquid steel hit the cooler surfaces of the liquid slag

3180-661: A rare example of a substantial finished product produced completely by the Fitzroy Ironworks at Mittagong. The four pairs of cast iron cylindrical columns for the piers were made at the Fitzroy Iron Works in 56 sections. Each was two metres (six feet) long, two metres (six feet) in diameter, with a 29-millimetre (1.125 in) wall thickness and each weighed approximately one point eight tonnes; one point eight long tons (two short tons). They were delivered by bullock drays, although delays occurred in carting

3339-410: A refinery where raw coal was used to remove silicon and convert carbon within the raw material, found in the form of graphite, to a combination with iron called cementite. In the fully developed process (of Hall), this metal was placed into the hearth of the puddling furnace where it was melted. The hearth was lined with oxidizing agents such as haematite and iron oxide. The mixture was subjected to

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3498-426: A sandbank. During its year of launch, the boiler of Etona gave way, being replaced at a cost of £87. The Murray was plagued by "snags", fallen trees submerged in the water, and considerable efforts were made to clear the river of these threats to shipping by using barges equipped with steam-driven winches . In recent times, efforts have been made to restore many of these snags by placing dead gum trees back into

3657-559: A series of barrages was built near the Murray Mouth to stop seawater entering the lower part of the river during low flow periods. They are the Goolwa Barrage, with a length of 632 metres (2,073 ft); Mundoo Channel Barragel 800 metres (2,600 ft); Boundary Creek Barragel 243 metres (797 ft); Ewe Island Barrage, 853 metres (2,799 ft); and Tauwitchere Barrage, 3.6 kilometres (2.2 mi). These dams inverted

3816-521: A similar number of barges were working the river in season. River transport began to decline once the railways touched the Murray at numerous points. The unreliable levels made it impossible for boats to compete with the rail and later road transport . However, the river still carries pleasure boats along its entire length. Today, most traffic on the river is recreational. Small private boats are used for water skiing and fishing. Houseboats are common, both commercial for hire and privately owned. There are

3975-481: A single hearth for all stages. The introduction of coke for use in the blast furnace by Abraham Darby in 1709 (or perhaps others a little earlier) initially had little effect on wrought iron production. Only in the 1750s was coke pig iron used on any significant scale as the feedstock of finery forges. However, charcoal continued to be the fuel for the finery. From the late 1750s, ironmasters began to develop processes for making bar iron without charcoal. There were

4134-518: A spear. However, the shock to the fish was so great it launched him forward in a straight line to a place called Peindjalang, near Tailem Bend . Eager to rectify his failure to catch his prey, the hunter and his two wives (sometimes the escaped sibling wives of Waku and Kanu) hurried on, and took positions high on the cliff on which Tailem Bend now stands. They sprung an ambush on Pondi only to fail again. Ngurunderi set off in pursuit again but lost his prey as Pondi dived into Lake Alexandrina. Ngurunderi and

4293-412: A strong current of air and stirred with long bars, called puddling bars or rabbles, through working doors. The air, the stirring, and the "boiling" action of the metal helped the oxidizing agents to oxidize the impurities and carbon out of the pig iron. As the impurities oxidize, they formed a molten slag or drifted off as gas, while the remaining iron solidified into spongy wrought iron that floated to

4452-584: A strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group in New South Wales for social, cultural or spiritual reasons. The item is of state heritage significance as it has special value to the engineering profession throughout the state, as demonstrated by the Engineers Australia Historic Engineering Marker. It also has a special association with travellers between Sydney and Melbourne, having carried Hume Highway traffic for over 100 years. Since

4611-424: Is redshort or hot short if it contains sulfur in excess quantity. It has sufficient tenacity when cold, but cracks when bent or finished at a red heat. Hot short iron was considered unmarketable. Cold short iron, also known as coldshear , colshire , contains excessive phosphorus. It is very brittle when cold and cracks if bent. It may, however, be worked at high temperature. Historically, coldshort iron

4770-414: Is a more important measure of the quality of wrought iron. In tensile testing, the best irons are able to undergo considerable elongation before failure. Higher tensile wrought iron is brittle. Because of the large number of boiler explosions on steamboats in the early 1800s, the U.S. Congress passed legislation in 1830 which approved funds for correcting the problem. The treasury awarded a $ 1500 contract to

4929-612: Is a river in Southeastern Australia . It is Australia's longest river at 2,508 km (1,558 mi) extent. Its tributaries include five of the next six longest rivers of Australia (the Murrumbidgee , Darling , Lachlan , Warrego and Paroo Rivers ). Together with that of the Murray, the catchments of these rivers form the Murray–Darling basin , which covers about one-seventh the area of Australia. It

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5088-761: Is actually on the Mitta Mitta River upstream of Lake Hume (completed 1979). The Murray also receives water from the complex dam and pipeline system of the Snowy Mountains Scheme . An additional reservoir was proposed in the 1960s at Chowilla Dam , which was to have been built in South Australia and would have flooded land mostly in Victoria and New South Wales. It was cancelled in favour of building Dartmouth Dam due to costs and concerns relating to increased salinity. From 1935 to 1940

5247-520: Is an archaic past participle of the verb "to work", and so "wrought iron" literally means "worked iron". Wrought iron is a general term for the commodity, but is also used more specifically for finished iron goods, as manufactured by a blacksmith . It was used in that narrower sense in British Customs records, such manufactured iron was subject to a higher rate of duty than what might be called "unwrought" iron. Cast iron , unlike wrought iron,

5406-435: Is brittle and cannot be worked either hot or cold. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, wrought iron went by a wide variety of terms according to its form, origin, or quality. While the bloomery process produced wrought iron directly from ore, cast iron or pig iron were the starting materials used in the finery forge and puddling furnace . Pig iron and cast iron have higher carbon content than wrought iron, but have

5565-488: Is common in cast iron river piers. This does affect capacity, but is not yet causing signs of distress for this bridge. Archaeological potential is low. The integrity of the Prince Alfred Bridges is excellent. The original cast iron piers and wrought iron trusses are clearly visible. Although the arrangement of the deck has changed over the years, it is still timber as it was originally. The footway added in

5724-491: Is deceptive. Most of the manganese, sulfur, phosphorus, and silicon in the wrought iron are incorporated into the slag fibers, making wrought iron purer than plain carbon steel. Amongst its other properties, wrought iron becomes soft at red heat and can be easily forged and forge welded . It can be used to form temporary magnets , but it cannot be magnetized permanently, and is ductile , malleable , and tough . For most purposes, ductility rather than tensile strength

