Thirty meters of reinforced concrete. That’s all there is to the Johnston Street Bridge. Yet look closer. This unassuming structure spanning the Yarra River between Abbotsford and Kew holds a century of secrets.
The Johnston Street Bridge isn’t just a bridge. It’s a silent witness to Melbourne’s evolution. Its current incarnation a sleek concrete design. It was built between 1954 and 1956. The brainchild of Bruce A Watson. He later became the CRB’s Chief Bridge Engineer.
But the Johnston Street Bridge’s story begins long before 1954. Much earlier in fact. The year is 1837. Surveyors laid out Melbourne’s nascent streets. Johnston Street was one of them. A preferred route east of the Yarra River. The plan was confirmed by Lieutenant-Governor La Trobe in 1841. Unemployed immigrants built the first road in 1842. Johnston Street was named after a Melbourne City Councillor in 1851. A toll gate appeared soon after.
Before the present bridge there were others. The first. A laminated timber arch bridge. Built in 1858. It was replaced in 1876. This time with riveted wrought iron girders. W A Shand built that bridge. He was the father-in-law of Mephan Ferguson. A prominent engineer and ironworker. The 1876 bridge used cylindrical iron columns filled with concrete. Slender piers that didn’t impede floodwaters.
A section of the original wrought iron handrail still exists. It serves as a fence on the eastern bluestone abutment. The 1876 bridge had an 18 meter span. It reused the original abutments. It was one of the first local bridges to use this type of column.
The Abbotsford end of the Johnston Street Bridge was once the terminus of a Collingwood cable tramway line. A car shed stood nearby. It’s gone now. The line closed in 1939. Today buses 200 202 and 207 use the bridge.
So stand here. On the Johnston Street Bridge. Feel the concrete underfoot. Imagine the generations who have crossed this span. From the early immigrants who toiled on the first road. To the tram passengers of the 20th century. Even the modern-day commuters. The Johnston Street Bridge. A simple structure with a rich and complex history.