A Ramble Along the Barwon

In my previous post I looked at the Geelong identity who was William Stitt Jenkins. From 1853 to 1876, the Poet of the Pivot, the Bard of the Barwon or even the Water Poet as he was variously called wrote about anything which caught his attention; politics, religion, teetotalism - especially that. Another subject dear to his heart was water; access to it, the quality of it, the lack of it, the health benefits of it, the dangers of it, even the pleasure of living and walking by it.
The poem below was published in the Geelong Advertiser of 23rd October, 1861 and gives an interesting insight into Jenkins' life, his home, his opinions and his view of the Barwon River. On the latter, he was well positioned to comment. By March, 1861 Jenkins and his family were living in Noble Street on Newtown Hill, a location which commanded some of the best views in Geelong.
According to a retrospective published in the Geelong Advertiser (21st July, 1928), there were only three houses on the south side of Noble St between Shannon Ave (then known as the West Melbourne Rd) and the river when Jenkins lived there. One was the historic 'Chesterfield' (221 Noble Street today), next was Stitt Jenkins' house - a five roomed cottage on a one acre block - and the last was a bigger home closer to the river at the end of the street.
From his doorstep, Jenkins could see the Barwon Valley laid out below him and he would often sit on a large, flat rock which he had positioned in front of his house. On the rock - unsurprisingly - he had inscribed a line or two of verse which invited passersby to have a rest and enjoy the view. Taking inspiration from the scenery spread out before him, Jenkins would also sit there to write his many poems and letters. The poem below may well have been one.

A RAMBLE

A week of anxious care is o'er,

I reach again my cottage door,

And free am I to work or play

This afternoon of Saturday.

Say, shall I in the garden dig,

Or ride? Alas! I have no gig;

Nor horse, nor ass, nor yet a cow!

Quite poor enough, you must allow.

Yet, not so poor; I have a wife

To cheer and comfort me through life.

And children more than two or three.

The childless, rich may envy me.

And then behold my humble cot,

Perched on a sweet romantic spot,

With seat of wood and one of stone,

There rest ye by the rhymer's home.

Part of Euguene von Guerard's painting "View of Geelong" 1856, showing the
site  of Jenkins' cottage, yet to be built. I believe "Chesterfield" is to the right of
 the bright green field. Jenkins' cottage would have stood somewhere to its left.
Original painting held by the Geelong Art Gallery

Lo. There the faithful wall-flower blows;

The China moss and monthly rose,

The proud geranium, ivy old,

The lily and the marigold,

The honeysuckle, sweet is there,

The fragrant wattle scents the air,

And groves of green and azure sky

Together joint to charm the eye.

I see afar the glimmering sail

Of thy white mill, O, Riversdale,

And mill, and vale, and stream, and lake,

One bright harmonious picture make.

I hear the hum of busy bee,

The magpie chatters on the tree,

The eaglehawk is soaring high,

He wants my chickens, so do I.

Riversdale Flour Mill on the Barwon at Chilwell, 1866. Image taken by
John Norton, held by the State Library of Victoria

But leave the chickens and our home,

And come with me awhile to roam

Over the hills and far away,

To spend, in peace, our holiday.

Leave we awhile the cares of life,

Escape from envy's jealous strife,

Let wrangling men say what they will,

It harms me not on this green hill.

Free from the strife and dust of town,

By river side we wander down,

Then cross the bridge and soon, I wean,

Enter the "Garden of the Queen"--

A lovely spot where waters meet.

Sure Paradise was ne'er more sweet.

See flower-decked sod and glittering pool

Where Barwon joins with Moorabool.

Queen's Park, 1866, showing Queen's Park Bridge and looking towards the
confluence of the Barwon and Moorabool Rivers. Image held by the State
Library of Victoria

See Fyansford in beauty lies,

See hills on hills majestic rise,

And tow'ring clouds together throng

To crown thee verdant Buninyong,

Survey awhile the orphans' home!

Once more by river side we roam,

The gallant boats glide swiftly by,

And all around is peace and joy.

The Protestant Orphanage, Herne Hill c1873. Image taken by Thomas J.
Washbourne, held by the State Library of Victoria

Blow balmy breezes through the dell,

Still tinkle thou melodious bell,

Flutter ye insects 'mid the grass,

Aglow, O sun, o'er mountain pass.

Ye herds, your lowing cattle bring,

Ye rural maidens sweetly sing,

And dance ye children on the green,

And sight more glorious ne'er was seen.

But, lo, what doleful sights are these?

What Goth or Hun hath felled these trees,

And borne the timber clear away

On some unhappy bullock dray?

See, here a forest monarch stood!