5883-467: Is highly refined, with a small amount of silicate slag forged out into fibers. It comprises around 99.4% iron by mass. The presence of slag can be beneficial for blacksmithing operations, such as forge welding, since the silicate inclusions act as a flux and give the material its unique, fibrous structure. The silicate filaments in the slag also protect the iron from corrosion and diminish the effect of fatigue caused by shock and vibration. Historically,

6042-589: Is known to have sold his share in the Bungaree Station , which he founded with his brothers, and relocated alongside the Murray at a site near Moorundie . In 1852, Francis Cadell , in preparation for the launch of his steamer service, explored the river in a canvas boat, travelling 1,300 miles (2,100 km) downstream from Swan Hill . In 1858, while acting as Minister of Land and Works for New South Wales, Irish nationalist and founder of Young Ireland , Charles Gavan Duffy , founded Carlyle Township on

6201-407: Is no longer manufactured commercially. Wrought iron was originally produced by a variety of smelting processes, all described today as "bloomeries". Different forms of bloomery were used at different places and times. The bloomery was charged with charcoal and iron ore and then lit. Air was blown in through a tuyere to heat the bloomery to a temperature somewhat below the melting point of iron. In

6360-450: Is no longer produced on a commercial scale. Many products described as wrought iron, such as guard rails , garden furniture , and gates are made of mild steel. They are described as "wrought iron" only because they have been made to resemble objects which in the past were wrought (worked) by hand by a blacksmith (although many decorative iron objects, including fences and gates, were often cast rather than wrought). The word "wrought"

6519-573: Is now Belgium where it was improved. From there, it spread via the Pays de Bray on the boundary of Normandy and then to the Weald in England. With it, the finery forge spread. Those remelted the pig iron and (in effect) burnt out the carbon, producing a bloom, which was then forged into bar iron. If rod iron was required, a slitting mill was used. The finery process existed in two slightly different forms. In Great Britain, France, and parts of Sweden, only

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6678-561: Is of state heritage significance as it is one of only two early Australian bridges built with Australian iron (Denison Bridge at Bathurst is the other). It is also one of only three pin jointed metal trusses still extant in NSW (the others being the Whipple truss road bridge at Nowra and the Gundagai rail bridge, no longer in use). It is a British pin-jointed truss of a type that did not appear in

6837-427: Is of state heritage significance for its landmark qualities as an integral part of the overall historic vista which includes the iron bridge, the long timber viaduct and adjacent rail bridge. These are a widely recognisable part of the built environment in Gundagai and have a place in the experience and memories of travellers between Sydney and Melbourne from its opening in 1867 until its closure in 1977. The place has

6996-412: Is often portrayed as a man) on rafts (or lala ) made from red gums and continually launched spears at his target. But Pondi was a wily prey and carved a weaving path, carving out the river's various tributaries. Ngurunderi was forced to beach his rafts, and often create new ones as he changed from reach to reach of the river. At Kobathatang, Ngurunderi finally got lucky and struck Pondi in the tail with

7155-781: Is owned by Transport for NSW and the timber viaduct is owned by Crown Lands . The bridge was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 5 July 2019 and on the (now defunct) Register of the National Estate on 21 March 1978. In 1977, the 1,143-metre-long (3,750 ft) Sheahan Bridge replaced the Prince Alfred Bridge as the Hume Highway crossing of the Murrumbidgee River. The Sheahan Bridge

7314-553: Is the border between New South Wales and Victoria – specifically at the top of the bank of the Victorian side of the river. In a 1980 judgement, the High Court of Australia ruled on the question as to which state had jurisdiction in the unlawful death of a man who was fishing by the river's edge on the Victorian side of the river. This boundary definition can be ambiguous, since the river changes its course over time, and some of

7473-488: Is the point at which the Murray River empties into the sea, and the interaction between its shallow, shifting and variable currents and the open sea can be complex and unpredictable. During the peak period of Murray River commerce (roughly 1855 to 1920), it presented a major impediment to the passage of goods and produce between Adelaide and the Murray settlements, and many vessels foundered or were wrecked there. Since

7632-605: Is the second-oldest metal truss bridge in Australia and the oldest in NSW. It formed part of the longest bridge in New South Wales (922 metres (3,025 ft)) until the completion of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932. The Prince Alfred Bridge is important in the history of the development of inland road transport and provides evidence of significant early engineering activity in the Riverina. It also demonstrates

7791-509: Is widely considered Australia's most important irrigated region. The Murray rises in the Australian Alps , draining the western side of Australia's highest mountains, then meanders northwest across Australia's inland plains, forming the border between the states of New South Wales and Victoria as it flows into South Australia . From an east–west direction it turns south at Morgan for its final 315 km (196 mi), reaching

7950-555: The Bessemer process and the Siemens–Martin process , the use of wrought iron declined. Many items, before they came to be made of mild steel , were produced from wrought iron, including rivets , nails , wire , chains , rails , railway couplings , water and steam pipes , nuts , bolts , horseshoes , handrails , wagon tires, straps for timber roof trusses , and ornamental ironwork , among many other things. Wrought iron

8109-607: The Denison Bridge at Bathurst , has the distinction of being one of only two early Australian bridges that contained Australian iron. While the iron for the piers of Denison Bridge at Bathurst was cast at P. N. Russell & Co 's Foundry in Sydney from pig iron obtained from the Fitzroy Iron Works, the cast iron piers at Gundagai were cast by the Fitzroy Iron Works from largely local iron. The piers are therefore

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8268-434: The Fitzroy Iron Works at Mittagong , using iron smelted from locally-mined ore in their blast furnace. There were 56 cylindrical castings weighing between 2.04 and 2.27 tonnes; 2.01 and 2.23 long tons (2.25 and 2.5 short tons) each - with one cylinder being three metres (nine feet) long, two metres (six feet) in diameter, with a wall-thickness of 3 centimetres (1.125 in). The columns were sunk through alluvial deposits to

8427-481: The Industrial Revolution began during the latter half of the 18th century. The most successful of those was puddling, using a puddling furnace (a variety of the reverberatory furnace ), which was invented by Henry Cort in 1784. It was later improved by others including Joseph Hall , who was the first to add iron oxide to the charge. In that type of furnace, the metal does not come into contact with

