135 Roads and Bridges

Roads and Bridges The chief reason for instituting local government in authorities to carry out road and bridge Queenslandwas to raise revenue and spend it on construction.' construction and maintenance of roads and . The Palmer introduced the idea bridges. Smee government of the 1850s the colomal government . Road Trusts mto Queensland in 1871, requesting had attempted to finance and co-ordinate road and districts to nominate Trustees to assist government bridge construction in response to settlement in supervising the expenditure of money on road patterns and pastoralists' demands. In 1849 £4,000 . - and bridge construction and mamtenance. Several was allocated for ex enditure in New South Wales trusts were formed for roads in the Brisbane on beyond the districts in 1851 roads settled and Valley. H.M. Aldam farmer), Charles £200 to (Newland, was voted of the County Benches for - each Ihle (Orange Grove farmer), Captam Vernor road maintenance. In 1853 the New South Wales (Cluen, gentleman) and J.S. Poole (Poolmount, Legislative Council recommended that local road farmer) were nominated as trustees for the road trusts be formed to manage road maintenance and from Pine Mountain to the first crossing of the extension assisted by Road Surveyors.' Brisbane River (twelve miles). The trust for the One of the first road projectsin Queensland was whole road from Ipswich to Nanango comprised the Burnett road via Durundur on which the W.M. Bowman (Mount Brisbane, landholder),J.H. government spent £1,500 in 1861. Crossings of the McConnel (Cressbrook,gentleman), G.E. Forbes Stanley River and Sheep Station Creek were (Colinton, landholder),Thomas Peters (EskCreek, repaired in 1865 and the approaches to Mary farmer), and D.C. McConnel (Cressbrook, Smokes Creek were formed. Two bridges were landholder). Richard Watson, James Dunlop, constructed in 1865-1866, one over Lockyer Creek George Andrews, JamesWest and J.A. Spiers, [all and the other over Buaraba Creek. The Lockyer Tarampa Reserve farmers), were trustees for the Creek bridge was 114 feet long and 16 feet wide, road from the Brisbane River to Tarampa Reserve.' Foreman of Works, Brightwell, was in charge of Longlands, Foreman of Works in the Roads the road party which had cleared a track through Department for the East and West Moreton the Rosewood Scrub near Tarampa for selections in . Districts, toured the districts with J. Stringfellow, the Agricultural Reserve. As well, £328 had been . Superintendent of local construction in 1871, spent on markmg a road from Buaraba to station inspecting The to Rosewood . repairs. road Scrub Colinton station, forty-one miles long, thirteen had already been improved by the construction of a miles of the road as far as Eskdale had been . made deviation 1871 from Edward's farm to trafficable 2 m Semphill's (sic)avoiding the Fairnie Lawn swamps Upper Brisbane River residents called a meeting and the red ridges and making it considerably on 17 May 1869 at Hay's Cotton Shed, 'Celbridge', shorter. It took years to convince selectors that this near Wivenhoe to protest about the government's road was the better one to use. On the Brisbane inaction on road improvements. They petitioned River Road to Stinking Gully (Fernvale) a pile the government for increased funding. In fact, bridge forty-two feet long and sixteen feet wide since Separation, £2,206 had already been spent on was constructed over Fairnie Lawn Brook in 1871. the ninety-nine miles of this road from Ipswich The Brisbane River Road was cleared for forty-one north, but this was small compared with the £7, 158 miles in 1871, various gullies were logged as far spent on the sixty miles of the Ipswich to Tarampa north as Esk Creek, and some gravelling was done. and Eskdale road.' Where the road was formed up, it was done to a feet.6 . width of thirty Managing road and bridge construction m Queenslandpresented major difficulties. Engineer One of the first road building jobs organized by of Roads for the Southern and Western Districts, the Trusts was the road along the southern side of surveyor Robert Austin, was blamed for the laxical the Brisbane River and along Stinking Gully management of finances. A Select Committee of (Fernvale]flat at a cost of £200 in 1872. They also Inquiry in 1867 recommended the amalgamation of invested in drains and culverts the following year the offices of Engineer of Roads and Under especially around Fairnie Lawn. The Ipswich to Secretary of Works and the creation of local Nanango Trust did not fare so well, having major 135 History of the Shire of Esk problems with bridges, right from the first crossing fund the marking of a road from Esk to Crows Nest of the Brisbane River north of Stinking Gully which in 1882. was only passable to horses in 1872. Further north By contrast they