What Vandal hand has fired the wood

What Lord Tom Noddy has been here

Some brainless dolt, to all is clear.

View across Queen's Park towards Newtown Hill, 1878, by Fred Kruger
showing the extent of deforestation. Image held by the National Gallery of
Victoria, a gift of  Mrs Beryl M Curl, 1979

But come away, and let it pass

(Meanwhile I'll write him down an ass)

And let us hide from mortal eye,

Where Buckley's falls leap foaming by.

Behold those most fantastic trees,

Where sighs the mournful evening breeze,

How drear those huge mis-shapen rocks,

Worn by the torrents ceaseless shocks.

A sketch made c1855 by artist Eugene von Guerard from Buckley Falls
again looking back towards Queen's Park and Newtown Hill. Image
held by the State Library of New South Wales

Which boils and bounds from shore to shore,

And rushes on for evermore.

What careth the wild mountain stream

for Lord or Bishop, King or Queen?

The black man came and passed away

Before the white man's conquering sway.

When both are to oblivion gone

The river shall go rolling on.

Why start you now, and trembling shake?

You say you fear some awful snake;

Ah, fear it not, but sit you down,

The snakes, dear friend, are gone to town.

There they in holes and corners lurk

To do their most unholy work,

And spit their venom, when they can,

On those who serve ungrateful man.

But see, the fast declining day

Warns us, my friend, to best away!

The pelicans go shrieking by,

And all things tell that night is nigh.

The dragon flies with ceaseless hum,

With merry crickets singing come.

And, see, along you ancient log,

To serenade us, comes the frog.

Moonrise over the Bunyip Pool and Buckley Falls, November 2012

The water-rat peeps from his hole,

And see the bat and miner mole;

And now from every rock and tree

Burst forth the night's wild melody.

The laughing jackass hoarsely brays--

"The man that has seen better days,"

The owl exclaims "too-whit--too-who,"

And says--poor sinners, off you go."

Alas, how dark and drear,--but, soon

Appears the ever glorious moon.

And gilds each hill and vale with light.

And reigns the radiant queen of night,

While in the vault of heaven on high

Bright hosts of stars now deck the sky.

Great Lord, who ruleth night and day,

From this green sod to Thee we pray.

We reach the bridge, we cross the stream,

Again the rhymer's home is seen:

There bathed in moonlight, see it stand,

An emblem of the happy land.

Our ramble o'er, within we jog,

The kettle singeth on the hob.

Rejoice with us o'er day well sped.

Good night--we now are off to bed.

WILLIAM STITT JENKINS

Geelong Advertiser, 23rd October, 1861

In addition to observing the industries and sights along the Barwon, Jenkins also makes mention of the Saturday half holiday which he had been instrumental in establishing in Geelong. In referencing snakes, he might well have been alluding to his - probably fairly numerous - detractors whom I suspect found his methods of campaigning on local issues somewhat tiresome.
Regardless of Jenkins' personal crusades and contentious public life, the Barwon was clearly a favourite location where he spent enough time to gain an understanding of not only his built surroundings but also of the flora and fauna, expressing his interest in the latter as well as his dismay at the extent of the deforestation which had occurred along the river within a mere 25 years since the arrival of European settlement.

Yell for Cadel!

Following the Momentum Energy People's Ride and the women's race on Saturday 31st January, Sunday saw the inaugural staging of the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race. As I did the day before, I headed off on Sunday to various points along the Barwon in order to snap some photos of the men in action.
My first stop was once again the Breakwater Bridge which the peloton hit about 15 minutes into the race. With threatening, grey skies overhead, I joined a group of locals and waited for the travelling circus to arrive. This they did with the usual parade of zooming motorbikes and support cars accompanied by the expected cavalcade of police vehicles.

All together over the Breakwater Bridge

A few short seconds and they were off to Barwon Heads and with drizzle beginning to fall, I was off to Queen's Park to await the return of the field, with enough time for a coffee stop along the way. Once there, I sussed out my options, selected a spot and as the rain continued to fall, I ate lunch and kept an eye on the live stream to see how far off the riders were. As I waited, I was joined by increasing numbers of the locals who had come out from the surrounding homes to watch the race pass by, which it eventually did at about 2pm.


The entourage crossing the Queen's Park Bridge ahead of the riders

I snapped away along with everyone else as the three leading riders swept across the bridge closely followed by the peloton with a number of riders off the back.

Again the riders disappeared, although not so quickly this time, as the field was quite spread and their next move was a sharp left up the 20% gradient on Melville Ave.

