Now the rather grand entrance arch for a municipal car park, this majestic structure was formally the bridge-keeper’s gantry on the 1875-1966 version of the Jevois Bridge, a bridge which bridged the swampy estuary between Port Adelaide and Semaphore on the Lefevre Peninsula – the point where overseas mail was by then being discharged.
The Jervois Bridge, opened by and named after His Excellency Sir William Jervois, Governor of South Australia on 6 February 1875, replaced a wooden bridge across the Port River which had opened in 1859 and which had fallen into disrepair. The new iron bridge had a central swinging section, built in Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, permitting the passage of shipping through a 47 wide feet channel. The bridge itself was 56 feet wide with two footpaths, and room for road and rail transport. The latter permitted the railway line to be extended from Port Adelaide, its former terminus, to Semaphore.
The bridge-keeper’s gantry (from which the bridge was opened and closed) straddled the centre of the bridge, providing a clearance of 16 feet for the traffic below. The wooden octagonal control box was added to the gantry in 1880.
While the turntable style swing bridge was to remain in operation until 1966 it presented several practical problems during its life not least the fact that for many years each time the bridge was opened the water and gas supply was cut for the inhabitants of the Lefevre Peninsula as the bridge carried the water pipeline and the gas lines. Also, as there was no electricity supply on the swing section of the bridge, electric tram drivers had the gain enough speed to cross the 50 metres swing section before the electric supply resumed again on the other side. If these problems were not enough, on 23 February 1880 the bridge suffered a fire when planking on the roadway caught light. The fire is believed to have been caused by horse dung on the bridge being ignited in some way. From this date measures were taken to ensure that the bridge was swept twice a week!
In 1966 the bridge was replaced with a fixed bridge as by then there was no need for river traffic to pass this point and in any event the river had been deepened. The old bridge was demolished in 1969 at which time the gantry was salvaged, restored and placed in the car park at the Port Dock Markets, Nile Street where you see it to-day.
Address: Port Dock Markets, Nile Street
Directions: Entrance to the car park
For my next PORT ADELAIDE review click HERE.
To start reading at the beginning of my PORT ADELAIDE reviews click HERE.
The Rambling Wombat 
I was very interested to read that this swing bridge was built in Newcastle, as I know that city’s own Swing Bridge (which is still standing btw!) very well. So not only does your Sydney have a copy of our Tyne Bridge but Port Adelaide had a copy of our Swing Bridge 😉 Do you know if this one used the same mechanism invented by William Armstrong that I described in my blog about Newcastle’s bridges (https://toonsarahnewcastle.travellerspoint.com/19/)?
LikeLike
Indeed, in those days Britain was like a huge
Ikea store for Australia. Everything was sourced there, flatpacked, shipped and reassembled here. The footbridge, a swing bridge which regularly opens, at Darling Harbour, Sydney, I am nearly sure is also from Britain. I am not familiar enough with the mechanisms to comment on them.
LikeLike
liitle more research has sourced this (sahistoryhub.com.au) … short answer mechanism was designed by Armstrong. .. same or different tothe Tyne one I am not sure.
“The new bridge was fabricated from iron components manufactured by English company Westwood, Baillie & Co. It featured a central ‘swing’ span mounted on a turntable that could be rotated 90 degrees to allow vessels to pass through the bridge. The swing span’s operation was controlled from a wooden tower mounted on a steel gantry that crossed the bridge laterally along its central pier. From this position, the bridge operator had a clear view of both the river and adjacent roadways. A hydraulic mechanism designed by Sir William Armstrong & Co. of Newcastle-on-Tyne rotated the swing span and was originally powered by a steam engine. Although weighing approximately 600 tons (600 000 kilograms), the swing mechanism was reportedly ‘so perfect that it [could] be opened and closed with the utmost ease’. When rotated to the ‘open’ position, the swing span created a void measuring 47 feet, 6 inches (14.5 metres) through which one or more vessels could pass.”
LikeLike
Armstrong was an interesting and enterprising character. If ever you make it to north east England you shoud visit his home at Cragside – the first house to have electric lighting, a,one other innovations
LikeLiked by 1 person