Jolly's Bridge

Statement of Significance

Historic Value: The place is associated with local resident, Jack Jolly, who was foreman for the Settlement Scheme house building in the 1920s. The place is associated with the Peel Estate drainage project, which involved draining lowland swamps to open up new tracts of land for farming. Social Value: The place is a well-known crossing of the main Mandogalup drain and contributes to the community’s sense of place for its presence in the landscape since the 1920s. Level of significance: Some

Physical Description

The place comprises a simple road bridge crossing the open drain that extends southwest from Mandogalup. Culverts on either side of the bridge are constructed with concrete, and a circular channel runs beneath the road, providing free flow for water in the drain. The drains constructed during the Inter-War period can be clearly seen on either side of Mandogalup Road, comprising narrow but deep drains, characterised by their mounded earth banks.

History

The area east of Mandogalup was the starting point for the Peel Estate drainage project which commenced in the 1920s, whereby lowland swamps were drained to reveal more fertile soil than the surrounding dry land could provide. The drains were designed by engineer-incharge, Richard Anketell, and the main drain started east of Mandogalup, passing through Beenyup, The Spectacles, Bollard Bulrush Swamp, Baldivis and Folly Pool, onto Mandurah where it discharged into the sea. The crossing at Mandogalup Road, known as Jolly’s Bridge, was most likely first constructed in the 1920s as part of the Drainage scheme works, and was originally a timber bridge. It was named after Jack Jolly, who was the foreman of house building for the Peel Estate in the 1920s. The earlier bridge structure was replaced by the existing concrete culvert construction in 1991.

Condition

Good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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