Truss Underside

Seen from below in 2018, McKillops Bridge shows its working parts plainly: two parallel electric-arc-welded steel Warren trusses running the full length of the structure, transverse timber decking laid across with gaps between the planks, and a tall reinforced-concrete pier rising at the left. The clear sky above turns the bridge into a piece of engineering drawing, every welded member reading sharp against the light. The Country Roads Board designed and built the bridge in two stages between 1931 and 1935. The first bridge, contracted to Gardener Constructions of Melbourne at £11,950, was completed but never opened. On 8 January 1934, a flash flood off the Victoria and New South Wales border country rose 16 feet above any previously recorded flood level. Debris piled against the trusses for up to half a kilometre upstream; the pressure tore the superstructure from its piers and swept it downstream, and the centre pier was torn down. The opening had been set for around 19 January 1934. The CRB rebuilt higher. The piers were raised 15 feet, the original A-frames filled in to shed flood debris, the original abutments turned into additional piers, and the steel trusses cantilevered back to the raised approaches. The cost of the first bridge's contract had been reduced substantially from early estimates through a combination of locally sourced granite aggregate, a falling steel price, and the use of electric-arc welding, which cut the steel mass from 160 to 120 tons. The replacement bridge opened on 20 December 1935, with about 250 people present. Mrs Lind cut the ribbon; the Minister for Public Works, the Hon. G. Goudie, dedicated the bridge to George McKillop, a squatter who had made the crossing in 1835 on the stock route from the high Monaro toward the Omeo plains. A ferry had worked the same crossing since 1889. McKillops Bridge is 255 metres long and 4.5 metres wide, single lane, on five reinforced-concrete piers. It has withstood every flood since 1935 without damage, none reaching the height of the trusses. It is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register (H1849) and carries an Engineering Heritage Marker from Engineers Australia (EHRP-0249, awarded November 2019).