The Richmond Bridge is a heritage listed arch bridge located on the B31 ("Convict Trail") in Richmond

Richmond, Tasmania

Richmond is a town in Tasmania about 25 km north-east of Hobart, in the Coal River region, between the Midland Highway and Tasman Highway. At the 2006 census, Richmond had a population of 880....

, 25 kilometres (15.5 mi) north of Hobart

Hobart

Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...

 in Tasmania

Tasmania

Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...

, 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...

. It is the oldest bridge still in use in Australia.

History

The foundation stone for the Richmond Bridge was laid on 11 December 1823 and construction continued using convict labour

Penal labour

Penal labour is a form of unfree labour in which prisoners perform work, typically manual labour. The work may be light or hard, depending on the context. Forms of sentence which involve penal labour include penal servitude and imprisonment with hard labour...

 until completion in 1825. The bridge was originally named Bigge's Bridge after Royal Commissioner, John Thomas Bigge

John Bigge

John Thomas Bigge was an English judge and royal commissioner.Bigge was born at Benton House, Northumberland, England, the second son of Thomas Charles Bigge, High Sheriff of Northumberland in 1771...

, who recognised the need for the bridge in 1820.
In 2005, the bridge was recognised as an outstanding historic place and added to the Australian National Heritage List

Australian National Heritage List

The Australian National Heritage List is a list of places deemed to be of outstanding heritage significance to Australia. The list includes natural, historic and indigenous places...

.

Construction

The Richmond Bridge is constructed of sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

 quarried from Butchers Hill, hauled to the construction site by convicts using hand carts. It consists of four main arches, of span 4.3, 8.1, 8.3, 8.5, 8.3 and 4.1 metres (14.1, 26.6, 27.2, 27.9, 27.2, and 13.5 ft) respectively, which spring from sloping fins with angular leading edges aligned with the flow of to the lake

See also

• Government of Australia
  Government of Australia
  The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal constitutional monarchy under a parliamentary democracy. The Commonwealth of Australia was formed in 1901 as a result of an agreement among six self-governing British colonies, which became the six states...
  
  
• Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts

External links

• Discover Tasmania Website, Accessed May 2006.
• Tasmanian Communities Online, Accessed May 2006.
• Australian National Heritage listing for Richmond Bridge, last accessed 9 July 2008.
• Historic Richmond Bridge a National Heritage jewel, Australian Government Department of the Environment and Heritage, press release, 2005