Never miss a thing in the Macedon Ranges
Your Macedon Ranges is a free weekly email that keeps you informed about activities and events in the Macedon Ranges. Published every Sunday.
With thanks to Woodend & District Heritage Society. The society meets every Wednesday, 10am-4pm, at the Old Courthouse in Forest St, Woodend.
Woodend’s Five Mile Creek bridge was once “narrow and dangerous”. After it was widened in 1958, however, the Woodend Star reckoned motorists had “no excuse whatever should collisions occur”.
The painstaking task of widening the 96-year-old bluestone bridge was carried out by workmen from the Country Roads Board.
Under the auspices of Bill Golding, a foreman renowned for his work on the Shamrock bridge between Carlsruhe and Kyneton, the bridge wall on the golf-course side was taken down and all the stones were numbered. An extra section of roadway, reinforced with concrete, was constructed and the bridge wall was rebuilt.
The work took six months. It was completed ahead of schedule and below the estimated cost of £9,000.
Every stone, except for one, was carefully put back in its original spot. The missing stone was rumoured to have been souvenired as “a valued portion of a unique bridge achievement”.
✍️ Richard Padgett
📘 Beyond the Black Forest, by Sylvia Boxshall (2017), describes the early settlement of Woodend and the surrounding district. Available from Woodend & District Heritage Society, $27.50.
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