Yarrawonga Mulwala Bridge turns 100

The Bridge:

I love the Yarrawonga Mulwala bridge. It’s flawed and quirky and it turned one hundred this weekend. The anniversary celebrations were at the lake this morning, where temperatures were already well into the 30s by 11:00 am.

And even in the absence of King Charles (he sent his regrets) and Australian Prime Minister Albanese (who probably didn’t), the anniversary had a huge turnout.

The Yarrawonga Mulwala bridge crosses the Murray River, which at over 2,500 kilometres, is the longest river in Australia. The Murray starts at the Snowy Mountains and then continues past Albury to bisect New South Wales and Victoria until it reaches South Australia.

The Dip:

When the bridge opened on December 13, 1924 the weir bridge was just a squiggle on a designer’s notepad and the lake was still a lagoon and flood plain. The bridge replaced a wooden one from 1891, and was a shared responsibility between the two state governments.

The NSW side was designed by Percy Allan, a civil engineer using a Pratt Truss design. Victoria was on the hook for their side. The idea was that the two sides would meet in the middle. And they did, but the Victoria side fell about a foot or so short, giving us its unconventional dip.

The Bend:

In the original plan, the idea was that the bridge would run in a relatively straight line, carrying traffic down a side street to the east of Belmore Street, the main street in town. But after construction started, merchants protested the potential loss of business, and it was decided to create a bend in the bridge and force traffic down the main street.

My favourite quote at the Yarrawonga/Mulwala Historical Society is from an unnamed newspaper in 1924: “The dip in the bridge was caused by position of the construction on the Victorian side, having been carried out before the new bridge was decided upon. This is a prime example of incorrect perspectives. The ‘new bridge’ does NOT refer to the NSW section over the actual Murray but the Victorian section across the lagoon near Belmore Street. This was built at a higher level than the original plan, hence the dip required to link the two sections. The NSW engineers are not to blame for this error.”

Copies of my new book, Beneath Dark Waters: The Legacy of the Empress of Ireland Shipwreck, are now available to preorder through my publisher Arsenal Pulp Press, from online retailers, and through independent bookstores across Canada

Myth Busting:

For decades now I’ve heard the story of the nameless Victorian engineer, who after seeing the results of his miscalculations, leapt off the top of the bridge trestle and drowned. After checking with Cyndi Gleeson of the local historical society today, I can crush that urban myth. Like the bridge, the story dates back to the 1920s, it’s just not true.

For the last 20-odd years various level of governments have squabbled over how to replace the bridge—the fourth busiest crossing along the Murray. The states want to demolish it, while the locals want to keep it and turn it into a bike/pedestrian crossing and build a newer, straighter, level bridge a little to the west.

Apparently, no one is holding their breath. According to this week’s Yarrawonga Chronicle, in 2024 the bridge was reinforced to increase its carrying weight from 38 to 64.5 tonnes.

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