THE CARVINGS
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brad@bhphoto.com.au
In naming the stones, I have imagined being on the river, dividing each arch into left and right halves as I looked at them. Then I numbered each stone from the lowest to the 15th which supports the keystone. So, the seventh arch stone (voussoir) on the left of the south facing western arch will be labelled: 7th VOUSSOIR L WEST ARCH SOUTH FACE; and on the right: 7th VOUSSOIR R WEST ARCH SOUTH FACE.
THE EAST ARCH NORTH FACE
1st - 6th VOUSSOIR L EAST ARCH NORTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
1st - 4th VOUSSOIRS L EAST ARCH NORTH FACE These seem to be about hardware, perhaps haulage and bridge construction; perhaps about punishment and hanging.
1st - 4th VOUSSOIRS ON THE SOUTH FACE OF THE EAST ARCH match the carvings on the north face
7th VOUSSOIR L EAST ARCH NORTH FACE A caricature of Norah Corbett/Cobbett, the convict wife of Jorgen Jorgenson Image: Brad Harris 2020
7th VOUSSOIR The bitterly sad face of the convict woman, Norah Corbett
7th VOUSSOIR detail of the lower half of the stone The image represents the female genitalia, with keyhole and anus, indicating she is lying on her back. It doubles as a face.
7th, 8th, 9th VOUSSOIRS L EAST ARCH NORTH FACE The caricatures of Norah Corbett & Jorgen Jorgenson Image: Brad Harris 2020
9th VOUSSOIR L EAST ARCH NORTH FACE Jorgen Jorgenson Image: Paul Reeve 2017
10th - 15th VOUSSOIRS L EAST ARCH NORTH FACE
KEYSTONE AND SUPPORTING STONES EAST ARCH NORTH FACE The Royal Rat represents Caroline of Brunswick, wife of the Prince Regent who became George IV. Pineapples are a symbol of fertility; also of prodigality and wealth. Image: Paul Reeve 2017
THE TOPS OF THE KEYSTONE AND SUPPORTING STONES EAST ARCH NORTH FACE M & V stand for Mary Virgin, which Caroline was not.
15th VOUSSOIR L EAST ARCH NORTH FACE. Once there were four of these stylised owls on each side of the two pineapples. They feature the lozenge and the androgyne, or two-in-one.
15th - 10th VOUSSOIRS R EAST ARCH NORTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
7th VOUSSOIR R EAST ARCH NORTH FACE Christian Cameron, convict wife of Rum John Conn. Norman Laird named the character in this stone Mary Witherington, the convict wife of Daniel Herbert.
7th VOUSSOIR detail The moth: from darkness into light
9th, 8th, 7th VOUSSOIRS R EAST ARCH NORTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
9th VOUSSOIR R EAST ARCH NORTH FACE Rum John Conn, properly named Ramjan Khan was a legendary Indian who settled on a farm by the Macquarie River in 1823.
8th VOUSSOIR R EAST ARCH NORTH FACE Quatrefoils - a standard pattern from a stone-carver's manual. These are barbed quatrefoils.
10th VOUSSOIR detail Three comical creatures Image: Brad Harris 2020
6th - 1st VOUSSOIRS R EAST ARCH NORTH FACE
CENTRAL ARCH NORTH FACE
1st-9th VOUSSOIRS L CENTRAL ARCH NORTH FACE
2nd - 5th VOUSSOIRS L CENTRAL ARCH NORTH FACE which may be a quartet representing the seasons.
2nd VOUSSOIR CENTRAL ARCH NORTH FACE A winter's fire Image: Brad Harris 2020
3rd VOUSSOIR CENTRAL ARCH NORTH FACE Seven falling leaves Image: Brad Harris 2020
4th VOUSSOIR L CENTRAL ARCH NORTH FACE Serpents form the outlines of the flame-like form, triangle and inverted U . In the apex are more snakes. Is it about Spring, sex, eternal life? Image: Brad Harris 2020
5th VOUSSOIR L CENTRAL ARCH NORTH FACE Triads of leave perhaps telling of summer? Image: Brad Harris 2020
6th VOUSSOIR CENTRAL ARCH NORTH FACE Seven discs falling. Is it about someone drowning; the moon setting; the descent of the soul? Image: Brad Harris 2020
6th VOUSSOIR detail The discs had faces once.
