Wilks Creek Bridge is a former timber and

bluestone Bluestone is a cultural or commercial name for a number of dimension or building stone varieties, including: * basalt in Victoria, Australia, and in New Zealand * dolerites in Tasmania, Australia; and in Britain (including Stonehenge) * felds ...

road bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

on the

Yarra Track The Yarra Track is the former name of the gold fields road from Healesville to the Woods Point and Jordan Goldfields, in Victoria, Australia. History A direct route via the Yarra River and the Great Divide was discovered by Reick in Septemb ...

, located just off the

Black Spur The Black Spur is a road between the towns of Healesville and Narbethong in Victoria, Australia. It is also known as Black Spur Drive and is part of the Maroondah Highway. Location The Black Spur is located about 60 kilometers North-East of ...

route, between Narbethong and ,

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, Australia. It was built in 1870 to the design of colonial

Public Works Department This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure. See also * Public works * Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tang ...

engineer

Clement Wilks Clement Wilks (15 February 1819 – 2 May 1871) was a notable civil engineer and architect in colonial Victoria, Australia. Early days Clement Wilks was born at Peckham Rye, Surrey, 15 February 1819, the youngest son of the Rev. Mark Wilks, of ...

as part of the construction of a new road to the

Woods Point Woods Point is a small town in Victoria, Australia, Victoria, Australia and is located on the banks of the Goulburn River. At the , Woods Point and the surrounding area had a population of 37, down from 94 in 2006. History The town began as a g ...

and

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

Goldfields. Like many bridges of the period, it had a timber superstructure employing squared beams supported by struts and straining pieces, on cut bluestone abutments. The bridge was remodelled around 1900 by engineer

John Monash General Sir John Monash, (; 27 June 1865 – 8 October 1931) was an Australian civil engineer and military commander of the First World War. He commanded the 13th Infantry Brigade before the war and then, shortly after its outbreak, became co ...

of the famous bridge-engineering firm of Monash and

Anderson Anderson or Andersson may refer to: Companies * Anderson (Carriage), a company that manufactured automobiles from 1907 to 1910 * Anderson Electric, an early 20th-century electric car * Anderson Greenwood, an industrial manufacturer * Anderson ...

. It was last used for heavy vehicular traffic in 1980 following the realignment of Marysville Road, and was left to decay until its demolishment in 2008. All timber traces of the bridge were destroyed in the 2009 Black Saturday fires. The handcrafted bluestone masonry wingwalls and abutments, especially shaped to receive timber struts, rate among the earliest of its kind surviving intact in Victoria.National Trust of Australia (Victoria) Register: B6439
/ref>

References

External links

Obituary: Clement Wilks, 1819-1871 Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Vol.33 January 1872 pp. 275–276 - Thomas Telford-ICE Virtual Library
Beam bridges Bridges completed in 1871 Road bridges in Victoria (Australia) 1871 establishments in Australia 2008 disestablishments in Australia Former bridges in Australia Wooden bridges in Australia Stone bridges in Australia {{VictoriaAU-struct-stub