The lead riders clear the bridge with the peloton hot on its heels

I suspect the front rider was not so much smiling for the camera as grimacing

Once they had passed, I followed on foot at a much more leisurely pace and headed off to my next viewing location overlooking Queen's Park at the top of the Deviation. Once again, I waited with another group of locals as the riders hit the first lap of the 20km street circuit around Geelong. I estimated a wait of about 20 minutes and I was pretty close to the mark.

The leading trio hit the Deviation

The peloton about to descend

With thunderous-looking grey clouds in the background, the field were over the hill and gone in short order, on their way to climb the cement works hill, (known by us locals as "Cementies"). At about this point, the rain started to come down again - harder. My next test was to see if I could ride the 5km back to the Barwon Bridge in town in the time it took them to ride the 10.5km to the same point via Geelong West and the Waterfront. And the answer was? Not quite. I did make it to the opposite side of the river in time to grab a few more snaps but then had to cross the river and wait to catch them on the third (and final) lap of the street circuit.

This I managed to do and set myself up at the bottom of the bend in the hope of some good action shots. Although the man of the moment didn't oblige by appearing front and centre in any of my photos, I did get a reasonable shot of some of the Team Cannondale-Garmin boys taking the bend for the final time.

Team Cannondale-Garmin rounding the bend on Barrabool Road

Then there was just one final climb for me, up from the river and down to the Waterfront, hopefully in time for the big finish. This time, I arrived with more than a few minutes to spare and took up position about 100m from the finish line to wait.

The sprint for the finish line

It didn't take long for the riders to appear and then the sprint for the finish line was well and truly on. When it was all done and dusted, the win went to Gianni Meersman of Extixx-Quick Step, second was Simon Clarke from Orica GreenEDGE and third was Nathan Haas from Team Cannondale-Garmin With Cadel finishing fifth.

Cadel and son Robel heading for the presentation area after the race

As the riders headed for their tents, we headed over to watch the presentations before heading home to wait for next year's race...

A Right Royal River

In view of all the attention given to the recent Diamond Jubilee celebrations marking the 60th year of Queen Elizabeth's reign, I thought it might be interesting to see what - if any - connection the British royal family might have had to the Barwon River since the advent of white settlement.

In keeping with the prevalent attitudes of the 19th century, several structures built along the river through Geelong at that time were named for members of the royal family.  My Building Bridges post looked at some of them, such as Princes Bridge (originally the Prince Albert Bridge) which was built in 1861 and named for the the consort of that other English monarch to reach her Diamond Jubilee - Queen Victoria.

The original Prince Albert Bridge built in 1861, reproduction rights held by
the State Library of Victoria

Second Prince Albert Bridge built 1889. This photo taken 1937, reproduction
rights owned by the State Library of Victoria

The current Princes Bridge built in 1965. The second bridge would have been
located in the foreground of the picture

Likewise, Queen's Park and the bridge across the river at that point were named for Queen Victoria. Perhaps not surprisingly, the naming of both bridges caused local controversy, as a new breed of colonials took on the royalists of the day. Again, this was the topic of a previous post: What's in a Name.
Okay, so Geelong's monarchists liked to honour the royals by naming public structures after them, but until 1867 none of them had actually set foot on Australian soil, let alone seen the Barwon River. This changed on 3rd December, 1867 when Queen Victoria's second son Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh  arrived in Winchelsea where he laid the final stone in the newly built bridge across the river.

Commemorative stone in the Barwon River Bridge at Winchelsea

Ironically, whilst other bridges along the river pay tribute to English royalty, this one bridge which had the distinction of being opened by a member of the royal family is known simply as the Barwon River Bridge.

Barwon River Bridge, Winchelsea

Barwon River Bridge, Winchelsea

As part of his visit to the district, the prince also visited Thomas Austin at Barwon Park where he participated in rabbit shoots on the banks of the Barwon. So successful were they that the hundreds of rabbits bagged were distributed amongst the local populace who referred to the bounty as "rabbit royale".
Two years later on a return trip in 1869, the prince once again visited the Austins. It was as a result of these royal visits that the present day Barwon Park mansion was built in 1871, as the Austins felt that the structure which existed previously was not suitably grand enough for such esteemed company as princes.