8586-634: The Nattai district, which became the Fitzroy Iron Works . The Fitzroy Iron Works were the first ironworks in Australia, but their story is one of persistent failure over half a century despite numerous and repeated ambitious, entrepreneurial and optimistic attempts. For finished products (cast or rolled), land or water transport to an English port plus sea freight to Sydney were less than the cost of cartage between Mittagong and Sydney. Pig iron, also, could not compete against British iron, mostly brought out as ballast in wool ships. The Prince Alfred Bridge, with

8745-609: The Walloon process was used. That employed two different hearths, a finery hearth for finishing the iron and a chafery hearth for reheating it in the course of drawing the bloom out into a bar. The finery always burnt charcoal, but the chafery could be fired with mineral coal , since its impurities would not harm the iron when it was in the solid state. On the other hand, the German process, used in Germany, Russia, and most of Sweden used

8904-524: The bloomery ever being used in China. The fining process involved liquifying cast iron in a fining hearth and removing carbon from the molten cast iron through oxidation . Wagner writes that in addition to the Han dynasty hearths believed to be fining hearths, there is also pictorial evidence of the fining hearth from a Shandong tomb mural dated 1st to 2nd century AD, as well as a hint of written evidence in

9063-413: The finery forge at least by the 2nd century BC, the earliest specimens of cast and pig iron fined into wrought iron and steel found at the early Han dynasty site at Tieshengguo. Pigott speculates that the finery forge existed in the previous Warring States period (403–221 BC), due to the fact that there are wrought iron items from China dating to that period and there is no documented evidence of

9222-401: The river banks have been modified. For 11 km (6.8 mi) west of the line of longitude 141°E, the border is between Victoria and South Australia, in the middle of the river. The discrepancy was caused during the 1840s, when the border was originally surveyed, by an east–west miscalculation of 3.72 kilometres (2.31 miles). West of this sector, the Murray is entirely within

9381-517: The river red gum . The health of the Murray has declined significantly since European settlement, particularly through regulation of its flows. Extreme droughts between 2000 and 2007 put significant stress on river red gum forests, leading to mounting concern over their long-term survival. The Murray has also flooded on occasion. The most significant was the flood of 1956 : lasting for up to six months, it inundated many towns on its lower reaches in South Australia. Between 2.5 and 0.5 million years ago,

9540-404: The 1960s restricts views to the trusses from some viewing angles. Timber deck changes throughout the life of the bridge (both fabric and form), addition of footway in the early 1960s, repainting throughout the life of the bridge. As at 13 April 2016, the Prince Alfred Bridge is of State heritage significance for its historical values as the first iron truss bridge to be built in New South Wales and

9699-701: The 1960s, the price of steel production was dropping due to recycling, and even using the Aston process, wrought iron production was labor-intensive. It has been estimated that the production of wrought iron is approximately twice as expensive as that of low-carbon steel. In the United States, the last plant closed in 1969. The last in the world was the Atlas Forge of Thomas Walmsley and Sons in Bolton , Great Britain, which closed in 1973. Its 1860s-era equipment

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9858-418: The 4th century AD Daoist text Taiping Jing . Wrought iron has been used for many centuries, and is the "iron" that is referred to throughout Western history. The other form of iron, cast iron , was in use in China since ancient times but was not introduced into Western Europe until the 15th century; even then, due to its brittleness, it could be used for only a limited number of purposes. Throughout much of

10017-467: The Cadell Fault. About 25,000 years ago, displacement occurred along this fault, raising its eastern edge, which runs north–south, 8 to 12 m (26 to 39 ft) above the floodplain. This created a complex series of events. A section of the original Murray River channel immediately behind the fault was rendered abandoned (it exists today as an empty channel known as Green Gully). The Goulburn River

10176-573: The Colonial Government for a bridge. Successive governments deferred on the grounds of low traffic flows and the high cost of any bridge project to cross the half-mile flood plain, but political and commercial factors forced the Government's hand. The merchants at Wagga Wagga favoured trade with Victoria since that colony's railway had reached Echuca in 1864, and they accused the distant Sydney-based Government of neglect. They formed

10335-575: The Franklin Institute to conduct a study. As part of the study, Walter R. Johnson and Benjamin Reeves conducted strength tests on boiler iron using a tester they had built in 1832 based on a design by Lagerhjelm in Sweden. Because of misunderstandings about tensile strength and ductility, their work did little to reduce failures. The importance of ductility was recognized by some very early in

10494-542: The Middle Ages, iron was produced by the direct reduction of ore in manually operated bloomeries , although water power had begun to be employed by 1104. The raw material produced by all indirect processes is pig iron. It has a high carbon content and as a consequence, it is brittle and cannot be used to make hardware. The osmond process was the first of the indirect processes, developed by 1203, but bloomery production continued in many places. The process depended on

10653-500: The Murray River, after his close friend, Scottish historian and essayist Thomas Carlyle . Included in the township were "Jane Street", named in honour of Carlyle's wife Jane Carlyle and "Stuart-Mill Street" in honour of political philosopher John Stuart Mill In 1858, the Government Zoologist , William Blandowski , together with Gerard Krefft , explored the lower reaches of the Murray and Darling rivers, compiling

10812-422: The Murray and its tributaries by destroying aquatic plants and permanently raising turbidity . Carp is the most common species, and can be found in all segments of the river. Four large reservoirs were built along the Murray. In addition to Lake Victoria (completed late 1920s), these are Lake Hume near Albury-Wodonga (completed 1936), Lake Mulwala at Yarrawonga (completed 1939), and Lake Dartmouth , which

10971-458: The Murray persists in numerous forms in various language groups that inhabit the enormous area spanned by the Murray system. The Wotojobaluk people of Victoria tell of Totyerguil from the area now known as Swan Hill , who ran out of spears while chasing Otchtout the cod. Roonka Flat , near Blanchetown , was a site of occupation since at least 7000BC. The first Europeans to encounter the river were Hamilton Hume and William Hovell , who crossed

11130-466: The Murray short-necked turtle, broad-clawed yabbies and the large-clawed Macrobrachium shrimp, in addition to aquatic species more widely distributed through Southeastern Australia such as common long-necked turtles, common yabbies , the small claw-less paratya shrimp, water rats and platypus . The Murray crayfish , an endangered species, was able to increase its numbers thanks to scientists. The Murray also supports fringeing corridors and forests of

