A nice night for it!

With winter approaching far too fast for my liking, I am making the most of any good weather which comes along. So, with that in mind, I hit the river late on a sunny afternoon for a short paddle between Breakwater and Prince's Bridge with a stop along the way for a picnic dinner with the family.

James Harrison and Barwon Bridges, looking east

The end result was a swag of scenic sunset shots (conveniently enough I was paddling west) and a swag of dark, often blurry, shots after sunset as I attempted to come to terms with the finer points of aperture size and shutter speed on my fairly simple "point and shoot" camera.

The McIntyre bridge, looking west

Sunset over Highton

Still looking west

As the light levels dropped, the cockies and corellas which had been screeching in the trees and wheeling overhead while we were eating dinner, dispersed and now, the usual array of birds was replaced by "bats". By bats, I actually mean Grey-headed Flying-foxes which I looked at in a previous post.


As night falls and the full moon rises

Fortunately I am used to the noise these guys make (they often frequent the large Silky oak tree in my backyard), otherwise, the sound of their squeaks and squawks along what were by now very quiet and dark banks, could have been rather disturbing. As it was, the occasional splash as something unseen broke the water's surface seemed far more prominent than during daylight.


In town it is never really dark

By the time darkness (such as it was on a clear night with a full moon) descended, there were no pedestrians on the riverbank and no-one on the water either - except me and the occasional waterbird who I think was as surprised to see me as I was to see them.

Everything looks different at night

As well as everything looking and sounding different in darkness, it smelled different as well. What little breeze there had been on dusk disappeared completely. The surface of the river was like glass and the moisture level in the atmosphere increased noticeably, giving everything that fresh, cool smell.

Breakwater Bridge under the full moon

Finally, after a very different paddle, I made it back to Breakwater in time to hear a train tooting its way towards Geelong from Marshall Station. Time then, as I waited for a pick up, for one last shot...

The 20:39 train from Waurn Ponds crosses the Barwon

River art!

In many places graffiti can be a problem, however in some cases it can be an interesting form of public art and one which I mentioned a while back in a previous post. Over the last week or so, I have noticed several new pieces around Geelong and a couple of them have even been on the Barwon.


Informal bridge art on the Barwon near Queen's Park

The above piece which I spotted this afternoon on a stroll along the river near Queen's Park, would be visible from the river and possibly the opposite bank. It reminded me that for the last week or so I had been noticing another picture which had appeared rather prominently under the James Harrison Bridge and which was quite detailed. So of course, I dashed off to take some photos of that too.

James Harrison Bridge art

I am not sure if this piece is officially sanctioned, however it is certainly lending some colour to the otherwise rather grey surrounds of the bridge. It would be interesting to know who the artist was and whether any more additions are planned.


The James Harrison Bridge

Finally, whilst it is not on the Barwon, the most impressive piece would seem to be the wall of the toilet block at St Helen's on Corio Bay. On such a scale, I assume it has been made to order, however once again I do not know who the artist(s) is/are.


At St Helen's, Corio Bay

It has occurred to me several times over the last few years that there are several large, blank walls that could use a similar treatment. Enough such pieces in the right places and perhaps a walking/riding art trail might be developed. Who knows!

A Scot on the rocks

James Harrison

There is one notable Geelong citizen who had strong ties to the Barwon River whom I have not yet mentioned in detail in any of my previous posts.
That person was James Harrison, founder of the Geelong Advertiser and the first person in the world to devise a method of making ice and he did this at Rocky Point, overlooking the river in Newtown.
Harrison was born in Scotland in 1816 and trained as a printer's apprentice in Glasgow, followed by a stint working in London before emigrating to Sydney in 1837. By 1839 he was in Melbourne and working with John Pascoe Fawkner, from whom he bought an old printing press. On 21st November, 1840, the first edition of the Geelong Advertiser was published and by 1842, Harrison along with John Scamble had bought out Fawkner. It was not long however, before Harrison became the sole proprietor, making the Advertiser successful on more than just a local level. It was his paper which was first to break the news of the discovery of gold at Clunes in 1850 and he also used it as a vehicle to agitate for the rights of squatters.
Nor was this his only project and it can be seen that his name was also associated with several of the earliest maps of Geelong, magazines and other publications, both locally and in NSW.  He was also active in local politics, serving as a councilor and in the Victorian Legislative Assembly, espousing progressive policies and maintaining a strongly humanitarian approach throughout his life.

