an improvised river crossing

The challenge of building a bridge across the Warrego River at Cunnamulla was firmly in the too hard basket across the latter part of the 1800s. Something needed to be done however in order for goods and wagons to cross the deep reach of water besides which the town was established and from where its Aboriginal name was derived.

Accordingly in the mid 1880s, the Paroo Divisional Board established a public punt service here supported by various restrictions designed to ensure travellers made use of the ferry.

The perils of operating the punt in all conditions however can be imagined from an account published in the Cunnamulla Argus during the floods of June 1890.

There it was noted that:

“On the night of June 16, the Divisional Board’s punt broke from its moorings and drifted down the river which at that time was in high flood. During the previous day, the men in charge had lost control over it and when night set in the unweildy object was still in the middle of the current. During the night the rope snapped and it floated away, but was made fast about three miles down the river.”

The working life of the punt came to an end in 1900 when the railways department built the first local bridge across the Warrego River.

With a view to the possible future extension of the rail line, they built it north of the town directly across from the train station – much to the annoyance of all the local Cunnamulla residents.

After nearly forty years of putting up with the inconvenient location of “The Old Bridge” a “New Old Bridge” was built of timber in the location of the river crossing we use today.

As this replacement bridge was still prone to flooding, the concrete Darby Land Bridge we now travel across was opened in early 1995.