Ghost Dusters work to preserve Australia’s oldest road bridge

Australia’s oldest road bridge is being ‘fortified’ to carry vehicles for another 180 years.

But the changes don’t include exorcising it.

The bridge spans the Coal River at Richmond, north east of Hobart (Tas) and was built in 1823. And, yes, it has a ghost.

In 1832 after a drunken brawl, an unpopular ex-convict named George Grover walked home along the Richmond Bridge where he ended up drifting into deep slumber. At some point in the night, he was thrown off the bridge onto the rocks below and later died. His murder was never solved and Grover’s ghost is said to haunt the bridge to this day.

The arched sandstone bridge itself attracts tourists from all walks of life and has often been the subject of Australian artwork and historic literature. Representative of the large-scale public infrastructure during the early colonial period, it opened up trade between Hobart and Port Harbour.

Today, it’s listed in the Tasmanian Heritage Register and operates for both vehicle and pedestrian use with a load limit of 25 tonnes.

Over the years, however, defects have appeared in the bridge’s integrity and according to Clarence Mayor Doug Chipman “Just by looking at the bridge, you can tell that it has moved out of alignment in a couple of places and there are cracks”.

There’s also concerns around it’s durability in times of flood and its susceptibility to traffic load vibrations. Previous efforts by local residents to ensure the bridge is protected have sadly, not received state government support.

A Conservation Management Plan was prepared for the Richmond Bridge in 2010 and was designed to determine “how the conservation of the bridge and its setting may be achieved in the short, medium and longer terms’.

This plan never quite kicked off, but as of last week, the preservation of the bridge has become top priority with the commencement of geotechnical works.

Data will be collected by expert inspectors (who we’ll appropriately refer to as ‘Ghost Dusters’) and will inform the work that needs to be carried out.

Given the bridge is considered an important Richmond landmark; this is an exciting step towards preserving its history.