7th, 8th, 9th VOUSSOIRS L CENTRAL ARCH NORTH FACE The scholar farmer and his cow in clover Image: Brad Harris 2020
7th VOUSSOIR detail Norman Laird thought this character was John Headlam, teacher, principal and farmer on his property, Egleston on the Macquarie, opposite Rum John Conn's farm.
9th VOUSSOIR detail
10th, 11th VOUSSOIRS CENTRAL ARCH NORTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
10th VOUSSOIR L rotated clockwise The characters tell a story - perhaps a cautionary tale of a river, an alligator, a rooster and hen, and a dog or a wolf or fox. They fit together as a jigsaw puzzle. Image: Brad Harris 2020
11th VOUSSOIR L CENTRAL ARCH NORTH FACE A madonna and child Image: Brad Harris 2020
12th, 13th 14th VOUSSOIRS L CENTRAL ARCH NORTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
12th VOUSSOIR L CENTRAL ARCH NORTH FACE Image: Paul Reeve 2017
KEYSTONE & SUPPORTING ARCH STONES CENTRAL ARCH NORTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
14th - 11th VOUSSOIRS R CENTRAL ARCH NORTH FACE Image: Brad HARRIS 2020
13th VOUSSOIR R CENTRAL ARCH NORTH FACE
11th VOUSSOIR R CENTRAL ARCH NORTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
10th - 6th VOUSSOIRS R CENTRAL ARCH NORTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
10th VOUSSOIR R CENTRAL ARCH NORTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
9th VOUSSOIR detail
7th VOUSSOIR R CENTRAL ARCH NORTH FACE James Colbeck, convict stonemason and overseer of construction of the bridge 1835 - 36 Image: Brad Harris 2020
6th VOUSSOIR R CENTRAL ARCH NORTH FACE Egg and reel pattern Image: Paul Reeve 2017
5th - 1st VOUSSOIRS R CENTRAL ARCH NORTH FACE Image: Paul Reeve 2017
2nd VOUSSOIR R CENTRAL ARCH NORTH FACE Image Paul Reeve 2017
Plan of a slave transport ship
1st VOUSSOIR R CENTRAL ARCH NORTH FACE Image: Paul Reeve 2017
CENTRAL ARCH SOUTH FACE
1st - 9th VOUSSOIRS L CENTRAL ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
1st 2nd 3rd VOUSSOIRS L CENTRAL ARCH NORTH FACE Image: Paul Reeve 2017
6th VOUSSOIR L CENTRAL ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Paul Reeve 2017
6th, 7th VOUSSOIRS L CENTRAL ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
7th 8th, 9th VOUSSOIRS L CENTRAL ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
7th VOUSSOIR detail
9th VOUSSOIR detail
10th - 14th VOUSSOIRS L CENTRAL ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
PARAPET, KEYSTONE & SUPPORTING STONES CENTRAL ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Paul Reeve 2017
15th VOUSSOIR R CENTRAL ARCH SOUTH FACE Can you see the bird with its open beak? Image: Paul Reeve 2017
14th-9th VOUSSOIRS R CENTRAL ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
9th, 8th, 7th VOUSSOIRS R CENTRAL ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
10th & 9th VOUSSOIRS R CENTRAL ARCH SOUTH FACE Both carvings are about water: ocean waves on the left and river ripples on the right.
7th VOUSSOIR R CENTRAL ARCH SOUTH FACE Daniel Herbert gazes downriver . If he is looking through eucalypt leaves, it is the only Australian reference on the bridge. Below are falling oak leaves. Image: Paul Reeve 2017
7th VOUSSOIR detail Daniel Herbert, probably the main stone-carver. I think this is a self-portrait of a sullen man .
6th, - 3rd VOUSSOIRS R CENTRAL ARCH SOUTH FACE. A quartet of stones depicting the elements: air, fire, water, earth.
6th VOUSSOIR R CENTRAL ARCH SOUTH FACE The carving represents air Image: Brad Harris 2020
6th VOUSSOIR detail In the bottom coils of reflected spirals are two icons: on the left a point within the circle; on the right a quatrefoil. The central figure looks like crucifix or tau cross. Image: Paul Reeve 2017
1st VOUSSOIR is a cat o' nine tails Image: Brad Harris 2020
2nd & 1st VOUSSOIRS R CENTRAL ARCH SOUTH FACE A pair of stones telling about flogging.; the cat o' nine tails and a stylised spine. They are the most poignant carvings on the bridge. Image: Brad Harris 2020
EAST ARCH SOUTH FACE.
