Bruntons Hotel Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

Ngaambul: No response from owner. If you wish to repair/replace the cache sometime in the near future (next 30 days), just contact us (by email), and assuming it meets the current guidelines, we'll be happy to unarchive it.

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Hidden : 9/19/2007
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size: small (small)

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Geocache Description:

Follow the road to Happy Go Lucky, which leaves the valley near the railway station and climbs away from Walhalla. At a junction, the left hand branch leads to Maidentown. The right hand road leads to Happy Go Lucky and continues to Buntons Bridge where the old coach road crossed the Thomson River.


Looking from the east side in its heyday


as the bridge is now from the west side
History of the area and the bridge.

Bruntons Bridge played a key role for those accessing the goldfields and the structure still stands high above the Thomson reminding us of the old way to the goldfields.

Today it no longer carries traffic, but is a magnificent example of infrastructure heritage.

The 2nd bridge built over the Thomson at Brunton, a small settlement with a hotel and Post Office, was considered unsafe in early 1887. It had been built in early 1869, a £1,150 structure replacing Carpenter’s Bridge, which was the original bridge on the Toongabbie road which only lasted five years.

Alexander Rodgers, the Walhalla Shire Engineer, suggested the construction of a new iron girder bridge over the Thomson River, high enough above the bed of the river to avoid floods. The tender for the new bridge went to Mephan Ferguson’s Carlton Foundry for £4,690 7s 6d. His design was a facsimile of the Victoria Bridge over the Yarra at Richmond.

Most of the materials for the bridge came by rail to Toongabbie, and were then transported using bullock teams by the local carriers to the bridge site.

The new Bruntons Bridge was completed in October 1888. The deck stretched for nearly 218 ft and stands approximately 50 ft above the ground. Between parapets it measures 18 ft in width, allowing sufficient room for wheeled vehicles to pass. Ironbark and red gum timbers were used for bearers and decking respectively.

Overall the bridge consists of four spans supported by piers, the upper portion of which consists of wrought iron cylinders 2 ft in diameter and filled with Portland cement concrete.

When Walhalla declined, the Toongabbie road and Brunton’s Bridge fell into disrepair. The decking disappeared over the years, destroyed by fires and rot. People would dare one another to walk across the narrow girders of the skeleton structure high above the river.

In 1979 the Army Reserve re-decked the bridge for walkers. Brunton’s Bridge still stands today, although the re-decked section is no longer there the bridge is a monument to the glory days of the Toongabbie-Walhalla road.

The cache is located above the bridge area on the Walhalla side near the old hotel site. It is almost a drive by if you have the right vehicle.

4wd is not required but would make the trip more comfortable!

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

haqre gur ebpxf oruvaq gur gerr

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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