| Historical notes |
The Karuah Bridge on the Pacific Highway crosses the Karuah River, which flows into Port Stephens, an undeveloped natural harbour. Captain Cook sailed passed Port Stephens, recording "an opening forming a bay" in 1770, but it was not until late in 1791, when a convict transport, the Salamander, visited the harbour, that a preliminary survey of was made. Governor Macquarie inspected Port Stephens in 1811 with a view to forming a settlement north of Newcastle, however, he found the land barren and did not proceed. Macquarie named the River the "Clyde" but this did not stick and the name "Karuah", of Aboriginal origin, survived, though its meaning is not certain. (Regional Histories, 1996, p. 36; The Australian Encyclopaedia, Vol. 7, pp. 206-207)
From 1816 onwards the area was a centre of cedar-getting activity and the industry was well established by 1823, with cedar being shipped to England from the port. Karuah was formerly known as Sawyers Point due to the timber cutters. In 1826 the Australian Agricultural Company (formed in 1824) made the port its headquarters. The Company was granted a huge tract of land from Port Stephens to the Manning River, encompassing the eastern side of the Karuah River. The other main activities of the region are fishing, oyster farming and tourism. The bridge over the Karuah River links two of the areas principal holiday resorts - Karuah at the head of the harbour and Tea Gardens on the Myall River inside the northern headland. (The Australian Encyclopaedia, Vol. 7, p. 207; Karuah Centenary Committee, 1984, p. 69, 78)
For many years, Karuah remained an isolated community. The river crossing was by means of a hand-wound punt and a row boat for pedestrians in the early twentieth century, and the crossing took fifteen to twenty minutes. Jack Dillon operated the punt from 1918 to 1923 and during that time he built a hut near the riverfront. In 1923 George Neil became Ferry Master, a contract he held for the next 24 years. Neil moved into the hut built by Dillon, and around 1926 built a cottage next to the hut site, on land that was granted to Neil on a 99-year lease provided that the family lived there. The cottage remained occupied until 1970 and was destroyed by fire some time later. Remains of the cottage are visible at low-tide upstream of the bridge on the southern bank of the river. The punt was succeeded by a power-driven, rope-hauled ferry around 1924, reducing the crossing time to a few minutes. The ferry operated until the bridge was built in 1957. For several years, difficulties had existed with the ferry service, including poor maintenance of the vessel and operating machinery, inattention to the boom gates by the operator, and Council's failure to deal with breakdowns, making construction of a bridge a priority. After the bridge opened the ferry was removed to Seaham on the Williams River, where it provided access between Seaham and East Seaham until a bridge was built there in 1973. Ramps of the previous ferry crossing are extant some 40 metres upstream of the Karuah Bridge. (Karuah Centenary Committee, 1984, pp. 73-74; Roads and Maritime Services (replacing Roads and Traffic Authority) File: 10/410.1121 Pt. 1; Interpretive signage on site)
In 1940 the Department of Main Roads began investigating possible locations for a bridge over the Karuah River. The DMR's preferred location for a bridge was upstream of the wharf adjacent to the ferry. Plans for the new bridge were prepared in the 1940s by DMR engineers, Vladimir Karmalsky and G. F. Gilbert, but construction did not begin until the 1950s due to delays caused by the War. Suggestions that one of the spans of the old Hawkesbury Railway Bridge could be used at Karuah did not eventuate, partly due to difficulties in dismantling and re-erecting the old trusses, and also following advice from architect, Professor Wilkinson, who rejected the idea on aesthetic grounds. (Roads and Maritime Services (replacing Roads and Traffic Authority) File: 10/410.1121 Pt. 1)
From the 1940s it was proposed to alter the route of the Pacific Highway between Newcastle and Taree so that it passed through Karuah, Bulahdelah and Nabiac rather than Stroud and Gloucester. The proposed route was more direct and allowed for a better quality road and, because the railway did not service that area, the new route was to stimulate development of a vast area of productive country not well served by transport infrastructure. The re-routing would also benefit the timber and tourist industries, providing quicker access to the coast for the large inland population. In particular, the road between Karuah and Tea Gardens carried timber transport and, in the holiday season, fairly heavy tourist traffic. Immediately after World War II the Department began an intensive maintenance and improvement program for the State's roads, which included a policy of eliminating ferries by replacing them with bridges. Concurrently with road construction of this period, work was begun on a number of important bridges on the Pacific Highway. The construction of the bridge over the Karuah River was therefore an essential part of the Department's program of the development of this new route of the Highway, which also involved improving and bitumen surfacing the road. (Main Roads, September 1956, pp. 3-4; March 1958, p. 74; Roads and Maritime Services (replacing Roads and Traffic Authority) File: 10/410.1121 Pt. 1; DMR, 1976, pp. 58, 200)
