Roads and Bridges

The need to move from place to place has always been human requirement with indigenous Australians drawing maps of waterholes on inland rocks and following well developed trails to the best river crossings.

With Colonial settlement bringing horses and the wheel, early settlers had to be content with river transport including horse ferries, or stay restricted to either the Northern or Southern sides of the Swan River. With increased development and the establishment of Fremantle, Perth and Guildford, roads and bridges became increasingly important.

Information on Convict built bridges is available here.

As an example of the development of Perth's first roads, the story of Canning Highway has been researched by Chris Fitzhardinge. The Museum of Perth also has an interesting webpage providing a history of 'The Causeway'.

EHWA is searching for further information on the development of Western Australia's roads.

The story of Western Australia's first timber bridges has been researched by Peter Palmer and was published in Western Roads in July 1979. A copy of Western Roads is available and the article is titled History of Timber Bridges in Western Australia.

Western Roads was published quarterly as the official journal of the Main Roads of Western Australia with Vol. 1 in January 1976, ceasing with Volume 22 in March 1999.

There are also a number of technical papers on timber bridges available. In particular papers prepared on Western Australian timber bridges are:

• Role of Timber Bridges Peter Palmer 1987;
• Management of Timber Road Bridges Joe Wyche 1989; and
• Conservation of Large Timber Structures Lloyd Margetts 2007.