11289-480: The Murray terminated in a vast freshwater lake – Lake Bungunnia – formed by earth movements that blocked the river near Swan Reach . At its maximum extent, Lake Bungunnia covered 33,000 km (12,741 sq mi), extending to near the Menindee Lakes in the north and to near Boundary Bend in the south. The draining of Lake Bungunnia occurred approximately 600,000 years ago. Deep clays deposited by

11448-415: The Murrumbidgee River is a three span , wrought iron , pin jointed Warren truss on cast iron cylindrical piers . A Warren truss, as originally patented, consists of a configuration of repetitive equilateral triangles that support a road on either the top or bottom chord. The trusses of the Prince Alfred Bridge have additional verticals at each cross girder location, designed to provide lateral support to

11607-531: The Prince Alfred Bridge is enhanced through its important association with inland road transport and communications between Sydney and Melbourne. The bridge is also associated with a visit to Australia by the Duke of Edinburgh in 1867 afterwhom the bridge was named. In addition the bridge is associated with two eminent engineers, William Christopher Bennett the designer and Francis Bell the Contractor. Technically

11766-862: The Railway Department and the Central Railway Terminus . He was involved in constructing a number of iron truss bridges including the earliest substantial metal truss bridge in Australia, the Hawthorne Bridge over the Yarra in Melbourne. Bell was City Engineer for the City of Sydney from 1871 to 1879, and was a member of the Sewerage and Health Board. The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or

11925-524: The Red Gum forests, actually travels through the Edward River channel. The Murray has not had enough flow power to naturally enlarge The Barmah Choke and The Narrows to increase the amount of water they can carry. The Cadell Fault is quite noticeable as a continuous, low, earthen embankment as one drives into Barmah from the west, although to the untrained eye it may appear man-made. The Murray Mouth

12084-542: The Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932. As at 13 April 2016, the wrought iron is in excellent condition considering its age. There is minor section loss due to corrosion, but the loss is not substantially affecting the load carrying capacity of the bridge. A few of the iron castings supporting the cross girders are broken. The portions of the cast iron piers which are below water have been subject to graphitisation (a form of corrosion leading to loss of strength), as

12243-481: The USA until the 1880s, and has the unique feature of the trusses being suspended from a continuous horizontal top chord member, supported on roller bearings on vertical pillars at each pier. The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural or natural places/environments in New South Wales. Wrought iron Before the development of effective methods of steelmaking and

12402-491: The advent of large-scale river regulation , the waters at the Murray Mouth are almost invariably slow and shallow. As of 2010 , the Murray River system received 58 per cent of its natural flow; the figure varies considerably. The border between Victoria and New South Wales (NSW) lies along the top of the southern or left bank of the Murray River. The Murray forms part of the 3,750 km (2,330 mi) long combined Murray–Darling river system that drains most of

12561-433: The area. These conditions are perfect for River Red Gums , which rapidly formed forests in the area. Thus the displacement of the Cadell Fault 25,000 BP led directly to the formation of the famous Barmah River Red Gum Forests. The Barmah Choke and The Narrows restrict the amount of water that can travel down this part of the Murray. In times of flood and high irrigation flows the majority of the water, in addition to flooding

12720-440: The availability of large quantities of steel, wrought iron was the most common form of malleable iron. It was given the name wrought because it was hammered, rolled, or otherwise worked while hot enough to expel molten slag. The modern functional equivalent of wrought iron is mild steel , also called low-carbon steel. Neither wrought iron nor mild steel contain enough carbon to be hardened by heating and quenching. Wrought iron

12879-451: The bars were cut up, piled and tied together by wires, a process known as faggoting or piling. They were then reheated to a welding state, forge welded, and rolled again into bars. The process could be repeated several times to produce wrought iron of desired quality. Wrought iron that has been rolled multiple times is called merchant bar or merchant iron. The advantage of puddling was that it used coal, not charcoal as fuel. However, that

13038-414: The bridge is of state heritage significance as it demonstrates some unique engineering elements such as the support arrangements, consisting of vertical pillars at each pier, having the trusses suspended from the top chords, resting on a nest of roller bearings. The Prince Alfred Bridge is of state heritage significance for its landmark qualities as an integral part of the overall historic vista which includes

13197-495: The cast iron cylinders for the piers were made with the earliest Australian iron, cast in The Fitzroy Ironworks which were the first ironworks in Australia. The pier cylinders are therefore an irreplaceable source of information on the quality and techniques of Australia's first ironworks. The place possesses uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales. The bridge

13356-413: The course of the smelt, slag would melt and run out, and carbon monoxide from the charcoal would reduce the ore to iron, which formed a spongy mass (called a "bloom") containing iron and also molten silicate minerals (slag) from the ore. The iron remained in the solid state. If the bloomery were allowed to become hot enough to melt the iron, carbon would dissolve into it and form pig or cast iron, but that

13515-437: The cylinders to Gundagai because scarcity of feed and water between Yass and Gundagai deterred carriers from undertaking the work. When a 2-metre (6 ft) section of cylinder was placed in its required position, the material inside and under the cutting edge was excavated by hand, causing the cylinder to sink under its own weight. As the cylinder descended, additional lengths were added with internal bolted connections until

13674-619: The department saying he was "one of the ablest officers in the government service" Francis Bell was another engineer who was born in Ireland By 1853 Bell had migrated to Australia, and was first involved in a number of significant engineering projects in Victoria. His expertise was such that he was often requested to give evidence to the Victorian Royal Commissions on the River and Harbour Trust, to Select Committees on

13833-593: The development of the blast furnace, of which medieval examples have been discovered at Lapphyttan , Sweden and in Germany . The bloomery and osmond processes were gradually replaced from the 15th century by finery processes, of which there were two versions, the German and Walloon. They were in turn replaced from the late 18th century by puddling , with certain variants such as the Swedish Lancashire process . Those, too, are now obsolete, and wrought iron

13992-564: The development of tube boilers, evidenced by Thurston's comment: If made of such good iron as the makers claimed to have put into them "which worked like lead," they would, as also claimed, when ruptured, open by tearing, and discharge their contents without producing the usual disastrous consequences of a boiler explosion. Murray River The Murray River (in South Australia: River Murray ) ( Ngarrindjeri : Millewa , Yorta Yorta : Dhungala ( Tongala ))

14151-581: The driest continents on Earth, the Murray has significant cultural relevance to Aboriginal Australians . According to the people of Lake Alexandrina , the Murray was created by the tracks of the Great Ancestor, Ngurunderi, as he pursued Pondi, the Murray Cod . The chase originated in the interior of New South Wales. Ngurunderi pursued the fish (who, like many totem animals in Aboriginal myths,

