Baroota Creek Bridge

There is quite a bit of history regarding this bridge and it all begins with the construction of the Port Germein Gorge.

There was a budget of £7000 that had been voted for to construct the road, a construction that originally had been thought to be impossible. The construction of the road wound up being constructed well under budget with the remainder of the money being used to construct the Baroota Creek Bridge Crossing, much need infrastructure at the time.

The construction of this bridge meant consistent access to Port Germein. This was of great economic importance to the town, but also to the agriculture industry.

The bridge was 112 feet (34.14m) long, by 20 feet (6.1m) wide. The piles and girders were Red Gum which was obtained from the Wirrabara Forest and the decking was West Australian Jarrah. It was described at the time in the Supplement to the South Australian Register (Tuesday, June 15th, 1880) as being a well-built, good, substantial bridge.

It was officially opened on June 8th, 1880. Mrs. S Miller, who was considered as being the oldest lady pioneer of Port Germein, was chosen to perform the ceremony of christening the bridge. At the time this was done by what was described as "the usual formalities" and then breaking a bottle of wine on the bridge. Upon the completion of this ceremony, the bridge was declared open for traffic.

To find read the historical newspaper article, visit The National Library of Australia Trove