The bridge that carries traffic across the creek west through Diamond Creek still stands strong after 126 years. We may take the bridge for granted today, but creek crossings built and used since the mid-1800’s have an interesting history that also reflects how the township and areas around it have developed.

The first recorded mention of the need for a bridge over the Diamond Creek was added to a map of 1839 showing the tributaries of the Yarra River. From 1850 onwards extra features were added to the original map, including names of the first land holders, an area reserved for a future as-yet unnamed township, and a note along the creek which says a bridge will be required here.

When, in the early 1850’s, the goldfields to the north of Diamond Creek and Eltham, drew more people and permanent settlements grew, so too did the traffic of bullock teams and horse-drawn wagons. They crossed the creek using a ford, made of stringy bark logs, that also linked the road that led from Heidelberg, through Diamond Creek and, in an east-west direction, crossed rough country via Christmas Hills to Yarra Flats (Yarra Glen) and further east to Wood’s Point. Some maps today show part of the original track called Breakneck, now the Breakneck Walking Track. It is a steep descent from the southern part of Skyline Road into the Yarra Valley that must have been a challenge for bullock teams and their drivers – in both directions.

Reminiscing in 1887, a resident of Kangaroo Ground describes his journey from Melbourne to his new home 36 years earlier (in part) At the Lower Plenty a temporary log bridge had been erected, doomed to be swept away the approaching winter. Across the river the road lay up the hill by the fence on Turnbull’s section to the top, about half-a-mile, where it ended, and the track had to be followed through the bush. Descending the hill so very steep, and for long the main road, I soon made Diamond Creek, at the well-known ford just below the present commodious bridge. The dray-track through the scrub took a more direct route than the road subsequently adopted.

A delegation from Eltham Shire Council met with the Commissioner of Roads and Bridges in 1872, asking for        assistance with the cost of the building of a bridge over the Diamond Creek on the main road to Wood’s Point because the current ‘bridge’ was unsafe for traffic, and that at every flood it floated and moved from its original position. There were reports of at least one tender for the work and promised support from the Government, but it appears the bridge was not built as the ford was still in use in 1894.

In 1859, before the formation of a shire council, the responsibility for roads and bridges rested with the Greensborough District Roads Boards, and at its meeting on 29th April it set aside a sum of £350 to erect a bridge over the Diamond Creek at Wilson’s.

Wilson’s was an early name for the township, after John Wilson and his son William who had settled along the creek in the mid-1840’s. They grew livestock for their butchery business in Melbourne and ran an inn of sorts for passing   travellers. For a time the inn was known as Sailors’ Home as it gave refuge to men who arrived at Port Phillip and who wanted to ’disappear’ until after their ship had sailed.

A wooden bridge was constructed at a level high enough to avoid too much damage from the regular floods. It linked a new road, bound by wooden fences to prevent traffic and pedestrians ending up in the swamp, to the Diamond Reef Hotel. The road started at the Wood’s Point track and crossed the lagoon that formed part of the creek flats; the hotel was on a similar footprint to the Diamond Creek Community Centre.

Over the next few decades, minutes of the newly formed Shire of Heidelberg contain constant references to the state of the bridge which appears to have caused concern about its security from the beginning. It was strengthened and strutted, the fences repaired and residents requested lamps for safety.

A Council meeting in January 1896 noted the Diamond Creek Bridge which has been erected since 1859 and is now in a very dilapidated condition, and is becoming unsafe for public traffic. It was decided to ask the engineer to report to the council at its next meeting when arrangements will be made either for repairing or rebuilding the bridge. Over the next month or two it became clear that a new bridge was the better option, however, the decision was the beginning of nearly two years of discussions, dissension and concerns over costs and construction type – wood or iron.

A public meeting was held at the Diamond Creek Literary Institute in March 1897 to provide ratepayers with          information about a proposed iron girder bridge. It was reported that the hall was ‘well filled’ and the President of the Heidelberg Shire, along with Cr. Patrick Ryan and other councillors in attendance. The meeting was asked to consider and to discuss freely the scheme for building the bridge and the borrowing options for the Shire to fund it as the decision was with ratepayers alone. Cr. Ryan spoke about his support for the iron bridge Their engineer’s estimate of the cost of the bridge seemed to him too high. It was first thought that £850 would be sufficient but the sum had now been increased by £125. He had supported an iron bridge as against a wooden one, which would cost £550. He thought the ratepayers would be justified in spending the difference, £425, seeing the wooden bridge would be always requiring repairing, while the iron bridge would be for all time. It would be the permanent interest of the ratepayers to put up something substantial. They would be justified in erecting a bridge that would be a lasting asset in the district. That meeting voted in favour of an iron girder bridge by a small margin. Rumblings, however, throughout the district continued to oppose an iron bridge, its cost and increased rates to pay for it.

