First Creek Bridge
First Creek is one of the tributaries to the River Torrens. Part of the creek was included in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens when the gardens were established in 1854. With the creation of Botanic Park in 1873, a carriage drive was constructed to link Frome and Hackney Roads.The original bridge was constructed from vertically laminated timber.In the early days of the colony, authorities identified the need for a cheap and reliable form of construction to replace the iron construction that needed to be shipped from Britain.Edmund Wright, an engineer and architect, wrote an essay that identified laminated timber arch bridges as suitable.Fifteen horizontally laminated timber bridges were constructed; however, durability issues led to vertical laminations being adopted, with the ends protected by iron to prevent the ingress of water.The laminated timber superstructure was replaced in 1954 with a concrete deck carried on five steel beams.
Albert Bridge
The Albert Bridge was opened in 1879. It replaced two bridges that washed away at the River Torrens crossing in 1840s and 1869.The contract to construct the bridge was awarded to John Grainger and Henry Worsley for £8,100.The foundation stone was laid on August 20, 1878, and the bridge was opened on May 7, 1879.The bridge consists of a cast-iron superstructure supported on stone abutments.The bridge piers consist of three cylinders filled with concrete, founded 5 metres below the riverbed. The first pier was constructed using a cofferdam but subsequent ones were constructed using divers due to cost.The timber deck was replaced with concrete in 1933 and strengthened in 1982.
The University Footbridge
The University Footbridge was designed in 1928, and after the construction was delayed by the Great Depression, it was opened in 1937.It was designed by the engineering department of South Australian Railways and was fabricated by L Groves and Sons using steel supplied by Perry Engineering.The bridge has an internal arch span of 46 metres (152 feet).The bridge may be the first welded steel bridge in South Australia. The bridge was constructed as two identical balanced cantilevers that pivot on pin bearings. The cantilevers are balanced by two large concrete blocks at their ends. The halves are connected by two lateral shear locks.In 1971, University Engineering students hung a FJ Holden car from the bridge as part of a Prosh Day stunt.
Adelaide Bridge
In 1853, a new crossing of the River Torrens in line with an extension of King William Street to North Adelaide was constructed on this site. Opened in 1856, it was a wrought iron tubular bowstring girder.Within 20 years, the bridge’s width (23 feet 6 inches) was too narrow for the traffic volumes.The next bridge on the site was constructed with wrought iron plate girders. The bridge used the abutments from the 1856 bridge.By 1920, this bridge was not suitable for the traffic.The current bridge, a three-hinged reinforced concrete arch, was opened in 1931. The width of this bridge, 132 feet, matched that of King William Street. The bridge was designed by the City Engineer of the City of Adelaide.Rehabilitation of the bridge and the extensions to the four main columns to allow for the installation of compliant lighting were undertaken in 1999.
Torrens Weir
Sir Edwin Smith was mayor of the City of Adelaide from 1879 to 1882 and 1886-1888. He had a vision to bring the city up to modern standards. One part of this plan was the conversion of the River Torrens into a lake to improve its appearance and condition, as well as to create a recreational facility.To create the lake, it was necessary to dam the river. The first attempt to dam the river was in 1867 when the Sheriff of Adelaide used prison labour. To construct a timber dam. It washed away in 1872.A new simple concrete weir was constructed in 1880-1881. It was one of the first uses of concrete on a civil engineering project in Australia. The cement was imported from England and was mixed with aggregate from Aldgate. The sluice gates were first closed on 1 July 1881, and the formal opening ceremony was held on 21 July of the same year.James Langdon, The City of Adelaide City Engineer, supervised the construction of the weir. The weir resulted in the formation of the 4780 Megalitre Torrens Lake.The centre section of the weir was replaced with two flood gates that regulated an overflow of 2 metres. The plans were prepared in 1917 and opened in 1929.
Victoria Bridge
The current Victoria Bridge is the second on this site, crossing the River Torrens.The original bridge opened in 1870 and was a rivet-wrought iron superstructure with a pier in the middle of the river. It was lower and near horizontal.In 1964, the City of Adelaide decided to replace the Victoria Bridge and the adjacent bridge over the railway lines with twin bridges, the current Victoria Bridge and the Morphett Street Bridge, which opened in 1969.The new bridge is part of a single road alignment from Montefiore Hill to Light Square. It is a single span over the river to improve the alignment of the rowing course.The new bridge has twice the traffic width of the original. The bridge was constructed as two parallel bridges, constructed one after the other, so that the crossing could be kept open.Each of the two bridges is constructed from 24 precast concrete box units with hollow back spans filled with concrete. The structure is founded on precast concrete piles up to 20 metres long.
Morphett Street Bridge
The story of the Morphett Street Bridge and the Victoria Bridge is intrinsically linked.The original Victoria Bridge was built to align with Morphett Street. However, with the rail lines between the bridge and Morphett Street, the bridge users needed to cross the railway tracks. A level crossing was provided in 1860. However, the public was unhappy, and the Overway Bridge was constructed in 1868. It was demolished twelve years later, and the level crossing was reinstated.In 1884, a lattice girder bridge was constructed across the railway tracks, the bridge linking Morphett Street and the Victoria Bridge.In 1964, the City of Adelaide replaced both the Morphett Street Bridge and the Victoria Bridge.The new bridge is part of a single road alignment from Montefiore Hill to Light Square. The new bridge has twice the traffic width of the original.
