brisbaneriver

The Hamilton Reach is popular for water sports. It is popular for recreational and competitive sailing. Historically, the Brisbane River had many commercial wharves used for the shipping of goods and passengers. However, with the growth in the size of ships, the increasing residential characters of the suburbs alongside the river, and the need to construct bridges over the river, most commercial shipping is now handled at the Port of Brisbane at the mouth of the Brisbane River and beyond into Moreton Bay through land reclamation. Former commercial wharves and associated on-shore industrial facilities along the Brisbane River are frequently redeveloped into residential and leisure facilities. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilton_Reach

[http://www.flickr.com/photos/51979177@N02] Thanks Quasymody :)

Parliament House on the right with the Treasury Building on the left .

The second and current Albert Bridge was built in 1895.[5] It was designed by Henry Charles Stanley, Queensland's Chief Engineer of Railways from 1891 to 1901 and is considered his major work.[2] He designed a "Hogsback" steel truss bridge on masonry piers. In designing the bridge as two long spans with one central pier, he tried to minimize the obstruction to flood waters created by multiple piers, which had been the downfall of the first bridge. Innovations in the design included the attachment of cross girders, protection against derailment, provision against strong wind gusts, and provision for free expansion under varying temperatures. The working drawings and specifications were prepared by FL Keir of the Chief Engineer's office and were completed by mid-1893. Keir was also the resident engineer on the site. A condition of the construction contract was that as much of the work as possible be done in Queensland. Messrs McCormick erected a workshop adjacent to the site at Indooroopilly, and imported machinery necessary for constructing the superstructure and the caisson for the central pier. Up to 240 persons were employed on-site at any one time, and quarry workers provided freestone from Pearson's quarries at Helidon, the bluestone in the concrete from Jenkin's Bundamba quarry, and the granite for the bedstones and cutwater quoins from Mount Crosby. In 1895 the bridge was the largest in Australia of local manufacture. The most difficult aspect of the work was the construction of the central pier and its foundation caisson. The latter weighed about 230 long tons (230 t), rested 81 feet (25 m) below the high water mark, and was sunk 2 feet (0.61 m) into the rock. The riverbed sand and gravel could be dredged, but divers extracted the rock manually.[1] The southern span was erected above what remained of the former bridge and was extended to the center pier. The old pylons were then removed.[1] The northern truss was floated into position. The shore end rested on two trolleys, and when the tide was at its highest, specially constructed staging on an old bark took the weight of the other end of the truss from temporary piles. Winches were then used to pull the hulk across the river toward the center pier, to which the truss was attached. The bridge was integral to the southwest railway system linking Brisbane with Ipswich, the Darling Downs, and southeast Queensland. With increased traffic, it was supplemented with an adjacent upstream rail bridge in 1957, which together remained the only Brisbane River rail crossing prior to the construction of the Merivale Bridge in 1978. The Albert Bridge currently handles only passenger traffic. Source: www.wikiwand.com/en/Albert_Bridge,_Brisbane The cores of the earlier bridge abutments were widened and heightened to take the new superstructure. Parapets were constructed after the trusses had been fixed in place and were completed in November 1895.[1] When opened the bridge also catered for pedestrian traffic,[1] until the construction of the nearby Walter Taylor Bridge in 1937.