Cowra Bridge Truss - Historic Engineering Marker #13 Cowra, New South Wales, Australia
By Team MavEtJu on 31-Oct-15. Waypoint GA7735

Cowra Bridge Truss - Historic Engineering Marker #13

The first bridge constructed at this site was an American all-timber McCallum truss bridge of three spans. It existed from 1868 until replaced in 1893 by a bridge designed by John A McDonald.
The McDonald bridge was the first in New South Wales to use a composite timber/iron truss and was the largest of its type in Australia. The bridge carried the busy north-south inland mad traffic for 93 years until 1986, when it was replaced.

John McDonald came from England. He joined the Department of Public Works, NSW in 1879 and from 1889 to 1893 was Engineer for Bridges. McDonald made a significant contribution to bridge design in NSW. His achievements include redesign in 1886 of the standard FIND truss to produce the "McDonald Truss"; design of all the lattice girder road bridges from 1884 to 1893; design c. 1884 of a series of sliding bridges at Lismore, Coopernook and Brine; and design of early bascule and lift bridges such as over the Darling River at Bourke in 1883. McDonald died in 1933.

In 1990 one of the McDonald truss spans that had been erected in Bryant Park, was awarded an Historic Engineering Marker plaque by The Institution of Engineers, Australia. However, it was demolished in 1999 because it had become unsafe.
The existing seven span bridge comprises two prestressed concrete, continuous box girders. It was designed by the then Department of Main Roads and opened in 1986.

When logging this virtual, please add a photo of yourself or your GPSr at the interpretive marker.

For more information, please see the nomination PDF at the Heritage Register at the Engineers Australia website: https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/portal/heritage/cowra-bridge-truss-lachlan-river-1893