Dwyer's Creek Railway Bridge
Branxholme-Casterton Railway adjacent to Portland/Casterton Road, HENTY VIC 3312 - Property No B6944
Statement of Significance
What is significant? Dwyer's Creek Railway Bridge is a single-track timber-pier and rail-deck railway bridge of 19 spans and 63.7 metres long, constructed in 1884 as part of the Branxholme-Casterton railway. The line was closed in 1977.
How is it significant? Dwyer's Creek Railway Bridge is of historical and technical significance to the State of Victoria.
Why is it significant? Dwyer's Creek Railway Bridge is of historical significance as a surviving relic of the Branxholme-Casterton railway, which had a significant place in Victoria's early history. For some years prior to the construction of the Melbourne-Adelaide rail link via Serviceton, Casterton was the Victorian Railways terminus for passengers travelling overland between Melbourne and Adelaide. Cobb and Co. carried passengers on to Narracoorte, where they could connect with the South Australian Railways system. Dwyer's Creek Railway Bridge is of technical significance as the largest surviving example of a Victorian railway bridge with timber piers and longitudinal rail-deck. With 19 spans and a total length of 63.7 metres, it is also the longest Victorian Railways 11-feet span bridge in the western half of Victoria. Now the longest survivor of its type, historically it would have been a medium-sized example. The few other known surviving 3.35 metre (11 feet) Victorian rail-deck bridges do not exceed nine spans, and most are much smaller. The other common span length for rail-deck (originally, longitudinal-timber deck) bridges is 2.1 metres (7 feet), and the largest known surviving example of that sub-type is of 8-spans, and 16.8 metres long.
Classified: 19/05/1998
Dwyer's Creek Bridge was largely destroyed by fire prior to 2011
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ST. PAUL'S ANGLICAN CHURCH
Glenelg Shire -
Dwyer's Creek Railway Bridge
National Trust
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