|
Photo Gallery
New South Wales Road Photo Gallery:
National Route 44: Bruxner Highway
The Bruxner Highway starts at the junction with the Pacific Hwy (NR1) at Uralba, near Ballina on the NSW North Coast
and ends at the intersection with the Newell Highway (NH39) at Boggabilla. The road travels close to the QLD border. Major towns on or
near the route include Lismore, Casino, Tenterfield,
Texas & Yetman.
Only part of the route is National Route 44 (this will later become alphanumeric route B60), with some
sections in control of local councils, but the photos
of that section are included below. The non-numbered
section travels from Tenterfield to Boggabilla.
The Bruxner Highway is named after Michael Bruxner, member for Northern Tablelands and Tenterfield from 1920 to 1962, leader of the New South Wales Country Party for almost all that period and Deputy Premier and Minister for Transport from 1932 to 1941. Mr Bruxner grew up in the Tenterfield area.
Click here to skip history section and go to the interactive map.
History:
1859, a route, running in approximation to current Bruxner Highway was established to connect the New England (Tenterfield) to the Clarence port of Grafton.
The Bruxner Highway west of Tenterfield developed as virtually a separate road from the Ballina-Tenterfield road to the east. However, like the latter, it did not evolve as a single, complete entity, but by a slow process of joining up lengths of different roads into the route of the highway as it is today.
Unlike the districts nearer the coast which required good roads for the transportation of the wool clip and attracted many settlers, the western areas remained backward by comparison. The great distances involved in taking wool or farming produce to market set somewhat of a limitation on the distance at which this was profitable. Although some sheep runs were established in the Ashford district and on the lower Macintyre, it became more economical to run cattle which were then driven overland to markets in Brisbane, Maitland and Sydney. The distances were not prohibitive as long as adequate feed and water could be obtained along the way.
The first road to the west of Tenterfield appears to be the one included on a map prepared by the Surveyor General's Office for the Post Office Department in 1858. It follows a gradual curving arc from Tenterfield to Ashford and thence to the south. It is likely that from a very early period this road was used to transport the wool clip from the Ashford district which, during the 1850s and 1860s, was the focal point for all the neighbouring stations from as far away as Texas.
Bonshaw, and quite likely Texas, had established tracks to Ashford by 1851, as indicated by a map of the Ashford district by Surveyor Galloway. Maidenhead and Mingoola Stations, which in the early days had established headquarters on the Queensland side of the Dumaresq, were quite likely to have been linked by a track which joined the Bonshaw-Ashford track.
It is not known exactly when the track from Tenterfield to Mingoola was formed or who formed it, although it is quite likely that since Tenterfield, Clifton and Mingoola Stations were all taken up by S.A. Donaldson and R.R. Mackenzie, they would have played a part in its early development. In 1878 the Government provided 750 pounds for expenditure on the road from "Tenterfield towards Bonshaw" giving the road a rather high Class 3 status (The leading thoroughfares for country districts. Initially the earth or gravel pavement without foundations was favoured. However, by 1878 the roads in this classification had been upgraded to the level of the macadam pavement.) and recording the length of the road as 50 miles. The considerable expense of the road can be attributed to the labour intensive process of breaking up granite blocks to the required size and the cartage of water that was necessary for the cementing action that takes place with the macadam pavement. Granite, while durable and resistant to weathering, was not widely used for this purpose as it is brittle and when crushed does not form shapes that are ideal for mechanical interlock.
The Tenterfield-Bonshaw Road carried a small amount of traffic and received little government assistance after completion. Funding for roads came from the government in Sydney up until 1906, with local contributions where possible, which was then distributed by the regional municipal body. It appears likely that the road was constructed to reinvigorate the area, with a view to the arrival of the railway at Tenterfield in 1886, by providing a durable transport route to shift produce to the railhead. However, it was many years before the road came to be used on a regular basis. A plan from 1897 gives a detailed recording of the road reserve and the immediate surrounds. The section of road still existing runs from just south of the bridge marked on the plan to the western boundary shown.
Texas and Bonshaw were on the main road to Ashford, the road consisting only of a track. This was one of the main stock routes from the Darling Downs but it is probable that a large amount of traffic went from New South Wales via Texas to Warwick and Brisbane.
The present route of the Bruxner Highway closely follows the formation as it existed in the 1880s although it has been reconstructed and realigned in many places to satisfy modern traffic requirements. The road reserve was bypassed when the highway was realigned in 1912. During the 1950s the highway was rerouted between Main Road No.382 south of Bonshaw and the Beardy River near Maidenhead (Harrison, 1967:59).
The Bruxner Hwy was proclaimed State Highway No.16 in 1938. It is the State's most northerly highway from the coast to the interior plains.
- 1899-1903: Construction of a timber truss bridge at Tabulam to cross the Clarence River . It is reputedly the longest single-span wooden bridge in the Southern Hemisphere. The Tabulam bridge is an early example of a DeBurgh timber truss road bridge. Designed by Public Works engineer Ernest M. DeBurgh, the DeBurgh truss is an adaptation of the American Pratt truss design. The bridge was built by Pope & Maher, Sydney. It has five timber truss spans - two end spans of 32.0m (105ft) and three interior spans of 32.3m (106ft). There are 10 timber approach spans at one end and 3 at the other. The overall length of the bridge is 297.5m (976ft).
The main spans are supported by concrete piers located in the river. The approaches are supported by timber trestles. A timber post and rail guard rail extends the full length of the bridge. The bridge provides a single lane carriage way with a minimum width of 4.6m.
- 1936-1940: Laying of bitumous surface between Mummelgum and Tabulam (37 miles).
- 20 September 1971: opening to traffic of 13 mile flood free deviation of the highway between Mingoola and Texas, west of Bonshaw, along with 2 mile connection from the highway to the Queensland Border town of Texas. The project cost over $1 million.
|
Duplexed with 