At the same time, and given the objections to an iron girder bridge across the wider riding, Cr. Ryan raised a motion, that was also resolved by council to have plans and estimates prepared for the cost of a wooden bridge. Council led deputations also met with the Minister for Public Works to discuss financial support from the government which was in the end declined due to budgetary restraints.

In April, those who opposed the cost of an iron bridge and wanted a wooden bridge for a lower cost and imposition on their rates met. The sentiment was ratepayers who are to be actually benefited by the construction of a new bridge possibly desire that a large amount should be expended in its erection, but the people residing in other parts of the riding are regarding it from another standpoint. They consider there is no occasion to spend £800, or half that amount, on the bridge, as it was clearly shown, at the last meeting of the council, that one to suit all requirements for the next thirty years could be build for about £250. They are not likely to object to paying a small special rate, but there is no possible doubt whatever they would “kick against” the large imposition.

In June, a petition against the iron girder bridge, supported by Mr. Daniel Ryan and signed by about 80 ratepayers, was presented to an eventful council meeting. Mr. Ryan gave a lengthy address, and used language rather too strong – in fact he completely outraged the fine susceptibilities of the President. Mr. Ryan inferred that the council as a whole, and, the Greensborough members in particular, were rank duffers, and that the sooner they were individually and  collectively relegated to the shade of private life the better it would be for the interests of the shire. The roads in Greensborough riding, he said, were in such a deplorable condition that it would require an extra rate…to put them in decent order. In the face of this he considered the expenditure of £1000 on a bridge, which would mean another special rate, was monstrous. Then there was the Board of Works sewerage rate coming, into which liability an incompetent council had plunged them. Warming as he proceeded Mr. Ryan inferred that the councillors were deceitful and dishonourable. This was too much for the President, who positively declined to listen to another word. Mr. Ryan, however, refused to abide by the presidential fiat, and Cr. Ward then threatened to have him ejected from the chamber. With a parting shot, which our reporter did not quite catch meaning of, but which was evidently meant to annihilate the president, Mr. Ryan departed in high dudgeon, and subsequently the council on the motion of Cr. P. Ryan, instructed the secretary to float a loan of £1000 at 4 per cent. to construct the bridge, leaving it to the ratepayers to demand a poll if they thought fit. The council had already decided in favour of an iron girder bridge. It seems that decision and its cost, to those who saw it as a benefit to only the population of Diamond Creek township, was the last straw.

In August, all was delayed for a month as elections were to be held in the Greensborough riding purely on the question of the new bridge. Cr. Patrick Ryan stood for election again, using a slogan ‘Iron for Ryan’. By September the results were in, Cr. Ryan had won by six votes and his win was seen as a mandate for an iron girder bridge.

By November four tenders for building the bridge had been received, all of which were well over the original estimate. The shire engineer made adjustments to his plans to help to reduce costs, but not impact stability – doing away with the piling, reducing the bridge height by a foot, reducing thickness of parapet walls and some other items. The new plans with reduced quantities of materials was offered to the lowest tenderer who came back with a tender of £1047 5s 3d. The engineer noted that the weight on the piers and abutments is so small that it is not necessary to go to the rock, having had shafts sunk opposite each pier. I am acquainted exactly with the nature of the soil, and am fully satisfied that the foundation as now proposed is perfectly good, and all that is necessary.

Work was reported to be proceeding well by February 1898, with the steel girders put into place in March and by April almost ready to take traffic. An official ceremony to open the bridge was held on Thursday 21st, April 1898. The Evelyn Observer reported The official opening of the bridge took place … in the presence of a large gathering of    people. The bridge, a substantial iron structure … was profusely decorated with ‘flags of all nations’ for the occasion. In the absence of the Minister of Public Works who was unavoidably prevented from attending the ceremony, the opening ceremony was neatly performed by President Lugton of the Heidelberg Shire in a few well chosen words,  after which an adjournment was made to the Literary Institute where some sixty gentlemen were entertained at   luncheon, followed by speeches, songs and recitations. It was a red letter day for the Creek, and everything passed off with becoming éclat.

Finishing and opening the bridge did not settle the concerns of all in the riding. The Mercury and Weekly Courier of 22nd April noted Our neighbours at Diamond Creek are proposing to celebrate the opening of the Diamond Creek bridge, but the Greensborough ratepayers can hardly be expected to jubilate over the event as they for the most part were very pronounced in their opposition to the erection of so expensive a structure.

Once the new bridge was opened, the old bridge was demolished. At first the shire engineer thought to keep the timber for making culverts, but the wood sat around for nearly two years before it was decided to sell it.

The bridge is one of the few remaining examples of lattice girder construction in Victoria. Throughout its life, flood waters have frequently lapped its decking, and brought debris small and large to mount up against it. In September 1901 after a flood, the engineer recommended putting in short piles at the toe of the banks protected by rough paving grouted with cement, concrete and mortar.