Hello again!
We are again trying out this new way of hosting a weekly coffee run. Last week we had an excellent post from Doug of a virtual tour of his shed, which was very comprehensive and entertaining.
What have you been up to this week? Any interesting ways of passing the time during the lockdown? Or have you made any progress on your cars? Please feel free to share below.
Today it will be 29°C and sunny in Camden, a lovely day for some virtual Veteran motoring! P.S. If you are having trouble with logging in or setting up an account, contact me at abbeypnewman@gmail.com
I was looking at some old maps yesterday which reminded me that there was no direct road to Newcastle for many years. Here's a bit about the bridge across the Hawkesbury from Wikipedia:
Peats Ferry, a ferry operated by George Peat from 1847 until the 1890s, provided a local crossing of the Hawkesbury River: at that time there was no direct road between Sydney and Newcastle. The ferry service was made redundant by the completion of the Sydney-Newcastle railway in 1889 with the opening of the first Hawkesbury River railway bridge. Between 1925 and 1930 the New South Wales Public Works Department, and subsequently the Main Roads Board, undertook construction of the road between Hornsby and Gosford, in order to provide a direct road route between Sydney and Newcastle. Upon completion of the roadworks in 1930 Peats Ferry was reinstated between Kangaroo Point and Mooney Mooney Point, pending construction of the bridge.
Construction of the bridge commenced in 1938 but it was not completed until May 1945.[1][8] Prior to construction of the Hornsby-Gosford road via Peats ferry the most direct road route between Sydney and Newcastle was via the Old Northern Road via Wisemans Ferry and Cessnock, built in the 1820s.
The Sydney-Hornsby-Gosford-Newcastle route was named as part of the Great Northern Highway in 1928, and renamed as part of the Pacific Highway in 1931.
Ther's an old DMR video about the bridge on youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwnnamyZwcY
Some of our older members may remember going on the punt before the bridge was finished.