Back to search results

Basket Bridge/Keilor Road Bridge
Old Calder Highway, KEILOR VIC 3036 - Property No 16

All information on this page is maintained by Brimbank City. Click below for their website and contact details.
Brimbank City
1933a - Brimbank City Council Post-contact Cultural Heritage Study 2000
1933a - Brimbank City Council Post-contact Cultural Heritage Study 2000
1933a - Brimbank City Council Post-contact Cultural Heritage Study 2000
1933b - Brimbank City Council Post-contact Cultural Heritage Study 2000
On this page:

Statement of Significance

The former Keilor Road bridge is of State historical and scientific significance as a rare and intact example of nineteenth century Victorian engineering, constructed as a direct response to the transport demands of the gold rushes. The bridge is also important as a rare surviving example of the work of Enoch Chambers and as one of the earliest fabricated iron bridges in Victoria.

Show more
Show less

    • Physical Description 1

      Basket Bridge/Keilor Road Bridge - Physical Description 1

      This wrought -iron, box girder, single-span bridge sits on bluestone abutments with decorative pillars and wingwalls. An overhead stiffening arch was removed in 1963 and replaced with a steel -fabricated rectangular portal, to provide greater clearance for trucks. The original arch, stored for many years at Calder Park raceway, was recently restored and refitted. The main boxed girders encase arch beams which spread the load, and appear to have included some pre-tensioning, as the bridge itself has a slight curvature. The stonework includes ashlar and rock-faced coursed bluestone with pyramidal caps on the pillars at each end. The road deck is of longitudinal planking, evidently having been replaced in the last few decades.

      Condition/integrity

      The bridge has been restored, and has been bypassed with the construction of a new concrete bridge on the downstream side in 1963. The through traffic was again diverted from that bridge, and Keilor itself, with the construction of the twin bridges for the Calder Freeway, this time upstream, in 1987.

      Physical Conditions

      Basket Bridge/Keilor Road Bridge - Physical Conditions

      The bridge has been restored, and has been bypassed with the construction of a new concrete bridge on the downstream side in 1963. The through traffic was again diverted from that bridge, and Keilor itself, with the construction of the twin bridges for the Calder Freeway, this time upstream, in 1987.

      Historical Australian Themes

      Basket Bridge/Keilor Road Bridge - Historical Australian Themes

      3 Developing local, regional and national economies
      3.8 Moving goods and people

      Heritage Study and Grading

      Heritage Study and Grading

      Brimbank - Brimbank City Council Post-contact Cultural Heritage Study

      Author: G. Vines
      Year: 2000
      Grading: State

      Brimbank - Melbourne Western Region Industrial Heritage Study

      Author: G. Vines & A. Ward
      Year: 1989
      Grading:

Public contributions

Note: Developments may span multiple time periods
Timeline browser

< to 1849
< - 1849
1850 to 1879
1850 - 1879
1880 to 1909
1880 - 1909
1910 to 1939
1910 - 1939
1940 to 1969
1940 - 1969
1970 to 1999
1970 - 1999
2000 to >
2000 - >