14310-546: The early 2000s, dredging machines have operated at the Murray Mouth for 24 hours a day, moving sand from the channel to maintain a minimal flow from the sea and into the Coorong's lagoon system. Without the dredging, the mouth would silt up and close, cutting the supply of fresh sea-water into the Coorong National Park, which would then warm up, stagnate and die. Being one of the major river systems on one of

14469-434: The early importance of the Sydney to Melbourne route. The place has a strong or special association with a person, or group of persons, of importance of cultural or natural history of New South Wales's history. The state heritage significance of the bridge is enhanced through its associated with two eminent engineers William Christopher Bennet and Francis Bell. William Christopher Bennett, Irish born engineer, designed

14628-707: The eastern edge of Lake Alexandrina , which fluctuates in salinity . The water then flows through several channels around Hindmarsh Island and Mundoo Island . There it is joined by lagoon water from The Coorong to the south-east before emptying into the Great Australian Bight (often referenced on Australian maps as the Southern Ocean ) through the Murray Mouth , 10 km (6.2 mi) east of Goolwa South . Despite discharging considerable volumes of water at times, particularly before

14787-437: The extended upper chord and a pillar which rises from the pier top. A similar detail is provided at the central pier, where each upper chord is continued from one span to the next across a nest of rollers. The Warren truss, as originally patented, consisted of a configuration of repetitive equilateral triangles but the Prince Alfred Bridge has additional verticals at each cross girder location, designed to provide lateral support to

14946-499: The first trips being made by two boats from South Australia on the spring flood of 1853. The Lady Augusta , captained by Francis Cadell , reached Swan Hill while another, Mary Ann , captained by William Randell , reached Moama (near Echuca ). In 1855 a steamer carrying gold-mining supplies reached Albury but Echuca was the usual turn-around point, though small boats continued to link with up-river ports such as Tocumwal , Wahgunyah and Albury. The arrival of steamboat transport

15105-432: The fuel, and so is not contaminated by its impurities. The heat of the combustion products passes over the surface of the puddle and the roof of the furnace reverberates (reflects) the heat onto the metal puddle on the fire bridge of the furnace. Unless the raw material used is white cast iron, the pig iron or other raw product of the puddling first had to be refined into refined iron , or finers metal. That would be done in

15264-589: The full width of the floodplain. It consisted of 105 timber spans varying from 5 to 9 metres (15 to 30 ft) long, but as far back as 1932 the details of this configuration of the bridge had been lost, and no further details are known, other than the fact that it was 12.2 metres (40 ft) longer than the bridge which replaced it. In 1896 the third configuration of the bridge was completed. The northern spans and southern approach spans were all replaced. The northern spans were replaced by seventy-five spans of 11 metres (35 ft) and one of 9 metres (28 ft), one of

15423-401: The gases were liberated. The molten steel then froze to yield a spongy mass having a temperature of about 1370 °C. The spongy mass would then be finished by being shingled and rolled as described under puddling (above). Three to four tons could be converted per batch with the method. Steel began to replace iron for railroad rails as soon as the Bessemer process for its manufacture

15582-418: The history of metal bridge design and construction in New South Wales. Prince Alfred Bridge was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 5 July 2019 having satisfied the following criteria. The place is important in demonstrating the course, or pattern, of cultural or natural history in New South Wales. The Prince Alfred Bridge - iron road bridge is of state heritage significance as it

15741-419: The inland of Victoria, New South Wales and the southern part of Queensland. The Murray carries only a small fraction of the water of comparably sized rivers in other parts of the world, and with great annual variability of its flow. It has dried up completely during extreme droughts on three occasions since official record-keeping began. More often, a sandbar formed at the mouth and stopped the flow. The Murray

15900-491: The intervening stretch of the river a series of locks and weirs were built. These were originally proposed to support navigation even in times of low water, but riverborne transport was already declining due to improved highway and railway systems. The disruption of the river's natural flow, run-off from agriculture, and the introduction of pest species such as the European carp has led to serious environmental damage along

16059-404: The iron and caused some loss of strength." However, after considering a number of options for a new bridge it was admitted that, 'It was plain that the existing iron trusses, though light and of unusual design, viewed from the aspect of modern structural practice, were in good order and were capable of rendering efficient service for the life of at least one more timber approach.' Since that time,

16218-415: The iron bridge, the long timber viaduct and adjacent rail bridge. These are a widely recognisable part of the built environment in Gundagai and have a place in the experience and memories of travellers between Sydney and Melbourne from its opening in 1867 until its closure in 1977. The Prince Alfred Bridge is of state heritage significance for its special value to the engineering profession, particularly for

16377-641: The iron bridge. After arriving in Australia Bennett quickly rose to the position of Commissioner and Chief Engineer in the Roads Department (appointed in 1860), a position he retained until 1889. Bennett and his Department constructed 16,000km of road and 64 km of bridges. In addition to his prodigious work on roads and bridges in New South Wales, Bennett also made a significant contribution to navigation, water supply and sewerage works. In 1872 Sir Henry Parkes commended Bennett and his work with

16536-430: The iron. The included slag in wrought iron also imparts corrosion resistance. Antique music wire , manufactured at a time when mass-produced carbon-steels were available, was found to have low carbon and high phosphorus; iron with high phosphorus content, normally causing brittleness when worked cold, was easily drawn into music wires. Although at the time phosphorus was not an easily identified component of iron, it

16695-553: The irrigation has led to dryland salinity that now threatens the agricultural industries. In 2006, the Government of South Australia released a plan to investigate the construction of controversial Wellington Weir . Lock 1 was completed near Blanchetown in 1922. Torrumbarry weir downstream of Echuca began operating in December 1923. Of the several locks that were proposed, only thirteen were completed; Locks 1 to 11 on

16854-663: The lake are evident in cliffs around Chowilla in South Australia. Considerably higher rainfall would have been required to keep such a lake full; the draining of Lake Bungunnia appears to have marked the end of a wet phase in the history of the Murray–Darling Basin and the onset of widespread arid conditions similar to today. A species of Neoceratodus lungfish existed in Lake Bungunnia; today Neoceratodus lungfish are only found in several Queensland rivers. The noted Barmah River red gum forests owe their existence to