spent far more money per mile residents on the Upper Brisbane were disappointed on the £92 contract the Y awarded to Fluck for work that work on repairing the road appeared to have on the road between Northbrook and Wivenhoe stopped after there was a £2,500 grant to repair Hotel in 1884 than on the entire Crows Nest road. sixty miles of the Main North Road and only £500 In 1886, after the railway opened to Esk, the Board had been spent. Cuttings through the large hills, had to dram all the streets around the railway widenings, and repairing the old crossing at the station; it also spent £27 gravelling the road in front Upper Brisbane had been neglected. Meanwhile of Clifford's store at Esk. The roads were so £885 had been spent on the Tarampa Road by the deplorable after storm rain and there was so little government in 1872-1873; four and half miles of rate money available that the Board investigated dense scrub had been cleared to make the road and obtaining loans from Treasury Department for the twelve substantial culverts were constructed. purpose. They could not keep up with the demands 'Finger Board' sign posts were installed at a of selector ratepayers whose livelihood and number of majorroad junctions. survival depended on the roads and tracks being In 1878 selectors petitioned the government to passable for their German waggons, buggies, finance the clearing and forming of the road from bullock and horse teams. Bellevue to Mount Brisbane, which was almost The increasing the industry impassable in wet weather because of fallen prosperity of timber in the far more on the timber. As the selectors spread out they demanded mid-1880s put pressure Board to the bush tracks the survey of new roads, notably from Ivory's maintain roads and gravel to town. At the time three were Creek to the Brisbane River, and from Emu Creek gangs at work - Savage's, Kelly's, Baisden's. At the time crossing Maronghi Creek to the Burnett Road near and all the Board were or Cressbrook Lagoon leading to Pryde's selection. By members of pastoralists They the to then there were 738 miles of road in the Brisbane selectors. understood need spend on like Gully to Kilcoy, Valley, on which an average cost of £15 per mile money side roads Jimmy's Eskdale Road to Nukinenda Road, Esk to had been spent.2 Moombra, Mt Beppo Road, 'Pryde's Pinch' on the Immediately the Divisional Boards were formed Hampton Road, and the road near Bernhagen's in in 1880 its on the government reduced expenditure the Lowood area. J.D. Handley, H. Gault, and R. The Esk Divisional Board's roads. main priorities Varley, all local men, obtained these contracts at an Main North Road, Cressbrook Road, were the and average of £90 on each job. The practice of small Mount Brisbane Road. The Board to reserve sought road construction contracts was established and for sources of gravel, stones, and timber road continued. In 1891 the Board opened a quarry near It the Inspector construction. also authorized of the pound yard to supply metal to the various jobs. Works to formed experiment with rolling newly A total of £545 was spent.' roads in 1881. Small contracts were used During the 1890s depression there were extensively and the Board accepted a tender from major divisions Richard Savagefor gang work at 10s. per day with problems persuading the surrounding of Caboolture, Walloon, Tarampa, Highfields to an advance of 1s. per day to cover cost of tents and and tools.s share the cost of maintaining the through roads and boundary roads, especially the isolated ones Some the Board's of early road contracts around Ravensbourne, Anduramaba and illustrate its in The role road maintenance. Monsildale. Even the isolated road from the Divisional Board at first the individual expected Brisbane River to Mount Stanley was marked in to the Crows Nest pastoralists and selectors repair 1890 by the Board's gang. The Board found that the to Nanango Road themselves even though it was in practice of maintenance contracts on roads was their Division. It was to their prepared subsidize useless and it reverted to more gangs. Through £ for £. In 1883 they let a for £65 to work contract Edwin Hine the timber industry continued to Madern to the Crow's Nest to Nanango John repair petition for better roads to the railheads and for There were frequent difficulties this road. with protection from having to pay wheel tax to more because its remoteness from Esk the road of and than one local authority? small amount of revenue which it brought to the Division. The Esk Division members would have Timber was also a priority for road building. It preferred the selectors to maintain it themselves was used for logging, corduroy roads, culverts and until they could hand over responsibility for it to bridges.

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