{"id":4826,"date":"2022-02-11T13:32:28","date_gmt":"2022-02-11T02:32:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bassstraitmaritimecentre.com.au\/?p=4826"},"modified":"2022-09-23T09:43:11","modified_gmt":"2022-09-22T23:43:11","slug":"bridges-across-the-mersey-victoria-bridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bassstraitmaritimecentre.com.au\/news\/bridges-across-the-mersey-victoria-bridge\/","title":{"rendered":"Bridges Across the Mersey: Victoria Bridge"},"content":{"rendered":"
On the 18th<\/sup> of May 1870, a public meeting was held to discuss how best to persuade the Government to erect a bridge over either the Mersey River or Port Frederick. A committee was formed of some twenty-four individuals and included names well-known in Devonport to this day: \u00a0Oldaker, Rooke, Stewart, Cummings and Best, to highlight a few. Their proposal was rejected by the Office of Lands and Works due to the large expenditure of public money that would be required and the fact that facilities were already available to those needing to cross the river.<\/p>\n The Committee continued with petitions, pointing out that current facilities consisted only of ferry boats for passengers and a punt for horses, cattle and carts. They drew attention to the fact that the ferry was privately owned and prohibitively expensive, while the punt was often disabled for weeks at a time, meaning no carts could cross the river, and horses and cattle had to be swum across. They also pointed out that public money had been utilized to build bridges over other rivers such as the Forth and Leven, while nothing had been done for Torquay.<\/p>\n