1st-4th VOUSSOIRS EAST ARCH SOUTH FACE
3rd VOUSSOIR detail Can you see the face with hooded eyes and open toothless mouth in the apex of the third stone?
6th & 7th VOUSSOIRS L EAST ARCH SOUTH FACE A skeletal horned head is juxtaposed to a grotesque of Lieutenant Governor George Arthur
6th VOUSSOIR L EAST ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Paul Reeve 2017
7th VOUSSOIR L EAST ARCH SOUTH FACE Grotesque of Governor Arthur, his head cocked on a stem of a mandrake plant, probably, its leg-like roots clasping a two-in-one or androgyne.
7th VOUSSOIR detail The crown is ornamented with a cat o' nine tails and a pair of ankle irons or handcuffs. A thigh bone is a sceptre at his left shoulder. The crown and lion's mane indicate he is an agent of the British monarchy.
9th VOUSSOIR L EAST ARCH SOUTH FACE A standard pattern of architectural decoration. Image: Paul Reeve 2017
An altar in the Saxon church, St. Laurence of Bradford upon Avon, England, shows the same pattern.
10th VOUSSOIR L EAST ARCH SOUTH FACE The grapes of wrath Image: Paul Reeve 2017
11th VOUSSOIR L EAST ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Paul Reeve 2017
12th VOUSSOIR L EAST ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
12th VOUSSOIR detail
KEYSTONE & SUPPORTING STONES EAST ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Paul Reeve 2017
KEYSTONE & SUPPORTING STONES The gaunt, anthropomorphic lion represents King George III. The sheaves of corn probably refer to the corn laws that worsened the impoverishment of the common people of Britain after the Napoleonic wars when the convict masons were adolescents. Image: Paul Reeve 2017
14th - 10th VOUSSOIRS R EAST ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Paul Reeve 2017
13th VOUSSOIR R EAST ARCH SOUTH FACE A dead bird hanging Image: Brad Harris 2020
10th VOUSSOIR R EAST ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
8th VOUSSOIR R EAST ARCH SOUTH FACE Image Brad Harris 2020
8th VOUSSOIR detail The lower half of the carving represents female genitalia, as in a sheela na gig Image: Paul Reeve 2017
Sheela na gig, Kilpeck Herefordshire UK wikimedia commons
7th VOUSSOIR R EAST ARCH SOUTH FACE Image Brad Harris 2020
7th VOUSSOIR detail There is a disc in the centre of the forehead between the furrows in Norman Laird's photograph, 1968.
7th VOUSSOIR detail
6th-1st VOUSSOIRS R EAST ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
WEST ARCH SOUTH FACE
1st - 8th VOUSSOIRS L WEST ARCH SOUTH FACE
1st VOUSSOIR L WEST ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
2nd VOUSSOIR L WEST ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
2nd VOUSSOIR detail
2nd VOUSSOIR detail
3rd VOUSSOIR L WEST ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
3rd VOUSSOIR detail
3rd VOUSSOIR detail
4th VOUSSOIR L WEST ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
4th VOUSSOIR detail
4th VOUSSOIR detail Two dancing cats
4th VOUSSOIR detail The middle cat, rotated clockwise
5th VOUSSOIR L WEST ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
5th VOUSSOIR detail
5th VOUSSOIR detail
6th VOUSSOIR L WEST ARCH SOUTH FACE The Green Man Image: Brad Harris 2020
6th VOUSSOIR detail The green man's face is made of parts. e.g. his left eye is a swan, though worn away now. A leaf makes up his chin and beard.
6th VOUSSOIR detail A very excited bull and a cow
7th VOUSSOIR L WEST ARCH SOUTH FACE The Judge Image: Brad Harris 2020
7th - 9th VOUSSOIRS L WEST ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Paul Reeve 2017
9th VOUSSOIR L WEST ARCH SOUTH FACE No-name, perhaps the convict in the dock Image: Brad Harris 2020
8th - 15th VOUSSOIRS L WEST ARCH SOUTH FACE IMAGE: Brad Harris 2020
11th VOUSSOIR L WEST ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
11th VOUSSOIR detail
11th VOUSSOIR detail The butterfly is the symbol of the catamite, the beautiful boy.