Plaque at Rocky Point

However, it was his work in the printing industry which led to his eventually discovering a means of commercial refrigeration. Whilst using ether to clean the movable characters used to set type, he noticed that the metal became cold as the ether evaporated. It was this observation which led him in 1851 to develop the ether-vapour compression refrigeration system. His first mechanical ice-maker was built at Rocky Point in 1851 and then a machine capable of producing commercial quantities of ice (3,000kg per day) in 1854.
Over the next two decades, he twice attempted experiments aimed at shipping cold or frozen meat to London. Neither was successful and each ended in financial ruin, forcing him to turn back to journalism as editor and then columnist at the Melbourne Age to re-establish his finances.

James Harrison Bridge from the north bank

In 1892, after nearly two decades living in England and promoting his refrigeration techniques,  he returned to Geelong where he lived at Point Henry with his third wife and a number of children. He died there the following year and was buried at the Eastern Cemetery. Interestingly, his grave sits only a few metres away from that of his contemporary and fellow pioneer - Foster Fyans.
Whilst Harrison did not benefit financially in any great way from his pioneering work on ice-making, his contribution laid the foundations for the development of modern refrigeration. Recognition of this achievement came in 1990 when the newly completed bridge over the Barwon was named the James Harrison Bridge in his honour.

Plaque on the grave of James Harrison at the
Eastern Cemetery

The bridge - actually a pair of two-lane bridges -  is a concrete cantilever construction with box-girder sections on the south side of the river. It was built between 1988 and 1990, extending La Trobe Terrace and taking traffic from the Princes Highway off busy Moorabool Street and easing congestion through Belmont.

However, continued housing development south of the Barwon lead to significant congestion on this section of the highway and it was not until the opening of the long-awaited Geelong Ring Road in December 2008 that the problem was - at least in part - solved.

Grave of James Harrison at the Eastern Cemetery

Some sources report that a further tribute to James Harrison is planned in the form of a museum at Rocky Point where he conducted those first ice-making experiments on land leased from Ebenezer Davies, a local tannery worker. However, there does not seem to have been much progress of late and one recent report suggests that the project may not go ahead.

Building Bridges

Bridges are useful things, but we do tend to take them for granted. You can cross over them, jump from them, be pushed from them, fall from them and even - as I discovered - throw murdered bodies off them. When they are not there, life becomes significantly more difficult.
During the recent floods, the bridge over the Barwon at Breakwater was, as usual, out of action forcing a significant amount of traffic to use other crossings. Imagine the inconvenience then, when the only real bridge over the river - the Barwon Bridge on Moorabool Street - was swept away in the major floods of May, 1852. It had only been built in 1848.

Construction of the new bridge at Breakwater

It was not until the end of the year that the government organised a punt to carry those wishing to cross the river from one side to the other. This situation continued for another year until two more punts were rigged to form a floating pontoon, which then had to suffice until a two-lane iron bridge was built in 1859. One imagines that private vessels were also used to cross the river and that some private operators charging a fee may not have been so unhappy with the loss of the bridge as the general community.
The current bridge - widened in the 1960s and again last year to meet requirements for the International World Cycling Championships held in Geelong - was built in 1926 to allow trams to cross.
As a quick search of Wikipedia will tell you, that in addition to the Barwon Bridge there are a number of bridges crossing the Barwon along its lower reaches. There is the controversially rebuilt Barwon Heads bridge at the mouth of the Barwon, joining Barwon Heads and Ocean Grove. In addition to the Barwon Bridge, Geelong has the ovoid sewer aqueduct, the Breakwater Bridge and the rail bridge which crosses both the river and the road bridge at this point, the James Harrison Bridge, the McIntyre Bridge, the Queen's Park Bridge and even the little foot bridge which crosses the Barwon at Fyansford. Then there is the soon to be completed replacement for the Breakwater Bridge which will re-align Breakwater road and flood-proof the river crossing at that point.

