perch, £1454 2s.; 6665 perches of building and mortar, at 6s. per perch, £1999 10s.; 67,200 cubic yards of embankments at the two ends of the bridge, at 1s. per yard, £3360. Total, £12,209.
The recent discovery of a stone quarry at Corio (Geelong), suitable for the work, would, it was expected, reduce the gross amount by £2000. The troubles of the bridge, however, soon commenced, the first stumbling-block being the stone contractor, who declared he had under-tendered, and was dilatory in keeping up the supply. Little advance was made until August, when it was ascertained that, instead of £12,000, the probable cost would be £20,000, and instead of being finished in three years, as expected, it would take five. It was first intended to proceed with one-half of the arch, but some local engineers having expressed disapproval, the Bridge Superintendent changed his mind, and went on with the whole. During 1847 it dawdled away, the subject of scornful and disparaging comment; but at the commencement of 1848 there were no less than twenty masons hammering away on it! On the 10th February the arch was half finished,and when completed it would be the largest in the colonies, and, with only one exception, the largest in Europe. Its span would be 150 feet, whilst the span of the main arch of London Bridge was but two feet more (152). The material was granite and bluestone; some of the granite blocks weighed one and a-half tons, and it took eight bullocks two days to drag one of them to Melbourne. The granite was well-grained, in no manner inferior to the Scotch article. On the 7th September the second portion had so far progressed that the process of "keying" took place at 3 p.m., in the presence of Superintendent Latrobe, when the Union Jack was proudly unfurled. The arch was an elliptical span of 150 feet, the crown being but thirty feet above the water. It was the flattest ever thrown, only one-fifth of the altitude, whilst the celebrated bridge at Neuilly, in France, of 120 English feet span, rose from the spring to the crown of the arch more than a fourth of the entire span. The centre arch of the new London Bridge was the nearest approach in dimensions and contour to the Melbourne one, but the crown of that arch was 35 feet above the springing of the intrudos, or nearly one-fourth, and one-third of the extreme span. For strength the lower tiers of stones were set so as to project inwards eighteen inches on each side, leaving a clear span of 150 feet. The breadth of the arch was thirty feet, and, estimating the weight of each cubic foot of granite used in construction at 168 lbs., or 1½ cwt., there were 23,490 cubic feet for the solid contents of the arch, which would weigh over 1260 tons. On 19th April, 1850, the last "cap" stone was placed on the bridge, an event signalized by the sprinkling of a legion of Union Jacks and other flags all over the structure. The amount expended to date was £12,000. A most wanton act was perpetrated in the vicinity of the bridge on the 14th July, 1850. The Superintendent had a small wooden building for an office, and this was feloniously fired. The place contained a plan of the bridge and several documents of value. A reward was offered for the detection of the perpetrators, but to no effect.
The bridge was formally opened on the 15th November, 1850, with the grandest processional display witnessed in the colony, a description of which will be found amongst the Separation rejoicings on one of "the three white days." Lennox well sustained his reputation by the manner in which this first stone bridge was built, for in durability it has had no equal in the colonies. On the 26th September, 1851, it was lit by three lamps on each side.
I was under an impression that the design for this structure had been prepared by Mr. David Lennox, a Superintendent of Bridges, despatched from Sydney, but I have now reason for believing that it was the handiwork of Mr. Charles Laing, the second Town Surveyor of Melbourne. It appears that the Public Works Committee of the Town Council, acting in conjunction with a delegation from the District Council of Bourke in 1844, offered a premium for plans and estimates for a bridge over the Yarra. The structure was to be on elliptic arches, and, though there were more than a dozen competitors, the design adjudged deserving of first prize so deviated from the conditions of the plans that a writer of the time declares its acceptance to be "a shameful injustice," as it was a plan "which cannot by any possibility be tortured into anything approaching to elliptical." As to this old structure Mr. Russell thus gossips:—
"Concerning the stone bridge at present under condemnation (I wish I had the power to grant a reprieve), you may be aware that a premium was offered, and this design was accepted. It was not quite in accordance with the terms of the advertisement, as will be seen by the letter in the Port Phillip Herald of June, 1844, forwarded herewith; but it is nevertheless well constructed, and, being one of the largest span,
