The first bridges across the Macquarie River near Dubbo were stock bridges built by stockmen to allow them to move sheep and cattle in wet weather. There were no general public bridges, however the river could be easily forded at a number of points. There was also a ferry service conducted by Mr CL Purvis with a price of shilling per head to cross.
On 24 May 1866 the first public access traffic bridge was opened. There was controversy over the name of the bridge and it was christened twice on this day with two different names. Just before 11:00am 210 people from the ‘Oxley’ faction met at Dubbo court house and formed a procession to the bridge and stated ‘I now declare that this bridge shall be called and known hereafter by the name of Oxley.’
An hour later a smaller procession from the Royalist faction marched to the bridge and declared the bridge open, but with the name Albert Bridge. The bridge retained it’s official name of Oxley until it was demolished. Locally, it was referred to as ‘The White Bridge’. This was interestingly a toll bridge for many years until a public protest in 1871, with burning effigies of politicians, ensured the toll was removed the following year.
In 1905 a new bridge was constructed on the same site which retained the local name of ‘The White Bridge’ until it was replaced with the LH Ford Bridge in 1969.
The LH Ford bridge is still present today as the main traffic bridge over the Macquarie River. By 1971 the $1m structure had begun to sag by more then 5 inches on the western end. Extensive jacking operations were carried out, but the dip is still present. The bridge is referred to in some local circles as the Big Dipper.
(Information from ‘Dubbo and its History’ by Bill Hornadge, published by Macquarie Publications Dubbo, 1982)
-----
The preseident and 1st lady have been very active geocachers in Dubbo and surrounds. This is just one of the many locations they hid geocaches in the area. Here is the original cache page:
geocaching.com/geocache/GCNNRD_the-white-bridge
Have fun hunting! :D