 A photograph of HRH Prince Alfred, Duke of
Edinburgh, c1868 held by the National Library
of Australia

Although there have been other royal visits to Geelong - the Duke and Duchess of York visited Geelong in 1927 and Queen Elizabeth II passed through during her 1954 tour of the country - I can see little indication that a member of the British royal family has graced the banks of the Barwon with their presence since that visit by the Duke of Edinburgh 145 years ago.
One possible exception however, was the visit of Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (uncle of Queen Elizabeth II) who was pictured with a group standing in front of the Returned Sailors and Soldiers Woollen Mill at the bottom end of Pakington Street (current photos shown here) during a visit in 1934.
Another royal connection to the Barwon - albeit a tenuous one - occurred during the Queen's 1988 visit to Australia. On this occasion, Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia was escorted in Australian waters by the frigate HMAS Canberra. The Canberra was decommissioned in 2005 and then in October, 2009, watched by several hundred interested locals (myself included), she was towed to a point off Barwon Heads and - after several hour's delay - scuttled. She is now used as a dive wreck.

The HMAS Canberra being towed to waters off Barwon Heads prior to its
being scuttled

So much for English monarchs! On  a final note, as I researched this post, I discovered that the Barwon has its own royalty. Each year, the Ocean Grove Angling Club bestows upon its best angler the title of King or Queen of the Barwon. According to the club website, the current reigning monarch has achieved this elevated status on at least three other occasions.

What a difference a day makes

As of 4pm Wednesday the Barwon has not yet peaked in Geelong. The estimated time has now been pushed out to sometime tonight or early tomorrow but the water level is definitely rising. (Updated Thursday 7th June roughly as waterlevels peaked just below the minor flood level of 2.5m, see photo below.)

Old Breakwater Bridge, Tuesday 5th June, 2:45pm

Old Breakwater Bridge, Wednesday 6th June, 1:45pm

Old Breakwater Bridge 7th June, 11:50am at peak water level

The 2 top photos were taken about a day apart, the latter just as VicRoads was preparing to close the bridge to traffic.

VLine train crossing the flooded Barwon River

I also took the opportunity to take some photos which I doubt have been seen before as the new Breakwater Bridge endures its first flooding event.

Rail bridge and Old Breakwater Bridge in flood 6th June
as seen from the new bridge

At other points along the river through Geelong, things were also progressing as they usually do. Below is the view from Queen's Park this afternoon:

Queen's Park in flood from above

Elsewhere, the path opposite the rowing sheds was under water by this morning, the mill race at the paper mill was overflowing:

The paper mill at Buckley Falls

and a little upstream, the Bunyip Pool was well on the way to becoming a turbulent mass of water:

Water levels rising at the Bunyip Pool, 6th June, 2012

I also noticed that the resident bird life has been quick to take advantage of what I assume is an increase in available food sources as insects and perhaps even fish are driven from their normal homes.

One of a pair of pelicans catching breakfast in the shallows of the
flood waters this morning near the Moorabool Street Bridge

Mudlark with an insect driven out by the rising waters

As of Friday morning, water levels are receding. As predicted, the river peaked in Geelong around midday Thursday  at 2.42m just below the minor flood level (2.5m). Earlier predictions of about 2.8m were not realized.
Whilst this is by no means a record-breaking flood event, there are still some interesting statistics which have arisen from the recent weather. The Geelong Advertiser carried an article today which pointed out that the rain which fell between Sunday afternoon and Tuesday (about 61mm) was the largest in a 3 day period in June since 1952, which it will be remembered, was the year of Geelong's "great flood". The rainfall on Monday also approached the record for the single wettest June day on record which occurred on 1st June, 1939.
However, with no further significant rain forecast for the present, river height records of the past are safe for now.

The flow of progress

Over the past 180 years since European settlement, attitudes towards the care and management of the Barwon River have changed dramatically. A look at newspapers over the years also shows quite a difference in priorities between now and the 19th and even well into the 20th century.

The Barwon River at Queen's Park c1866. This image is held by the State
Library of Victoria

Whilst the Moorabool during the drought years of the last decade has been described as one of the most stressed rivers in the state, the Leigh and Barwon Rivers do not seem to have suffered so greatly, with a shortfall in water volume estimated at about 4,700ML (per year I assume) in a paper published by the government in 2006. Recent years of good rainfall have no doubt improved this situation somewhat. At the time of publication, the upper reaches of the Barwon were described as being in good condition, however the lower reaches were not so healthy, despite having what was considered to be an adequate level of water flow.

In the next few posts, I will transcribe some articles which were published in The Argus newspaper (now The Age) in the late 19th and the 20th centuries and which provide an interesting comparison to the attitudes of conservation and regeneration which are espoused today.

