Bridge 104, South Coast Highway, over Kent River, Kentdale

Values

 The place demonstrates the widespread use of timber as a structural material in twentieth century bridge building.
 The place is associated with the growth of regional road infrastructure in the mid twentieth century as road began to replace rail.

Physical Description

Bridge 104, South Coast Highway, over Kent River, Kentdale is a double lane timber and steel road bridge spanning the Kent River, approximately 27 km west of the town of Denmark. The bridge is approximately 38m long, 8.8m wide and sits approximately 4m above the creek bed at its highest point.
The bridge consists of 6 spans constructed along a north-northwest to south-southeast axis. The bridge abutments consist of dressed timber laid against an earth embankment, which has been repaired in recent times with the addition of galvanised steel metal straps and beams.

History

In the region around Denmark, the Noongar groups known as the Ganeang, Goreng and Minang lived for tens of thousands of years, moving between the coast and inland forests to utilise the natural resources of the area.
This way of life began to be disrupted by the exploration and colonial settlement of region after 1829, with farms established along the coast in the 1840s. Colonial settlement in the area rapidly expanded in the 1880s and 1890s with the establishment of railway lines across the state. Millars brothers constructed a number of mills in the area that supplied timber sleepers for railway use, including the Millars private railway in 1895. While the mills closed in 1905, Denmark had now established enough population and local industry to sustain itself, continuing to expand in the early twentieth century.
The economic policies of the Western Australian government during this period can be described as broadly expansionist, in particular agricultural and pastoral expansion. However, these policies suffered severe contraction due to droughts and the effects of the Great Depression. At the end of the 1920s and into the early 1930s, the government responded in a number of ways, including stimulating the building market and investing in the expansion of industrial development such as the mining industry or capital works projects such as dams, sewerage, clearing and roads.
In the early history of the state, major road works were carried out by the Public Works Department, with Road Boards responsible for maintaining the network of local roads and tracks that formed the majority of the state’s transport routes. The Public Works Department’s focus during the early years of the twentieth century was in railway construction, which by the 1920s had slowed in favour of roads as the major lines had been completed, with only smaller spur lines being the focus of construction.

Uses

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

Disclaimer

This information is provided voluntarily as a public service. The information provided is made available in good faith and is derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. However, the information is provided solely on the basis that readers will be responsible for making their own assessment of the matters discussed herein and are advised to verify all relevant representations, statements and information.