Pitfield Bridge, is a riveted

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag Inclusion (mineral), inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a ...

Warren truss Warren Errol Truss, (born 8 October 1948) is a former Australian politician who served as the 16th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development in the Abbott Government and the Turnbull Governm ...

road bridge, located over the Woady Yaloak Creek on the Rokewood-Skipton Road near Pitfield in

Victoria, Australia Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in Au ...

. The bridge was originally constructed in the late 1850s, by the Woady Yallock Roads Board, and modified later in the century by construction of a large riveted wrought iron truss span. A wooden bridge was evidently in place in 1859, when the Victorian parliament called for the approaches to the bridge to be improved. The bridge is on the same road as

McMillans Bridge McMillans Bridge, is a riveted wrought iron open web truss bridge, located over the Woady Yaloak River on the Rokewood-Skipton Road between Rokewood and Werneth, Victoria, Werneth on a historical route between Geelong and the 1850s goldfields at ...

which was erected by the Victorian

Central Road Board The Central Road Board was the first dedicated body for administering the construction of roads and bridges in Victoria, Australia. It came into being in 1853 when the Victorian Legislative Council passed ''An Act for making, and improving Roads i ...

around the same time to a design of Charles Rowland, a student of prominent colonial engineer

David Lennox David Lennox (1788 – 12 November 1873) was a Scottish-Australian bridge builder and master stonemason born in Ayr, Scotland. Personal details Trained as a stonemason, Lennox worked on Telford's Menai Suspension Bridge at Anglesey in Wales ...

. Repairs, presumably to the timber spans, were made in the same year, suggesting the bridge had already been standing for some time. Repairs were eventually carried out in 1863. Later in the century the timber span was replaced with a riveted wrought iron truss designed by

Charles Anthony Corbett Wilson Charles Anthony Corbett Wilson (1827–1923) was an important figure in the history of engineering and bridge building in Victoria, Australia. Biography Wilson was born at Brompton Square, London, on 13 February 1827. His father was Charles Corb ...

for the

Shire of Grenville The Shire of Grenville was a local government area southwest of the regional city of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. The shire covered an area of , and existed from 1861 until 1994. History Grenville was first incorporated as a road district o ...

. Wilson was influenced in this bridge design by the efficient and lightweight truss designs of Professor W. C. Kernot of

Melbourne University The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

. He was also a particularly prolific Victorian shire engineer, whose career spanned more than 50 years. The bridge was on a historical route between

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

and the 1850s goldfields at Ararat and

Streatham Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. Streatham was in Surrey ...

. A notice of £400 being allocated to the bridge suggests the new trusses were installed in 1898. However, repair works on the bridge were also carried out in 1900. Parliament of Victoria, ''Votes_&_Proceedings'' 1900 Division No. 63. ROAD WORKS AND BRIDGES. p.82
/ref> In 1967, the Rokewood-Skipton Road was realigned at Pitfield and a new bridge was built over the Woady Yaloak Creek. The timber deck has a single layer of longitudinal planking on timber cross beams, which are bolted to the flanges of the truss top

chords Chord may refer to: * Chord (music), an aggregate of musical pitches sounded simultaneously ** Guitar chord a chord played on a guitar, which has a particular tuning * Chord (geometry), a line segment joining two points on a curve * Chord (as ...

. Most of the timber has now rotted away. The bridge has two spans of 26 metres long with a deck about 7 metres wide. The wrought-iron Warren trusses are of unusually light construction, with each member sized according to the relative force applied. The Bridge is registered by the

National Trust of Australia The National Trust of Australia, officially the Australian Council of National Trusts (ACNT), is the Australian national peak body for community-based, non-government non-profit organisations committed to promoting and conserving Australia's Ind ...

References

;Notes * Colin O'Connor, Spanning Two Centuries, Historic Bridges of Australia. University of Queensland Press, 1985. p. 103 Road bridges in Victoria (state) 1859 establishments in Australia Bridges completed in 1859 Bridges completed in 1898 Victorian Heritage Register Truss bridges in Australia {{VictoriaAU-struct-stub