Mount Lawley Railway Bridge (Subway)

Statement of Significance

Mount Lawley Railway Bridge (Subway) is an integral element of the Perth-Midland railway line, which spans the main road from Perth-Guildford. Its strong engineering form across the Guildford Road subway has been an iconic presence for the better part of a century.

Physical Description

Steel trussed railway bridge spanning Guildford Road, between concrete abutments. The abutments define the road width which rise to form piers at each end of the trusses. Above a major road between close intersections. Widening and strengthening

History

The Fremantle to Guildford railway line was opened in 1881, and extended to York and Northam. By 1900 the other major railway lines in the state had been constructed, including the South West line to Bunbury, the Great Southern line to Albany and the Eastern Goldfields line to Kalgoorlie (connecting with the eastern states through Adelaide). The Rail traffic from Perth to Guildford and beyond all passed the intersection of Guildford Road and East Parade, which was known as Fenian's Crossing because it was a very dangerous intersection. To facilitate the traffic movement, a bridge was constructed to carry the railway tracks over the Guildford Road/East Parade intersection and the road level dropped. The Mount Lawley subway was opened on 10 April 1907. This proved to be of advantage to both vehicular and pedestrian traffic and the small shopping area which was beginning to develop on the Lord Street side in spite of the dangers. Early shops there included two butchers, a confectioner, fancy goods and draper, news and bank agency, tobacconist, fish & chip shop a green grocer. Unfortunately a number of pedestrians used to take a short cut, crossing the line through the shunting yars rather than using the subway and one resident recalled one very close escape from a moving train as a young girl. The same resident also recalled a small boy being run over by a track laden with cement or superphosphate , after he ran down the subway embankment and straight out onto the road. Another accident occured when a train that was bieng shunted tipped off the line and down among the palm trees that were dotted along there. She remembered it hanging there quite precariously for some time before it was hauled back up onto the line. In 1924 a single track extension was constructed from an existing tram terminus on the corner of Lord and Lincoln streets in Highgate along Lord Street and via the Mount Lawley Subway to Maylands. In 1939 this line was duplicated and the subway was widened to accomodate the two sets of tracks. Further alterations in 1968 involved strengthening the bridge and extending the concrete abutments to accommodate the new standard gauge line, which terminated at the East Perth Station. An undated photograph in the WAGR file shows the words 'PEACE VIETNAM AUSTRALIA OUT' painted on one of the abutments. In more recent times the protectitve fencing along its length on the railway line level has been used to display advertisements. Private car ownership was increased from the 1960's onwars and Lord Street/Guildford Road and East Parade became popular arteries in and out of Perth , carrying heavy loads of traffic each day. In 1974, the subway was the subject of a road study, as the traffic bottleneck had become 'the city's No 1 late-for-work excuse'. Traffic lights and restrictions on right-hand turns (East Parade into Guildford Road) became necessary as the volumes of traffic increased.

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