Before you cross King Street Bridge, look toward the city and imagine a huge, three-storied edifice. Given the economic importance of the fishing industry in Victoria, it is no surprise that in a major port city such Melbourne, a splendid Fish Market was constructed on the north bank of the river. Built in 1890, the Fish Market’s large and ornate edifice featured elaborate brickwork, spires, and a clock tower. The Fish Market was accessible to fishing boats travelling upstream to offload their catch to wholesalers and to public. It was colourfully described as a fanciful 19th century palace with ornate turrets and copper spires that resembled witches’ hats. Melbourne’s splendid Fish Market was demolished in 1956 to make way for a car park associated with the construction of the King Street Bridge.

In November 1954, the Parliamentary Public Works Committee recommended the construction of a fixed bridge to cross the Yarra River at King Street and referred the proposal to the Country Roads Board (CRB) for investigation and report. Work on the bridge commenced on 19 September 1957. Construction was completed in various stages and the high-level bridge and elevated roadway opened to traffic on 12 April 1961.

In July 1962, under the weight of a 47-ton semi-trailer, one span of the bridge collapsed. The Royal Commission into the King Street Bridge failure examined the construction contract and tender process, the competence and experience of the involved parties including Utah Construction (the primary contractor), Johns & Waygood (the subcontractor), and Broken Hill Proprietary (the steel supplier). It also analysed the bridge specifications, design, steel quality, and welding practices, finding that there were brittle fractures where cover plates had been welded onto the tension flanges of the girders of the suspended span. The exhaustive Royal Commission Inquiry found the ‘a large and important public structure, which cost the community overall some £4,000,000 failed dramatically and embarrassingly within fifteen months of its coming into service, and failed moreover, by reason of inherent defect, and not from the action of some natural force of unforeseen magnitude, or other external factor’.

FURTHER READING

• https://storeyofmelbourne.org/2019/12/03/fish-market-long-gone-not-forgotten/
• https://www.scribd.com/document/344243767/1963-Report-Royal-Commision-Failure-Kings-Bridge#:~:text=expand%20document%20information-,The%20Royal%20Commission%20was%20established%20to%20investigate%20the%20causes%20of,witnesses%20and%20received%20237%20exhibits.

IMAGE CREDIT
Flinders Street, Melbourne, showing Fish Market Buildings, 1890, State Library Victoria

STOP 11  >

Batman Park and Rebecca Walk