David Lennox
Encyclopedia
Ayr
Ayr is a town and port situated on the Firth of Clyde in south-west Scotland. With a population of around 46,000, Ayr is the largest settlement in Ayrshire, of which it is the county town, and has held royal burgh status since 1205...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
Personal details
Trained as a stonemason, Lennox worked on TelfordThomas Telford
Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE was a Scottish civil engineer, architect and stonemason, and a noted road, bridge and canal builder.-Early career:...
's Menai Suspension Bridge
Menai Suspension Bridge
The Menai Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales. Designed by Thomas Telford and completed in 1826, it was the first modern suspension bridge in the world.-Construction:...
at Anglesey
Anglesey
Anglesey , also known by its Welsh name Ynys Môn , is an island and, as Isle of Anglesey, a county off the north west coast of Wales...
in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
and on Over Bridge
Over Bridge
Over Bridge is a single span stone arch bridge spanning the canalised West Channel of the River Severn near Gloucester. It links Over to Alney Island....
at Gloucester
Gloucester
Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....
before emigrating to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
following the death of his wife. He arrived in August 1832 aboard the ship Florentia.
Prior to this time, the young colony of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
had no skilled stonemasons, and so it was almost fate that a chance meeting with the Surveyor-General, Major Thomas Mitchell should result in Lennox—by now a Master Stonemason with twenty years' experience—becoming, provisionally, Sub-Inspector of Bridges and later Superintendent of Bridges.
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
in 1844, to take up a position responsible for bridges in the Port Phillip district.
Lennox retired in November 1853 and returned to New South Wales two years later where he lived in Parramatta. He died on 12 November 1873, and was buried in old St John's cemetery, Parramatta. His gravestone was never marked so it is not known exactly where he was interred.
Significant works
He was commissioned in 1832, the year of his arrival in the colony, to oversee the construction of the bridges for the new road over the Blue Mountains including the Lennox BridgeLennox Bridge, Glenbrook
The Lennox Bridge is a stone arch bridge designed by David Lennox situated in Glenbrook, Australia. It is a single arch of 6m span and 9m above water level, with a road width of 9m...
over Brookside Creek at Lapstone Hill. Construction began in 1832 with Lennox supervising the efforts of twenty convicts who had little, if any, masonry skills. Lennox Bridge is the oldest surviving complete bridge on the Australian mainland (it is predated by Richmond Bridge
Richmond Bridge, Tasmania
The Richmond Bridge is a heritage listed arch bridge located on the B31 in Richmond, 25 kilometres north of Hobart in Tasmania, Australia. It is the oldest bridge still in use in Australia.-History:...
in Tasmania, completed 1825, and by the foundations of several bridges north of Wisemands Ferry including Clares Bridge on the Great North Road, built in 1830.
Lennox was also responsible for the construction of historic Lansdowne Bridge over Prospect Creek
Prospect Creek (New South Wales)
Prospect Creek is a small creek in south-western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It flows from the Prospect reservoir for about 17 km until joining the Georges River at Georges Hall into the Dhurawal bay, in the Chipping Norton Lake system.As the reservoir forms a part of the...
in Lansdowne
Lansdowne, New South Wales
Lansdowne is a suburb in south-western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Lansdowne is located 27 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government areas of the City of Bankstown and is part of the South-western Sydney region.-History:Lansdowne took...
which he was enlisted to build in 1832, with construction beginning the very next year using locally quarried stone. After three years, it was opened in 1836 and with a toll charged for crossing, the construction costs were soon recovered.
Lennox Bridge, Parramatta
Lennox Bridge in Parramatta is a stone arch bridge that spans the Parramatta River, in Parramatta, Sydney, Australia. It was designed by David Lennox and constructed with convict labour over the period 1836 to 1839, making it one of the oldest bridges in Australia.This was Lennox's third bridge,...
over the Parramatta River
Parramatta River
The Parramatta River is a waterway in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Parramatta River is the main tributary of Sydney Harbour, a branch of Port Jackson, along with the smaller Lane Cove and Duck Rivers....
at Parramatta
Parramatta, New South Wales
Parramatta is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in Greater Western Sydney west of the Sydney central business district on the banks of the Parramatta River. Parramatta is the administrative seat of the Local Government Area of the City of Parramatta...
which was constructed from 1836 to 1839. It is possible that he designed Towrang Bridge (1839) that once carried the Hume Highway. See Towrang
Towrang, New South Wales
Towrang is a village in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia, in Goulburn Mulwaree Council. It is approximately 13 km before Goulburn on the Hume Highway 180 km south from Sydney. At the 2006 census, Towrang and the surrounding area had a population of 406.The town was...
.
He designed and oversaw the construction of the Liverpool Dam in 1836. The dam was one of the first engineered weirs built in New South Wales.
Lennox built fifty-three bridges in the nine years he was in the employ of Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, including the second Prince's Bridge
Princes Bridge, Melbourne
Princes Bridge, originally Prince's Bridge, is an important bridge in central Melbourne, Australia that spans the Yarra River. It is built on the site of one of the oldest river crossings in Australia. The bridge connects Swanston Street on the north bank of the Yarra River to St Kilda Road on the...
over the Yarra River
Yarra River
The Yarra River, originally Birrarung, is a river in east-central Victoria, Australia. The lower stretches of the river is where the city of Melbourne was established in 1835 and today Greater Melbourne dominates and influences the landscape of its lower reaches...
in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
. The 46 m (150 ft) stone arch was the largest built by Lennox and was opened in 1851. It was to last until the river was widened some thirty-five years later, and in 1888 was replaced by the present Prince's Bridge.
As well as bridges, Lennox was also in charge of roads, wharves and ferries in the Port Phillip district.