The Barwon River at Queen's Park c1882. This image is held by the State
Library of Victoria from the Fine Art Photographs of Victoria

The first article appeared in The Argus, Thursday, 24^th March, 1892:

Complaints have been made regarding the pollution of the Barwon River at South Geelong, a process which has been going on for many years past. The evil effects of it, however have not been manifested to any great extent until lately, when the odours from the stagnant pool have become almost unbearable. In a particular part of the river the water has actually become fouled from decaying organic matter and the steady flow of liquids from tanneries, fellmongeries and wool-scouring premises, and in hot weather the smells arising from the river have been of a most unpleasant nature. The health committee and officers of health of the town have awoke to the existence of the nuisance, and after examinations and analyses they decided today to recommend that prompt steps should be taken to apply a remedy. It is proposed that each factory should provide filter beds for catching the refuse from the factories and running the liquids into charcoal, &c, with the view of preventing a continuance of the nuisance.

Barwon River at Queen's Park, 1937. This image is held by the State
Library of Victoria

The following article appeared in The Argus, Friday, 28^th November, 1924:

State Asked to do Work.

Following a conference at Geelong on October 10, at which was discussed a plan for the improvement of the Barwon River, representatives of the City of Geelong, the towns of Geelong West, Newtown, and Chilwell, the shires of Bannockburn, Bellarine, Corio, and South Barwon, the Geelong Harbour Trust commissioners, and the Barwon River Navigation League, who were present at the conference, waited on the Minister for Public Works (Mr. Goudie) yesterday to ask for the removal of a breakwater and the construction of a lock on the Barwon River.

Mr. Richardson, M.L.C., who introduced the deputation, said that the state of the Barwon River had been acause of dissension among the people of Geelong for more than 50 years. As they had been unable to reach an agreement it had been decided to ask the Ministry to settle the matter. It was desired that the breakwater, which hampered the flow of the stream, should be removed; that salt water from the sea should be prevented from going up the river and rendering the water unfit for stock purposes. At the same time the plan would have to make provision for the periodical flushing of the river, as it flowed very slowly. In the lower reaches, near the factory sites, the river became in summer practically a cesspool. The adoption of the plan would enable an area of about 1,750 acres to be reclaimed. Land in the vicinity was worth about £60 an acre.

Mr. Brownbill, M.L.A., supported the request.

M4 Goudie said that the matter had to be regarded from the viewpoint of the Treasury, as the plan would entail the expenditure of a considerable sum of money. The many changes in the Ministry had increased the cost of administration, and he would like to know whether, in the event of the Ministry adopting the plan, the municipalities concerned would be prepared to contribute to the cost of the undertaking. Meanwhile he would send one of the departmental engineers down to inspect and report on the river.



The Barwon River at Queen's Park, c1920-1954. This image is held by
the Victorian State Library

And this is how the same view looks this afternoon on 7th April, 2012:

Queen's Park Bridge 7th April, 2012

In the next post we will step forward to 1949.





Blue and green

Well, it has been over a week since sections of the Barwon were closed to the public due to an outbreak of toxic blue green algae and far from improving, things seem to be getting worse! There has been little rain to speak of during the week and temperatures are hotting up again for the weekend.
As a result, the river has now been closed as far downstream as the breakwater and the green goop continues to spread. I had the chance to have a look at the section from Breakwater up to Fyansford during a run and walk yesterday (Friday) and whilst it doesn't look too much different at the Breakwater end, the section upriver from Queen's Park is currently a dozen different shades of green.

Blue green algae in the Barwon River above Queen's Park

I returned this afternoon with camera in hand to snap some more shots of the spreading scourge and hopefully of a little kingfisher I spotted on my way past yesterday. Both aims were fairly quickly achieved. The Barwon up to the confluence with the Moorabool River (as far as I went on this occasion) has a distinctly greenish tinge to it and will do for some time I am told.

Blue green algae at Queen's Park

Blue green algae

Around Queen's Park the algae is currently flowing slowly past in clumps and swirls and threads of green, aqua and every shade in between. There is one aspect however, which does not translate into a blog post, and that is the smell. It is in places - to say the least - unpleasant and gives a very particular scent to the air.

But enough of algae. I headed a little upriver and soon managed to find the kingfisher by virtue of the fact that it was being roundly chastised by a willie wagtail.

Willie Wagtail and Sacred Kingfisher

It didn't seem too concerned by this and perched on a branch and watched me take my shots. We then proceeded to play chasey amongst the trees whilst I attempted to find just the right angle. At one point it swooped down to the surface of the river after some prey in a flash of blue wings against green water.

Sacred Kingfisher near Fyansford

Sacred Kingfisher near Fyansford

Eventually I headed a little further upriver to take more shots before turning back. I was keeping an eye out for the kingfisher but would have walked straight past, had it not chosen precisely that moment to sing. We then played another short game of hide and seek before it took off for a dead tree on the opposite bank. Given the current state of the river, I had no intention of following and continued on my way downstream.

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.