One of my favourite bike routes in Brisbane is from South Bank to Redcliffe. This relaxing ride is mostly on a bike paths far from car traffic. At the northern end of the ride we go across Bramble Bay through the longest bridge in Australia (at the time of opening in 2010), Ted Smout Memorial Bridge but before it was the Hornibrook Bridge which I had a chance to ride across before it was demolished in 2010. Today I checked its story and it is quite interesting.

Sir Manuel Richard Hornibrook’s vision

Sir Manuel Richard Hornibrook established his own business as a builder and contractor when he was 19 years old in 1912. In 1932, the company had building projects all around Queensland and had just completed building the William Jolly Bridge in Brisbane. Few years earlier Redcliffe Council has proposed construction of the bridge yet due to depression government didn’t have funds and project was waiting for better times. Hornibrook’s vision for the bridge resulted in him approaching the State Government in 1931 with a proposal to construct a toll bridge linking Sandgate area with the southern part of Redcliffe. There were few main reasons for the bridge to be constructed.

Connecting Redcliffe with Brisbane

Redcliffe was Queensland’s first settlement in 1824 but after one year in 1825 the penal settlement was relocated to the Brisbane river banks where the current Brisbane City is located. Redcliffe was left as a agricultural reserve but underwent a significant land boom in the 1880s and was quickly gaining a reputation as a seaside resort.

Prior to the construction of the Hornibrook viaduct, the Redcliffe Peninsula was accessed via two main methods of transport: ferry and road. Road transportation in particular was of great concern to the residents of the Redcliffe area. During times of wet weather, the Redcliffe road running via Petrie regularly became impassable to vehicles. [Queensland Heritage Register: 601246]

Reducing unemployment

During the depression of 1930s many people were struggling with finding a job and Mr Hornibrook needed work for his employees as well. During the construction of the bridge from 1932 to 1935 there were about 500 men employed.

Queensland’s economy was somewhat shielded from the crisis that began in 1929 by its underdeveloped manufacturing sector and reliance on primary products. As export sales of wheat, wool and minerals plummeted, however, rural producers and associated businesses laid off workers or closed. At just over half the national figure, Queensland’s unemployment rate was 11.6% by June 1930. By 1931 over 30% of the Queensland workforce was unemployed. [Queensland Historical Atlas]

First private toll road in Queensland

In 1931, Hornibrook approached the State Government with a proposal to construct the bridge but initially this proposal was rejected. After further consultation with the State Government, an act of Parliament was pushed through allowing private enterprise to construct toll facilities on a road construction. It is explained in this article from The Telegraph from 27 April 1932 – excerpt below.

The company [Hornibrook Highway Ltd] was formed to secure the franchise granted, under the “Tolls on Privately Constructed Roads Traffic Facilities Act of 1931”, for a period of 40 years authorising the proprietor to construct a bridge and roadways described as the Sandgate-Redcliffe Road traffic facility and to levy tolls. The object of the new facility is to shorten the distance between Sandgate and Redcliffe, thus reducing the distance between Brisbane and the popular Redcliffe beaches by approximately nine miles. [via Trove]

Sandgate to Redcliffe – Advantages of New Bridge

In this article from Humpybong Weekly and Advertiser from 1932 the author presented some of the advantages of the new scheme. It is clear that this construction was very important for a local community.

What will be the result of the new policy in the particular case under our consideration?

First – There is an advantage to the public from the point of view that no new Government loan need be raised and no additional taxation need be levied.

Second – The raising of the necessary capital from the public will make fully productive portion of that capital, which is now, to all intents and purposes, in a stagnant condition and which is not at present assisting new enterprise and which, consequently, is returning little income to the holder.

Third – The use of this capital for the purpose of the construction of the bridge and the necessary roads will give employment directly to several hundreds of men, and indirectly, to several hundreds more.

Fourth – The expenditure of this capital in the form of wages, salaries and materials, will add a considerable volume of new purchasing power, which sooner or later, will absorb additional manufactured goods, and additional services, in the form of transport, shop and clerical assistance and the like.

Fifth – Expenditure of this new purchasing power will mean larger incomes for the farmer, the manufacturer, the retailer, the small shopkeeper, and the business men generally.

Sixth – The provisional of this additional employment will reduce the cost of Government unemployment relief, thus assisting our somewhat battered budgets.

Seventh – The additional turnover of the farming and business community as a result of the expenditure of this new purchasing   power resulting as it must on larger incomes, will mean that the Governments will receive in taxation larger sums of money without any increase in the rate or in the direct burden of taxation.

Eighth – The bigger business turn over and the larger business incomes will engender a greater confidence in the future. Confidence breeds confidence. In this way a better and more optimistic tone will prevail throughout the whole of the community which, in its turn, will stimulate still further new enter- prise with all its attendant benefits.

It is not suggested that the carrying out of this one piece of constructional work will solve the whole tragic problem of unemployment, but there can be no question in the mind of any fair minded person that it is a step in the only direction from which a completely successful solution must come.

To the motorist, particularly, more heavily hit than perhaps any other section of the community by both direct and indirect taxation the appeal made by this class of construction must be a very real one. These are the days of self- help, and it the bounden duty of every Australian to help his less fortunate fellow Australian. And if every Australian is able, at the same time, to secure for himself or herself an investment as sound as any in the Commonwealth Bank to day, there should be no hesitation on the part of any person financially able to assist in the construction and completion of this big national work, in making their immediate contribution. [via Trove]

The Hornibrook Highway was closed to vehicular traffic in 1979 with the opening of the replacement structure Houghton Highway named after a local politician. With further increase of traffic third bridge was required and in 2010 Ted Smout Memorial Bridge was opened.

Julie Hornibrook – granddaughter of  Sir Manuel Hornibrook – in 2015 researched Sir Manuel Hornibrook’s legacy and in her essay for State Library of Queensland presented the whole process in details, from vision through construction stages to demolition. It’s worth reading to get more details, also there is a post with historic images with additional information.