TOM UGLYS BRIDGE When residents of Morty talked about going across the bridge”, back in 1929, they didnt mean the Sydney Harbour Bridge. They’re talking about Tom Ugly’s between Blakehurst and Sylvania, or trom 1965 the Captain Cook Bridge between Sans Souci and Taren Point. They were the closest two means of driving over the Georges River other then using the Lugarno Punt. Tom Uglys is a 3-lane box girder bridge built in 1929. Traffic heads north on it. On the other side, there is a concrete bridge, built in 1987, to alleviate traffic congestion. Tom Uglys Bridge took its name from the southernmost part of Blakehurst, known as Tom Uglys Point. There is debate about how the Point got that name. Theories include: An Aborigine by that name lived at Tom Ugly’s Point in a cave; It was named after an old fisherman by the name of Tom Illigley; It was named after Tom Huxley, a caretaker on a large estate. The Aborigines who visited him could not pronounce his name so it became Tom Hoogli which in turn became Tom Ugly’s; It was named after an Aborigine called Tommy who had only one leg, and who in the Aboriginal terminology was called “Waggerly” Tom (waggerly being the Aboriginal word for lame animal). Later on he was called Tom Waggerly which was finally changed to Tom Ugly. The name was officially adopted to distinguish between the various bridges of the Georges River, after the opening of the Captain Cook Bridge in 1965 and the Alfords Point Bridge in 1973. Before the bridge, tenders were called to construct a punt (cable ferry) for Tom Ugly’s point in 1864. A hand operated punt service from Tom Uglys Point to Horse Rock Point commenced.The punt underwent many changes over the years. The bill for the construction of a bridge across the Georges River was introduced into State Parliament in 1923. A foundation stone was laid by R.T. Ball, Minister for Works on 7 June 1924 and construction of the bridge commenced in February 1925. British company Arnstrong Whitworth supplied the steelwork. The bridge was build at a cost of £305,000 and was funded by a State Government loan to Sutherland Shire Council with borrowed money to be repaid by a toll on the bridge once it was opened. The mud is so deep there that they could not find a solid base for the piers so permanent timber poles were drive down into the mud to support the concrete piers. The deepest concrete pier section goes down 110 feet (approx 33m) below high water line and the poles are under this. If you have ever fished or anchored in the area you will know that the water is not all that deep, so these poles go down a bloody long way. The crossing was first opened for traffic on 26 April 1929, and officially opened some 15 days later by the Governor of New South Wales on 11 May 1929. It was then known as the “George’s River Bridge”. It was the last major bridge of designer by Percy Allan (1861-1930), Chief Engineer for National and Local Government Works, whose other work included Pyrmonts swing bridge in Australia. Sutherland Shire Council made history for up to that time no Council ever pledged its revenue for such a major public work. It significantly helped open up the whole region south of the river and the South Coast. There was a sixpence bridge toll which was collected on the Sylvania side of the bridge by toll collectors who stood on the road. The tolls were removed in May 1952 when the bridge was repaid. The road was one lane in each direction in the 1940s & 1950s, and was converted to become three lanes tidal flow with two lanes in the direction of the peak flow until the opening of the second Tom Uglys Bridge in October 1987 to southbound motorist. [Fairfax Archives - National Library of Australia]
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 08:34:09 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015