John M McIntyre Bridge

Whilst not always the most aesthetically attractive examples, several of these Bridges are significant from an architectural perspective. The John M McIntyre Bridge was built in 1968 to carry sewerage across the river to Black Rock. It is a "post-tensioned, prestressed stayed girder"which at the time of its construction was an Australian first.
John M McIntyre after whom the bridge was named was the Engineer-in-chief of the Geelong Waterworks (precursor to Barwon Water) and was involved in the the construction of the West Barwon Dam and reservoirs at Bostock and Lal Lal and extension works at the Wurdee Boluc Reservoir. The bridge which bears his name also provides pedestrian access across the river and - if memory serves me correctly - makes a handy reference point on the rowing course. Word has it that once your boat reaches the "Sh*!t Bridge" you row hell for the finish line.

Queen's Park Bridge

At one time, the ovoid sewer aqueduct served the same purpose. It is an architecturally important structure, built over three years between 1913 and 1916 which I think I have discussed in a previous post. Its 14 reinforced concrete cantilever spans however, are in a crumbling state despite the structure being listed on the Victorian National Estate Register and access to and thoroughfare under the aqueduct is prohibited. The pipe was decommissioned in 1993 and its eventual fate still hangs in the balance.
The Queen's Park Bridge is another historically significant bridge across the Barwon. The present single-lane steel structure dates to 1930. The site was initially serviced by a punt and was used as a cattle crossing with a wooden bridge built for the purpose in 1861. This was twice washed away in floods, first in 1870 and again in 1909. Purely functional are the new twin bridges which cross the river to the west of town. They were built in 2009 as part of the Geelong Ring Road which allows coastal traffic to avoid the congestion of local roads through the city.
Likewise, the James Harrison Bridge which crosses the river just upstream from the original Barwon Bridge, is designed purely for road traffic. Although this does not stop it being taken over for an hour or two on the third Sunday in November by the several hundred runners who have for the past two years completed the "Run Geelong" fun run event.

Pollocksford Bridge

Then of course, there is the Princes Bridge which appears to be the favoured point from which to dump the bodies of murder victims as I have noted previously. The present bridge is the third structure to stand near this site. The previous two, located a little further downstream, were named for Queen Victoria's husband Albert, the Prince Consort. The initial timber structure was built the year after Albert's death, in 1861. A second bridge with the same name was erected in 1889 to replace the first which was in a poor state of repair. This in turn was extensively repaired in 1959 and then replaced with the present bridge in 1965.
Once out of Geelong,  the bridges become more widely spaced. Heading further upstream, the first is the Merrawarp Road Bridge and then the Pollocksford Bridge - a five span bluestone bridge built in 1859. The next crossing point is on the Inverleigh-Winchelsea Road just out side of Inverleigh, near the confluence of the Leigh and Barwon Rivers.

Winchelsea Bridge

Possibly the most picturesque bridge across the Barwon is the bluestone Barwon River Bridge, built in 1867 to replace two previous timber structures. This bridge was replicated in later years with a prestressed concrete structure being built slightly downstream of the first.
Other bridge crossings I have yet to investigate include the Winchelsea-Deans Marsh Road which appears to cross a shallow stretch of the river at a natural ford, Kildean Lane and Conn's Lane. Another road bridge lies just outside of Birregurra on the Birregurra-Deans Marsh Road, then one on the Colac-Murroon Road and Dewing's Bridge Road. All appear to be modern concrete structures of little aesthetic interest.
At this point I become somewhat confused, but know of at least one more bridge just past Barwon Downs and another on the outskirts of the township of Forrest, below the West Barwon Dam. Then finally, at the base of the dam is a little foot bridge designed for pedestrian access.
In general it would seem that most of the bridges over the Barwon have been built for function rather than appearance, however several have long histories which tie in with the story of Geelong and the farming communities through which the river flows.