{"id":471808,"date":"2026-02-11T01:39:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T01:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/471808\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T01:39:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T01:39:11","slug":"hand-built-high-country-bridges-lost-to-fires-taking-decades-of-history-with-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/471808\/","title":{"rendered":"Hand-built high country bridges lost to fires, taking decades of history with them"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fires, floods and termites were recognised as major threats to historic trestle bridges along the High Country Rail Trail in Victoria’s north-east.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So volunteers were worried when strong winds pushed the 122,000-hectare Walwa-Mt Lawson State Park bushfire towards the bridges near Shelley, Koetong and the Tallangatta Valley.<\/p>\n

Within 24 hours, 12 of the 13 bridges had burnt to the ground, taking more than 100 years of history, craftsmanship and volunteer restoration efforts with them.<\/p>\n

\"an<\/p>\n

The Boggy Creek trestle bridge, near Koetong, before the January fires.\u00a0 (Facebook: Nicole Denovan)<\/p>\n

Rail trail decimated<\/p>\n

Riders and walkers along the High Country Rail Trail only crossed two of the bridges.<\/p>\n

The others were deemed too rickety or unstable for use, so they became part of the scenery.<\/p>\n

“They were beautiful to look at, and an amazing feature of an incredible trail,” Rail Trails Australia vice-president Steven Kaye said.<\/p>\n

\"an<\/p>\n

The Boggy Creek trestle bridge was completely destroyed in the fire.\u00a0 (Supplied: Stephen Parker)<\/p>\n

According to 2022 data from Tourism North East, the region attracts more than 160,000 cycling visitors each year, raking in an estimated $131 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The downhill stretch from Shelley to Old Tallangatta is one of the most popular routes, attracting more than 5,000 riders in the 2024-25 financial year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The bridges were built from 1914 onwards as part of the Wodonga-Cudgewa rail line.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They were upgraded as trains became heavier, and played a key role in transporting material to the Snowy Hydro Scheme in the 1950s.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When the railway was decommissioned, a dedicated group of volunteers took on the task of making it fit for cyclists, horse riders and walkers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It’s been a 25-year labour of love to get the trail connected, and that’s basically gone up in smoke,” Mr Kaye said.\"flames<\/p>\n

The Darbyshire trestle bridge was engulfed in flames on January 9. (Supplied: Pete Paton)<\/p>\n

Parklands Albury Wodonga executive officer Ant Packer said the bridges were more than just structures.<\/p>\n

“They tell the story about our nation-building,” Ms Packer said.<\/p>\n

They took decades to build with hand tools, horses, carts and locally milled wood.<\/p>\n

“Some of them were three storeys high, 21 metres tall and 96 metres long,” she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Packer said volunteers knew they could lose the bridges after three nearby were destroyed in the Black Summer fires.<\/p>\n

“It came through so fast \u2026 that it just wasn’t possible to do any preparation,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

The Wodonga-Cudgewa railway line was crucial in the building of the Snowy Hydro scheme. (Facebook: Wodonga and District Historical Society)<\/p>\n

Rebuilding dilemma<\/p>\n

Volunteers said rebuilding could be costly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When 12 historic trestle bridges were destroyed at Myra Canyon, British Columbia, in 2003, the rebuild project set the provincial and federal governments back $CAD18.5 million ($20 million).<\/p>\n

Dave Richmond was the recreation section head for British Columbia (BC) Parks in 2003 and oversaw the project, which he described as expensive and difficult.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Twelve trestle bridges were rebuilt after fires in Canada in 2003. (Facebook: Lauren Richards Neufeld)<\/p>\n

“There was only access from each end of the damaged area. We had to build our way towards the centre from each side of the canyon,” he said.<\/p>\n

The decision to rebuild the trestles near Kelowna, about 400 kilometres north-east of Vancouver, depended heavily on the future fire risk.<\/p>\n

“We had to ask, ‘Is there a chance of this re-occurring?'” he said.<\/p>\n

The risk was deemed low so the rebuild went ahead, and the trestles have since attracted tens of thousands of visitors a year.<\/p>\n

\"three<\/p>\n

Myra Canyon, in British Columbia, attracts thousands of visitors each year. (Supplied: Megan Reading\/ Tourism Kelowna)<\/p>\n

Clean-up underway<\/p>\n

The immediate focus in the Upper Murray is making the trail safe.<\/p>\n

“We’ve got about 35 kilometres of fences to replace, a lot of them go through the middle of properties,” Ms Packer said.<\/p>\n

Parklands Albury Wodonga said it was expecting to have the trail reopened by the middle of the year.<\/p>\n

The cost of any rebuild is yet to be calculated, and finding people with the skills to construct the trestle bridges could be a challenge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Looking through the community’s photos, videos and memories of the bridges, Ms Packer said she was devastated, but was trying to shift her perspective.<\/p>\n

“How amazing that they’ve been there for 110 years \u2026 [it’s] something I think we really need to celebrate,” she said.<\/p>\n

Mr Richmond said it was important for all stakeholders \u2014 including volunteers \u2014 to be involved in conversations around next steps.<\/p>\n

“[Volunteers] had invested all the blood, sweat and tears for the people who want to go there and experience the trails,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Have those challenging discussions early on, about what you’re trying to achieve.”<\/p>\n

Ms Packer said it was a chance to share memories and hear how the community would like to proceed.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s an opportunity \u2026 you could see what the bridges were like in a light show, perhaps,” she said.<\/p>\n

But she said there was no rush.<\/p>\n

“Sometimes we need to slow down and reflect on the past,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Things take time to build, like these trestle bridges.”<\/p>\n

Heritage Victoria has been contacted for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fires, floods and termites were recognised as major threats to historic trestle bridges along the High Country Rail…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":471809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[240726,64,63,12305,99,45622,240727,1571,27853,128160,55730,240725],"class_list":["post-471808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-2026-bushfires","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bridges","tag-business","tag-fires","tag-high-country-rail-trail","tag-history","tag-rail","tag-railway","tag-trains","tag-trestle-bridges"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}