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Something mysterious about Royal Hotel. CHARTERS TOWERS' RICH HISTORY TOLD THROUGH GHOSTLY TALES The gold rush brought out the best and the worst in people according to history buff Jack Sim. Jack runs ghost tours in Brisbane and has recently brought the business to Charters Towers. He was attracted to the north Queensland town because of its rich and prosperous history; he says the town is full of ghost stories. Hotel home to grizzly tales The Royal Hotel is one of the stops on the ghost tour - a grand old building with a dark past. "It was here in 1901 that there was a dramatic and terribly violent incident that took place," Jack said. An estranged couple, the Cordays, met at the hotel. That was despite the fact that Mrs. Corday, and her friend who accompanied her, knew that Mr. Corday had violent intentions toward his wife following their separation. "He was unhappy with her extra-marital relationships," Jack recounted. "After leaving them to come into the bar here to get some drinks for his partner... he re-entered the room [but] instead of having drinks in his hand he held a revolver. "He shot her at virtually point-blank range in the head, and then took his own life in the bar." As the years went on it became well known around town that the dead couple haunted the pub. They are joined by one of the hotel's former proprietors, Mrs. McDonald, who owned the pub for 50 years. "The current owner of the hotel, she tells me that when she comes up the staircase she feels Mrs. McDonald walking right beside [her] as she comes up the stairs each day," he said. "Not in a bad way, she just feels like the lady that was her predecessor is just there with her, helping her to manage the hotel." Source: www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2015/05/11/4233354.htm

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.

Three and half years after the collapse of the first Victoria Bridge the council built the second Victoria Bridge. This bridge was designed by Alfred Barton Brady and constructed of steel, wrought iron, stone, and cement. It was built in two halves, with the first half opening in 1896 and consisting of a single lane of traffic and a walkway for pedestrians. The second half was built over the following year and joined to the first half. The completed bridge was opened on 22 June 1897 by Lord Charles Lamington, Governor of Queensland. The completed bridge now had two traffic lanes with a footpath on each side. This city of Brisbane rapidly grew in the early twentieth century and by 1943 the bridge started to show signs of bucking from the weight of traffic and trams. The number of trams crossing the bridge was reduced and the footpath closed. The second Victoria Bridge stayed in service for 73 years until 1969 when it was replaced with the current, third Victoria Bridge, built to meet growing traffic demands. There was a short period of time when both bridges stood next to each other when the third bridge opened and the second bridge was being demolished, see photograph below. One of the stone entrance arches from the second Victoria Bridge still stands today on the South Brisbane side of the river. The entrance arch is heritage listed and serves as a memorial to 11-year-old Hector Vasyli who in 1918, during the celebrations marking the end of the First World War was struck and killed by one of the vehicles in the parade. Source: www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/history-brisbanes-victoria-bridge