By Karlene Brummer
The historic Thomas James Bridge on Settlers Road (just west of the main Ferry crossing) was originally constructed in the 1830s by convict labour.
Hand-cut sandstone blocks quarried from the surrounding hillside were used to erect huge abutments supporting a simple single span timber bridge deck.
The bridge is the oldest in-use road bridge on the Australian mainland and is part of the world heritage listed Old Great North Road which connected the Hunter Valley to Sydney. It was the first road to be constructed north of the Hawkesbury River.
The bridge is named after the overseer of the 25 Road Party (the men who built the bridge) Thomas James, who was a Ticket of Leave overseer, having arrived in NSW in 1819 aboard the convict ship ‘Recovery’.
Photo credit: Wisemans.org.au
The bridge was massively compromised by consecutive floods in 2021/2022 which caused major land slippage effectively cutting off all access to this part of the road. Residents were forced to travel to Webbs Creek to cross the river, until partial access was restored.
Delaney Civil were contracted to repair and restore the road and bridge. Work began in 2023, with the project supervised by an Archaeologist and great care was taken every step of the way including removing the huge sandstone blocks one by one, numbering them, mapping their original position and placing into storage before being reconstructed.
Steel footings have been put into place, and the rock face has been secured with a new retaining wall.
The 17.5million dollar project has been managed by the Hawkesbury City Council with funding from the State and Federal Photo credit: Wisemans.org.au Government infrastructure recovery program.