Fowlers Factory
D and J Fowler was founded as a grocery shop in King William Street. The company expanded to become a wholesaler. The firm created the Lion brand of products, including floor, confectionary and canned fruits.In 1906, architect Frank Counsell designed the factory building on North Terrace. The building consists of high-quality brick detailing. The Lion statue on the roof took three months to carve. The building was opened in 1907.The factory was used for the packaging of the Lion brand flour.The building was originally symmetrical; however, with the construction of the Morphett Street Bridge, the eastern side of the building was demolished in 1966.The building was converted for Arts use starting in the 1970s and became the Lions Arts Centre in 1992.
CML Building
The CML building was constructed on the south-western corner of Hindley Street and King William Street over a nine-month period in 1934.It is eleven stories above ground level, the highest permitted height at the time, and it remained Adelaide’s tallest building for three decades until the construction of the AMP Building in the corner of North Terrace and King William Street in 1968.The building was constructed using reinforced concrete.After its successful use on the Brisbane CML building, the façade was constructed using Benedict Stone, a Queensland-developed material that used crushed porphyry that was blended into a mix that could be poured into moulds. Similar buildings were constructed in Wellington, New Zealand, and Port Elizabeth, South Africa.In 1936, radio station 5DN – South Australia’s first commercial radio station – moved into the top floors. Two 30 metre masts were erected on the roof with an antenna strung between. The towers were removed in 1956 when 5DN shifted to new premises.The building was repurposed into a hotel in the 2000s and opened in 2015.
T and G Building
The Temperance and General (T and G) Mutual Life Assurance Society was founded in Melbourne in 1876. During the interwar period, the company embarked on a program of developing 20 similar landmark buildings in Australia and New Zealand.The site of the Adelaide building was purchased by T and G in 1912.The 11-storey building is 132 feet high, the tallest that a building code be constructed under the Building Act of 1932. The building is composite steel and reinforced concrete. The building opened on 23 November 1925.The Adelaide T and G Building had features that were new to Adelaide, including lighting and ventilation.In 2000-2001, the building was converted to a serviced apartment hotel.
Adelaide GPO
The colonies of Australia were far from England and the rest of Europe for both the transport of goods and people and communications. It was necessary to rely on shipping to get information to and from Europe.With the construction of the telegraph line between Melbourne and Adelaide, communication between the two colonies was vastly improved.The British-Australian Telegraph Company proposed to bring a telegraph cable ashore in the Port of Darwin. This cable would connect to Jakarta and Singapore, and from there to Europe.The South Australian Governor, Sir Richard MacDonnell, made an offer to the cable owners that South Australia would build a telegraph connection from the Port of Darwin to Adelaide. Charles Todd (later Sir Charles) took charge of constructing the Overland Telegraph Line.The Overland Telegraph Line was completed on 22 August 1872, and Adelaide was the first Australian capital city connected to the rest of the world.The Chief Telegraph Office was on the first floor of the Adelaide GPO, and the first commercial telegraph message was received on 22 October 1872.
MLC Building
The construction of Adelaide’s MLC Building started in 1955 and was completed in 1957. It was Adelaide’s first post-war skyscraper.It was designed in the same style as MLC Buildings developed in Brisbane, Perth, Hobart, Townsville, and Hamilton (New Zealand).It was constructed with a lightweight steel frame based on the current research worldwide to minimise the quantity of building materials and increase the speed of construction. Uniquely for Adelaide at the time, the façade is a curtain wall system.It was also the first fully air-conditioned office tower in Australia.It represented a significant departure from the then typical form of construction of Adelaide’s commercial buildings – masonry and reinforced concrete.A weather beacon was installed on the roof of the building in 1958, and MLC provided cards that allowed the interpretation of the lights of the beacon to read the weather forecast. The beacon was removed in 1979.
Harbors Board Building
The building that is currently at 201 Victoria was constructed 34 metres to the south of its current location in 1884 for the National Mutual Life Assurance of Australia.The South Australian Harbours Board (SAHB) was established by a South Australian Government Act in 1913, and the building became its headquarters in 1914. The SAHB moved to a new headquarters in Port Adelaide in 1979.The State Government Insurance Commission (SGIC) identified the corner of King William Street and Grote Street as the site of its new headquarters.To facilitate the construction of the new SGIC headquarters, the façade and one room’s depth of the existing building were moved.The 1000 tonnes structure was shifted on rollers along concrete and steel runway beams using hydraulic rams.
Menz Factory
A small grocery business was opened in Wakefield Street in 1850 by German immigrants Johann and Magdalena Menz. Johann died in 1860, and their sons joined the business in 1867 and 1878.The business began making biscuits and added a new factory in 1884.By 1927, the factory was producing 15 tons of biscuits per week, plus chocolate and confectionery.The western corner of Wakefield Street was constructed in 1878. Significant additions were constructed in 1911/1912 and 1946.Biscuit production was transferred to Marleston in 1953, and the remaining operations followed in 1979. The site is now an educational institution.The chimney at the rear of the site is the only remaining one from the multiple chimneys that were part of the factory.
Grenfell Street Power and Convertor Stations
The South Australian Electric Light and Motive Power Company was established in 1895 to provide power to the Colony of South Australia.In 1900, the City of Adelaide signed a contract with the company to provide power for King William Street lighting and to private customers.Subsequently, the Grenfell Street Coal Fired Power Station was developed and opened in 1910.The adjacent Adelaide Electric Company convertor station was opened in 1923 and was finally shutdown in 1967 when the last of the DC was removed from the city.The Municipal Tramways Trust No. 1 Convertor Station was used to power the electric tram network from 1909 to 1956.The Power Station is now the Tandanya Aboriginal Cultural Institute, the Adelaide Electric Company Convertor station is a sub-station and the Tramways convertor station office accommodation.