17013-465: The least workmanship on the ground, and because of the rapidity with which it could be erected, incurring least risk from the violent floods of the Murrumbidgee during construction. However, Bennett, along with many other engineers of his day, considered the lattice truss superior. The main objection to the Warren truss was that all the strains are taken by a single pin, whereas in the lattice system

17172-431: The level of the floodplain. It was the first iron truss bridge to be built in New South Wales, The pin-jointed Warren truss section is the second-oldest metal truss bridge in Australia. It was designed by William Bennett , Engineer and Commissioner for Roads and constructed by Francis Bell . The trusses were assembled from iron work imported from England. The cylinderical casings for the supporting columns were cast at

17331-401: The longest timber beam bridges in Australia. The alignment of this new approach was slightly to the west of the previous (second) northern approach. The two southern spans of 9 metres (30 ft) dating from 1865 were replaced by one span of 11 metres (35 ft) and one of 9 metres (28 ft) on the same alignment as the previous southern approach spans. In addition a side ramp was built on

17490-480: The main Sydney to Melbourne route, the Prince Alfred Bridge carried huge volumes of traffic in its lifetime until 1977 when the Hume Highway was realigned to bypass Gundagai with the construction of Sheahan Bridge. The Prince Alfred Bridge continued to carry local traffic over the Murrumbidgee River between North and South Gundagai; until it was declared unsafe for vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Two spans of

17649-514: The mid 19th century, in Austria as the stuckofen to 1775, and near Garstang in England until about 1770; it was still in use with hot blast in New York in the 1880s. In Japan the last of the old tatara bloomeries used in production of traditional tamahagane steel, mainly used in swordmaking, was extinguished only in 1925, though in the late 20th century the production resumed on

17808-500: The necessary depth or foundation had been reached. The hollow cylinder was then filled with rubble consisting of red sandy soil with the odd stone. An immense amount of difficulty was at first experienced in reaching the necessary depth; borings to a great depth had to be made, through huge masses of timber brought down by floods in bygone ages, but the indomitable energy of the superintending engineer, Frederick Augustus Franklin, overcame every obstacle. Franklin, who worked for Francis Bell,

17967-442: The original iron kerb. By 1932, it was thought that, "the iron spans, then being sixty-five years old, could hardly be relied upon for a further period of service much in excess of thirty years (the average expected life of a timber girder span as used on viaducts), which would bring them to an age of practically 100 years. Apart from not being heavy enough to carry the present-day standard bridge loading, old age had probably affected

18126-402: The outside of the truss in the early 1960s. As opened in 1867 the bridge had a total length of 314 metres (1,030 ft), consisting of three wrought iron truss spans each of 31 metres (103 ft) across the river, two timber southern approach spans each of 9 metres (30 ft), and twenty-three timber northern approach spans each of 9 metres (30 ft), rising on a gradient of 1 in 30 from

18285-484: The patterns of the river's natural flow from the original winter-spring flood and summer-autumn dry to the present low level through winter and higher during summer. These changes ensured the availability of water for irrigation and made the Murray Valley Australia's most productive agricultural region, but have seriously disrupted the life cycles of many ecosystems both inside and outside the river, and

18444-666: The product is no longer wrought iron, since the slag stringers characteristic of wrought iron disappear on melting, so the product resembles impure, cast, Bessemer steel. There is no engineering advantage to melting and casting wrought iron, as compared to using cast iron or steel, both of which are cheaper. Due to the variations in iron ore origin and iron manufacture, wrought iron can be inferior or superior in corrosion resistance, compared to other iron alloys. There are many mechanisms behind its corrosion resistance. Chilton and Evans found that nickel enrichment bands reduce corrosion. They also found that in puddled, forged, and piled iron,

18603-498: The quality and techniques used by Australia's first ironworks and demonstrate the technical achievements of the colony of NSW in producing its own iron. The construction of the bridge was a significant development in the history and development of NSW as it provided easy access to Sydney therefore channeling the resources and wealth of the Riverina district north to Sydney to the benefit of New South Wales rather than south to Melbourne and Victoria The state level heritage significance of

18762-475: The realignment of the Highway in 1977, the historic features of the bridge with its viaduct have been successfully promoted such that it, along with the rail bridge and its viaduct, is a prominent tourist attraction. The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales. It meets this criterion of State significance because

18921-518: The remaining length of the Murray to finally reach Lake Alexandrina and the river's mouth. The vicinity of the Murray Mouth was explored more thoroughly by Captain Collet Barker in 1831. The first three settlers on the Murray River are known to have been James Collins Hawker (explorer and surveyor) along with Edward John Eyre (explorer and later Governor of Jamaica ) plus E.B. Scott (onetime superintendent of Yatala Labour Prison ). Hawker

19080-426: The river channel is unusually narrow), before entering into the proper Murray River channel again. The primary result of the Cadell Fault – that the west-flowing water of the Murray River strikes the north-south fault and diverts both north and south around the fault in the two main channels (Edward and ancestral Goulburn) in addition to a fan of small streams, and regularly floods a large amount of low-lying country in

19239-645: The river promoted an expansion of farming and led ultimately to the development of irrigation areas (including the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area ). In 1915, the three Murray states – New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia – signed the River Murray Agreement which proposed the construction of storage reservoirs in the river's headwaters as well as at Lake Victoria near the South Australian border. Along

19398-628: The river where Albury now stands in 1824: Hume named it the Hume River after his father. In 1830, Captain Charles Sturt reached the river after travelling down its tributary the Murrumbidgee River and named it the Murray River in honour of the then British Secretary of State for War and the Colonies , Sir George Murray , not realising it was the same river that Hume and Hovell had encountered further upstream. Sturt continued down

19557-595: The river's length. There are widespread concerns that the river will be unusably salty in the medium to long term – a serious problem given that the Murray supplies 40 per cent of the water supply for Adelaide . Efforts to alleviate the problems have proceeded but disagreement between various groups has hampered progress. Introduced fish species such as carp , gambusia , weather loach , redfin perch , brown trout , and rainbow trout have also had serious negative effects on native fish. The most pernicious are carp, which have contributed to environmental degradation of

19716-533: The river. The primary purpose of this is to provide habitat for fish species whose breeding grounds and shelter were eradicated by the removal of the snags. Author E.J. Brady chronicled an eventful journey downriver in a small motor boat from Albury to the coast in 1911 in River Rovers. The volume and value of river trade made Echuca Victoria's second port and in the decade from 1874 it underwent considerable expansion. By this time up to thirty steamers and