The Karuah Bridge was one of a number of bridges having major steel spans constructed between 1950 and 1960 and is a typical example of steel trusses of its era. By the 1950s the Department was able to take advantage of economies in construction and maintenance costs in steel bridge design. During that period the Department's engineers evolved existing standards of bridge design to meet the demands of the post-war period for heavier vehicles and higher design travel speeds. The principal types of bridges constructed during the period were: reinforced or prestressed concrete, or steel, either beams with concrete decks for medium spans and trusses for larger spans. Whilst concrete was favoured for its durability, steel retained many advantages in spanning ability, speed and flexibility of erection and economy, giving it roughly equal billing with concrete over the following three decades. (DMR, 1976, p. 220)
The new bridge consisted of five steel truss spans of 120 feet each and one of 65 feet. The trusses were shop welded and field bolted. Instead of the usual practice - common since the 1930s - of using rivets for field connections, in this case, high strength steel bolts were used, which greatly facilitated the connection of the steelwork. This method was standard practice in the USA and had come into operation in Europe recently and the Karuah Bridge was one of the first steel truss bridges in Australia on which it had been used. The method would become common over the next decades as the 1950s and 1960s was an era of transition in bridge construction. (Main Roads, March 1958, p. 74; Roads and Maritime Services (replacing Roads and Traffic Authority) File: 10/410.1121 Pt. 1)
Another innovative aspect of the bridge's construction was the use of an aluminium wire coating that was sprayed over the steelwork to prevent corrosion. One coat was applied to the metal work in England where it was fabricated, then a final paint finish was applied after it was erected. While similar aluminium coating was used successfully in structures all over the world, including the Forth Road Bridge and Severn Road Bridge in the UK, the Karuah Bridge was one of the first and more prominent bridges in Australia to use this spray. The Aluminium Wire & Cable Co. Ltd., which manufactured the coating wanted to use Karuah Bridge as an example in its marketing strategy and in lectures and technical articles. (Roads and Maritime Services (replacing Roads and Traffic Authority) File: 10/362.1305 Pt. 1)
The bridge was designed so that it could be converted to a vertical lift span should that become necessary in the future to provide for navigation of the river. A footway was erected on one side because, even though there was not expected to be much pedestrian traffic (the majority of Karuah's population were concentrated on the southern side of the river), the increased volume of traffic posed a danger to pedestrians and motorists. The contractors for the supply and fabrication of the steelwork of the new bridge were Horseley Bridge and Thomas Piggott Ltd., England, and the steelwork was manufactured at the Company's works at Tipton, Staffordshire. Electric Power Transmission Pty. Ltd. carried out the erection and final completion of the bridge on site. Over 4,000 people were reported to have witnessed the official opening of the bridge by the Commissioner for Main Roads, Mr H.M. Sherrard, on 14 December 1957. (Main Roads, September 1956, p. 7; March 1958, p. 75; Karuah Centenary Committee, 1984, p. 85; Roads and Maritime Services (replacing Roads and Traffic Authority) File: 10/410.1121 Pt. 1)
In the 1970s the bridge required extensive repairs due to the spalling of concrete on the bridge's cross beam soffits and cracking on some of its piers, caused mainly by windblown salt spray. Problems with vandalism also necessitated repairs. Major cracks in the deck slab, wearing surface and underside slab were also noted in 1983. Over the bridge's life it has often been damaged by trucks hitting its trusses and a number of serious accidents have necessitated major repairs to trusses and abutment members. Navigation lights were installed on the bridge in 1993. The volume of through traffic will lessen once the long-awaited Karuah By-pass is complete. (Roads and Maritime Services (replacing Roads and Traffic Authority) Files: 10/362.1305 Pt. 2; 10/362.1305 Pt. 3) |
