Plenty River Bridge

The following article is reproduced by permission of Noel Withers and extracted from “Banyule City Council Spring Outdoors Programme 2008: Greensborough & the Plenty River Pioneer Trail with Dennis Ward & Noel Withers. A ramble from the lower part of town and along the river bank learning about historic sites and the pioneering families that settled there from 1840 onward."

Built in the 1860’s by Scottish stonemason James Neave McKenzie to replace the ford that had been used for the previous 20 yrs by pedestrians and bullock teams travelling to Eltham, Diamond Creek and the Caledonian gold fields [at Greensborough].

The bridge was of a very substantial bluestone construction and typical of its type. When it was replaced with a concrete bridge the bluestone abutments were retained as a viewing platform and the remaining stone used to in the adjacent Pioneer Reserve car park and shelter.

From the Diamond Valley Local History Digitisation project (Yarra Plenty Regional Library) 1983: Widening of the Plenty River bridge on Diamond Creek Road before Main Street, Greensborough and major reconstruction of the St Helena intersection will be one of the many works changing the face of Greensborough. A sacrifice to the bridge works was the loss of the remaining arch of Greensborough's old bluestone bridge. Extensions to the bridge was a major project in 1983-1984. It proceeded with a minimum delay to motorists. New alignments were made to both sides of Main Street on the south side, incuding the removal of a coincil owned house and the remaining arch of the old blue stone bridge that was in pioneer reserve. Locke's Real Estate Office, a former old weatherboard home was also removed. A replacement footpath was built on the west side of the exisitng bridge to give room for another traffic lane. Four mobile cranes were used in the unloading and placement of the deck girders.

A collection of photographs of the 1983 re-construction are held at Yarra Plenty Regional Library