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How the bridge appeared in the 1970's

dunedoo Thank you Peter for sharing this photograph.

Hornibrook Bridge, the facts and history Officially opened by the Governor, Sir Leslie Orme Wilson on Friday, October 4th, 1935, Hornibrook Bridge or Hornibrook Highway (technically just a viaduct) spanned between Sandgate and Clontarf. A distance of 2,686 meters, making it Australia’s longest bridge at the time. Building construction of monstrous proportions, the bridge builders (Manuel Hornibrook known as MR) relied heavily on local resources, for example, the 1746 corbels supporting the decking and were part of the 2.5 million cubic feet of timber used to build the Bridge, cut from forests north-west of Redcliffe in Conondale, Mapleton and Kilcoy. Aside from being the longest bridge in Australia, Hornibrook was also innovative in being one of the first privately owned toll bridges in Queensland. Tolls were collected on the northern entrance of the bridge, with the toll master living in a house built nearby. Due to popularity and to handle the increase in traffic, Houghton Highway was built to replace the Hornibrook Bridge in 1979, before a third bridge the Ted Smout Memorial Bridge, which was opened in 2010. Despite these new bridge-building projects, the original Hornibrook Bridge portals, north and south, still stand today and are heritage listed. The northern portal at Clontarf is known as the Hornibrook Pier. An essay by Manuel Hornibrook's granddaughter, Julie Hornibrook about the Hornibrook Highway can be accessed on the State Library of Queensland website. Source: www.visitmoretonbayregion.com.au/natural-attractions/horn...

In the 1850s a pair of settlers, John and Gavin Stewart, obtained forested land near what would become Bundaberg to supply timber to the pastoral industry that had recently been established in the region. A town was surveyed in 1868 on the south bank of the Burnett and was given the name Bundaberg, for the local Aboriginal Australians, the Bunda. It became a municipality in 1880, a town in 1881, and a city in 1913. Bundaberg developed into a centre for large sugar plantations established in the 1870s. It has sugar mills, refineries, and rum distilleries. Other industries include dairying, sawmilling, shipbuilding, and the manufacture of farm machinery. Sugar, golden syrup (treacle), and timber are exported. In December 2010 Bundaberg was flooded by heavy rains that caused the Burnett to rise to its highest level in decades, submerging the city’s eastern district; flood damage also caused the port to be closed for more than two months. Pop. (2006) local government area, 45,802; (2011) statistical local area, 47,946; local government area, 89,810. Source: www.britannica.com/place/Bundaberg

Barolin Street and the iconic post office clock tower.