19875-531: The same manner as mild steel, but the presence of oxide or inclusions will give defective results. The material has a rough surface, so it can hold platings and coatings better than smooth steel. For instance, a galvanic zinc finish applied to wrought iron is approximately 25–40% thicker than the same finish on steel. In Table 1, the chemical composition of wrought iron is compared to that of pig iron and carbon steel . Although it appears that wrought iron and plain carbon steel have similar chemical compositions, that

20034-441: The second-oldest metal truss bridge remaining in Australia. In addition it is of significance for its rarity as it is one of only three pin jointed metal trusses remaining in New South Wales. Its historical values include the fact that the cast iron piers were cast in at the Fitzroy Iron Works, the first ironworks in Australia, chiefly from local ores. The Bridge and the piers therefore provides an irreplaceable source of information on

20193-578: The state of South Australia. Major settlements along the course of the river, from its source to the Southern Ocean, and their populations from the 2016 Australian census are as follows. The Murray and its tributaries support a variety of river life adapted to its vagaries. This includes native fish such as the famous Murray cod , trout cod , golden perch , Macquarie perch , silver perch , eel-tailed catfish , Australian smelt and western carp gudgeon , as well as other aquatic species such as

20352-524: The strain is divided amongst a number of rivets instead. Francis Bell, the contractor, also preferred the wrought iron lattice, which, he said, could be imported from England and launched into position very economically. For these (among other) reasons, very few Warren truss bridges were constructed during this period. The iron for the superstructure was furnished by Messrs Lloyds, Fosters, and Company's Wednesbury, Old Park Ironworks in Staffordshire, and

20511-401: The stress distribution, allowing further economy in the use of iron by varying the cross-sectional area of the top and bottom chords without adversely affecting strength. Kennard patented his invention in 1853, and it was the Warren and Kennard patent that was used by Bennett in his design of the Prince Alfred Bridge. According to Bennett, the Warren girder had been adopted, because it required

20670-434: The stretch downstream of Mildura , Lock 15 at Euston and Lock 26 at Torrumbarry . Construction of the remaining weirs purely for navigation purposes was abandoned in 1934. The last lock to be completed was Lock 15, in 1937. Lock 11, just downstream of Mildura, creates a 100-kilometre (62 mi) long lock pool that aided irrigation pumping from Mildura and Red Cliffs . Each lock has a navigable passage next to it through

20829-438: The timber deck has changed arrangement a number of times, and the ironwork has been painted with a number of different systems (originally white, now grey). In the early 1960s a footway was added to one side of the bridge, which remains today. Good design and quality construction have given a durable bridge able to carry much heavier loads that originally intended or foreseen, and for much longer than had been imagined. Located on

20988-410: The top chord. It and the railway truss downstream (constructed more than 30 years later) are two of only three pin-jointed metal trusses remaining in NSW - the other is the Whipple truss road bridge at Nowra . The deck on the truss spans originally consisted of two 5-centimetre (2 in) thick layers of diagonal decking, the upper layer being approximately at right angles to the lower layer. The deck

21147-406: The top chord. The trusses are suspended from a continuous horizontal top chord, supported on a nest of five rollers located on vertical pillars attached to the top of each pier. The four cylindrical cast iron piers are filled with soil and stones. The trusses support a timber deck, which carries two lanes of traffic. Longitudinal timber sheeting was added to the deck in 1959, and a footway was added on

21306-465: The top of the puddle and was fished out of the melt as puddle balls, using puddle bars. There was still some slag left in the puddle balls, so while they were still hot they would be shingled to remove the remaining slag and cinder. That was achieved by forging the balls under a hammer, or by squeezing the bloom in a machine. The material obtained at the end of shingling is known as bloom. The blooms are not useful in that form, so they were rolled into

21465-524: The town of Murray Bridge, formerly called Edwards Crossing. To distinguish this bridge from the many others that span the Murray River, this bridge is known as Murray River road bridge, Murray Bridge Tolls applied on South Australian ferries until abolished in November 1961. Small-scale pumping plants began drawing water from the Murray in the 1850s and the first high-volume plant was constructed at Mildura in 1887. The introduction of pumping stations along

21624-409: The trusses, consisting of vertical pillars at each pier to support the trusses from the top chord, and the introduction of additional vertical elements designed to provide lateral support to the top chord. The Prince Alfred Bridge also demonstrates the technical achievements of the colony of New South Wales in discovering, mining, smelting and manufacturing the cast iron piers. The Prince Alfred Bridge

21783-409: The weir, which is opened during periods of high river flow, when there is too much water for the lock. The weirs can be completely removed, and the locks completely covered by water during flood conditions. Lock 11 is unique in that the lock was built inside a bend of the river, with the weir in the bend itself. A channel was dug to the lock, creating an island between it and the weir. The weir is also of

21942-407: The western side in 1896, leading down from the bridge six spans north of the main spans down to ground level of the floodplain beneath the approach spans, as it had already become necessary to reduce wear and tear on the timber approach spans. After the 1896 reconstruction the bridge had a total length of 922 metres (3,025 ft), and remained the longest bridge in New South Wales until the opening of

22101-457: The whole river flat to be bridged. The Prince Alfred Bridge over the Murrumbidgee River was opened on 24 October 1867 and named after Queen Victoria 's second son who was touring Australia that year. It was the first metal truss bridge to be built in NSW. A short sloping viaduct descended to join the road over the river flats until the long timber viaduct was complete in 1869. In England in 1848, James Warren and Willoughby Monzani had obtained

22260-400: The women settled on the shore, only to suffer bad luck with fishing, being plagued by a water fiend known as Muldjewangk . They later moved to a more suitable spot at the site of present-day Ashville . The twin summits of Mount Misery are said to be the remnants of his rafts; they are known as Lalangengall or the two watercraft . This story of a hunter pursuing a Murray cod that carved out

22419-452: The wooden viaduct over O I Bell Drive and a span over Landon Street were demolished in May 2021 due to safety concerns, as the sections had significantly deteriorated. Due to further significant deterioration, demolition of the timber viaduct commenced in early November 2021 due to the significant safety risk that the deteriorated timber viaduct poses to the public. The Prince Alfred Bridge over

