Story Bridge - Brisbane - QLD - Australia
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member CADS11
S 27° 27.825 E 153° 02.142
56J E 503527 N 6962197
Story Bridge, Bradfield Hwy (Bowen Tce), Fortitude Valley, QLD, Australia
Waymark Code: WMVWJ9
Location: Queensland, Australia
Date Posted: 06/04/2017
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member wayfrog
Views: 4

Title: Historic Australian Bridges 2016
Date of Issue: 15 March 2016
Country: Australia
Denominations: $1 x 3
Taken from: (visit link)


The Story Bridge is a heritage-listed steel cantilever bridge spanning the Brisbane River that carries vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian traffic between the northern and the southern suburbs of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is the longest cantilever bridge in Australia.
The bridge is part of Bradfield Highway (15) and connects Fortitude Valley to Kangaroo Point. The Story Bridge opened in 1940 and was tolled until 1947. It is named after prominent public servant, John Douglas Story.

History
Given the early settlement of Kangaroo Point, there is a long history of residents wanting a bridge between the Brisbane CBD and Kangaroo Point. Even while the first Victoria Bridge was being constructed between North Brisbane and South Brisbane in 1865, several hundred people were petitioning for a second bridge to be built from the Customs House to Kangaroo Point. In 1888, a meeting was held in the Brisbane Town Hall to demand a bridge connecting either George Street, Albert Street or Edward Street via the City Botanic Gardens with any loss of the land from the gardens to be potentially compensated by removing Government House.

Construction
Governor of Queensland Sir Leslie Orme Wilson and consulting engineer John Bradfield inspecting the bridge, 7 July 1938

Before the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932 the Government of Queensland asked John Bradfield to design a new bridge in Brisbane.

The Queensland Government appointed John Bradfield on 15 December 1933 as consulting engineer to the Bureau of Industry who were in charge of the construction of the bridge. In June 1934 Bradfield's recommendation of a steel cantilever bridge was approved. The design for the bridge was based heavily on that of the Jacques Cartier Bridge in Montreal, completed in 1930. On 30 April 1935 a consortium of two Queensland companies, Evans Deakin and Hornibrook Constructions, won the tender with a bid of £1,150,000.

Construction on the bridge began on 24 May 1935,[5] with the first sod being turned by the then Premier of Queensland, William Forgan Smith. Components for the bridge were fabricated in a purpose-built factory at Rocklea. Work sometimes continued 24 hours per day.[4] The bridge has only one pier on the northern bank but two piers on the lower southern bank, one to bear the weight (the main pier) and, further to the south, one to prevent the bridge from twisting (the anchor pier). There was no need for an anchor pier on the northern bank as the bridge was anchored into schist cliff face. The major challenge in constructing the bridge was the southern foundations that went 40 metres below ground level. It was not possible to excavate to that level as water from the level would rapidly seep in. So a pneumatic caisson technique had to be used. As men were working under pressures of up to 4 times normal air pressure, a decompression period of almost 2 hours was needed at the end of each shift to avoid the bends. An on-site air lock hospital successfully treated the 65 cases of the bends that occurred. On 28 October 1939 the gap between the two sides was closed. A concrete decking was then laid, covered by a Trinidad pitch topping. The bridge was painted and sodium lighting was installed. The bridge approaches were also prepared.

Naming
Until it was completed the bridge was known as the Jubilee Bridge in honour of King George V. It was opened on 6 July 1940 by Sir Leslie Orme Wilson, Governor of Queensland and named after John Douglas Story, a senior and influential public servant who had advocated strongly for the bridge's construction.
Taken from: (visit link)
Stamp Issuing Country: Australia

Date of Issue: 15 March 2016

Denomination: 1$

Color: multicolor

Stamp Type: Single Stamp

Relevant Web Site: [Web Link]

Visit Instructions:
To post a visit log for this category, you must visit the actual site of the waymark. Post at least one photo that you personally took of the site if at all possible. If you cannot provide a photo for some reason, your visit will still be welcome.

You do NOT need to be a stamp collector to visit the waymark site, nor do you have to provide a photo of the stamp. Just having a copy of the stamp in question, however, is not sufficient; you must personally visit the site.
Search for...
Geocaching.com Google Map
Google Maps
MapQuest
Bing Maps
Nearest Waymarks
Nearest Philatelic Photographs
Nearest Geocaches
Create a scavenger hunt using this waymark as the center point
Recent Visits/Logs:
Date Logged Log User Rating  
endeavour3 visited Story Bridge - Brisbane - QLD - Australia 05/18/2022 endeavour3 visited it
jinta29 visited Story Bridge - Brisbane - QLD - Australia 10/09/2019 jinta29 visited it
Grahame Cookie visited Story Bridge - Brisbane - QLD - Australia 05/19/2019 Grahame Cookie visited it

View all visits/logs