22578-560: The working-over of the metal spread out copper, nickel, and tin impurities that produce electrochemical conditions that slow down corrosion. The slag inclusions have been shown to disperse corrosion to an even film, enabling the iron to resist pitting. Another study has shown that slag inclusions are pathways to corrosion. Other studies show that sulfur in the wrought iron decreases corrosion resistance, while phosphorus increases corrosion resistance. Chloride ions also decrease wrought iron's corrosion resistance. Wrought iron may be welded in

22737-538: The wrought iron truss spans and a small number of timber spans at each end, The bridge was named for the then reigning Queen Victoria 's son, Prince Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , and was built to carry the Great Southern Road (now the Hume Highway) across the Murrumbidgee. It has existed in three forms, with only the main spans across the river itself being common to all three. The site

22896-411: Was a bridge planned, but an expensive iron structure was approved as a clear indication to the south-western districts of the Government's legitimate interests in those regions. In late 1861, the Government placed A£ 24,000 in the estimates for a modest scheme with a short viaduct, which would have left the floodplain impassable during a flood. However, in 1864 the estimate was increased to A£37,000 for

23055-479: Was adopted (1865 on). Iron remained dominant for structural applications until the 1880s, because of problems with brittle steel, caused by introduced nitrogen, high carbon, excess phosphorus, or excessive temperature during or too-rapid rolling. By 1890 steel had largely replaced iron for structural applications. Sheet iron (Armco 99.97% pure iron) had good properties for use in appliances, being well-suited for enamelling and welding, and being rust-resistant. In

23214-490: Was considered sufficient for nails . Phosphorus is not necessarily detrimental to iron. Ancient Near Eastern smiths did not add lime to their furnaces. The absence of calcium oxide in the slag, and the deliberate use of wood with high phosphorus content during the smelting, induces a higher phosphorus content (typically <0.3%) than in modern iron (<0.02–0.03%). Analysis of the Iron Pillar of Delhi gives 0.11% in

23373-610: Was dammed by the southern end of the fault to create a natural lake. The Murray River flowed to the north around the Cadell Fault, creating the channel of the Edward River which exists today and through which much of the Murray's waters still flow. Then the natural dam on the Goulburn River failed, the lake drained, and the Murray changed its course to the south and started to flow through the smaller Goulburn River channel, creating "The Barmah Choke" and "The Narrows" (where

23532-500: Was duplicated in 2010. Since the opening of the Sheahan Bridge, the Prince Alfred Bridge has served local traffic only. The timber spans on the Prince Alfred Bridge have deteriorated to such an extent that the 1896 side ramp has had to be reinstated, so that most of the northern approach is disused, and has deteriorated to the point where it is closed to vehicular traffic and pedestrians. The portion that remains in use consists of

23691-404: Was finished with a light curved iron kerb, similar to the kerb which still exists on Denison Bridge (see photo). This arrangement of deck for the truss spans was retained when Percy Allan designed the new northern viaduct which was constructed in 1898, but by 1932, there was just a single layer of transverse decking on the truss spans similar to the viaduct approaches, and a timber kerb rather than

23850-400: Was historically known as the "crossing place" and is where Charles Sturt first crossed the Murrumbidgee. It became known in the mid-19th century as the safest location to cross the river. Periodic flooding of the Murrumbidgee had already had detrimental effects on the pioneering settlement of Gundagai, situated on the floodplain. In 1852 almost 100 people were drowned in a severe flood. By 1853

24009-515: Was hypothesized that the type of iron had been rejected for conversion to steel but excelled when tested for drawing ability. During the Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD), new iron smelting processes led to the manufacture of new wrought iron implements for use in agriculture, such as the multi-tube seed drill and iron plough . In addition to accidental lumps of low-carbon wrought iron produced by excessive injected air in ancient Chinese cupola furnaces . The ancient Chinese created wrought iron by using

24168-412: Was inspected by eminent engineer Mr. Fowler. Testing of the wrought iron was conducted, and the strength was found to be much in excess of the specification. The testing in England of the first span for the bridge was also reported as very satisfactory; the deflection with a load did not exceed an inch. In 1848, three Sydney businessmen had joined a local man in an attempt to exploit the iron resources of

24327-428: Was launched as a mission steamer, replacing an earlier steam launch, also named Etona , which had been operating on the Murray since 1891. The vessel was based at Murray Bridge , and operated between Goolwa and the Victorian border, stopping at towns such as Mannum , Morgan and Renmark as well as isolated settlements and workcamps. The forepart of the vessel was used a chapel fitted with an altar and organ, with

24486-477: Was moved to the Blists Hill site of Ironbridge Gorge Museum for preservation. Some wrought iron is still being produced for heritage restoration purposes, but only by recycling scrap. The slag inclusions, or stringers , in wrought iron give it properties not found in other forms of ferrous metal. There are approximately 250,000 inclusions per square inch. A fresh fracture shows a clear bluish color with

24645-445: Was not the intention. However, the design of a bloomery made it difficult to reach the melting point of iron and also prevented the concentration of carbon monoxide from becoming high. After smelting was complete, the bloom was removed, and the process could then be started again. It was thus a batch process, rather than a continuous one such as a blast furnace. The bloom had to be forged mechanically to consolidate it and shape it into

24804-541: Was of little advantage in Sweden, which lacked coal. Gustaf Ekman observed charcoal fineries at Ulverston , which were quite different from any in Sweden. After his return to Sweden in the 1830s, he experimented and developed a process similar to puddling but used firewood and charcoal, which was widely adopted in the Bergslagen in the following decades. In 1925, James Aston of the United States developed

24963-473: Was the chemical composition and others that it was whether the iron heated sufficiently to melt and "fuse". Fusion eventually became generally accepted as relatively more important than composition below a given low carbon concentration. Another difference is that steel can be hardened by heat treating . Historically, wrought iron was known as "commercially pure iron"; however, it no longer qualifies because current standards for commercially pure iron require

25122-405: Was welcomed by pastoralists who had been suffering from a shortage of transport due to the demands of the gold fields. By 1860 a dozen steamers were operating in the high water season along the Murray and its tributaries. Once the railway reached Echuca in 1864, the bulk of the woolclip from the Riverina was transported via river to Echuca and then south to Melbourne. The steam paddleship Etona

25281-454: Was well regarded and gained the cordial good wishes and esteem of the people of Gundagai by his work. The design for the three iron truss spans of the Prince Alfred Bridge are based on the British pin-jointed Warren and Kennard trusses, and have the unique feature of the trusses being suspended from a continuous horizontal top chord, supported on roller bearings on vertical posts at each pier. The end roller detail has five rollers placed between

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