A drawing of the foreshortened gnomish faun carved into the 11th voussoir. The carving is of the figure from the rear, his open anus clearly displayed. Or is she female?
To make a drawing, I place a grid over the photograph and reproduce the lines and tones in each square in a complementary grid on Stonehenge paper. This way, I do not draw what I want to see but make a jigsaw of squares. The outcome is unforeseen. Thus I discovered the mask in the paw of the dancing cat. There are many tiny masks hidden on the ends of limbs and other protuberances within the carvings.
4th VOUSSOIR detail with the mask in the cat's right paw.
13th & 14th VOUSSOIR L WEST ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
14th VOUSSOIR detail - a buried head in the bottom corner.
KEYSTONE WEST ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Paul Reeve 2017
15th - 9th VOUSSOIRS R WEST ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
12th 11th VOUSSOIRS R EST ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
9th - 7th VOUSSOIRS R WEST ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
9th VOUSSOIR detail. The round-eared dog.
7th VOUSSOIR detail The Thespian
7th VOUSSOIR detail The gouged form below the thespian.
6th-1st VOUSSOIRS R WEST ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
6th VOUSSOIR R WEST ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
5th VOUSSOIR R WEST SOUTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
5th VOUSSOIR detail The seadragon and the mermaid
The seadragon and the mermaid.
4th VOUSSOIR R WEST ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
3rd VOUSSOIR R WEST ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
3rd VOUSSOIR detail
2nd VOUSSOIR R WEST ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Paul Reeve 2017
Now can you see the bull and the cow?
1st VOUSSOIR R WEST ARCH SOUTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
9th VOUSSOIR L, I call No-name. Below his face, a beautiful sculpture has almost worn away.
9th VOUSSOIR L detail 2020
Drawing of the lower part of the 9th voussoir reveals two beaked creatures above a chimeric creature. I wonder if this is the descent of the shape-shifting Zeus as an eagle abducting Ganymede, the beautiful Trojan prince, who became the god of homosexuality. There are many allusions to sex and sodomy in the bridge carvings.
This photograph was taken in 2017; it is an indication of the weathering that continues to affect the bridge.
WEST ARCH NORTH FACE.
1st - 6th VOUSSOIRS L WEST ARCH NORTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
2nd VOUSSOIR L WEST ARCH NORTH FACE
4th VOUSSOIR L WEST ARCH NORTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
6th VOUSSOIR L WEST ARCH NORTH FACE A stylised butterfly is at the apex.
6th VOUSSOIR inverted
6th VOUSSOIR detail A laconic supine hare with male genitalia in the curve of his torso.
7th VOUSSOIR L WEST ARCH NORTH FACE Norman Laird thought this portrait or caricature might have been a Tasmanian Aborigine. Image: Brad Harris 2020
7th, 8th, 9th VOUSSOIRS L WEST ARCH NORTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
9th VOUSSOIR detail The dog's head is unfinished. Is that deliberate or is Colbeck standing on the half-finished vault shouting: "It will do" ?
8th VOUSSOIR L WEST ARCH NORTH FACE These lilies connected by a tongue-like sepal might represent love between women. Image: Brad Harris 2020
10th - 15th VOUSSOIRS L WEST ARCH NORTH FACE Image: Paul Reeve 2017
KEYSTONE WEST ARCH NORTH FACE representing George IV oppressing his people. He had been the Prince Regent during the convicts' youth - extravagant and careless of his suffering subjects.
15th - 10th VOUSSOIRS R WEST ARCH NORTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
9th - 7th VOUSSOIRS R WEST ARCH NORTH FACE The boar and Charles Atkinson
9th VOUSSOIR R WEST ARCH NORTH FACE The boar's head associated with the caricature of Charles Atkinson. I fear the boar is an ironic homonomy.
7th VOUSSOIR detail Charles Atkinson was a guileless, boastful young architect appointed to superintend the Ross bridge party, a gang of experienced and wily convicts.
6th VOUSSOIR R WEST ARCH NORTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
5th VOUSSOIR R WEST ARCH NORTH FACE Image: Brad Harris 2020
5th VOUSSOIR detail
5th VOUSSOIR R WEST ARCH NORTH FACE The Lozenge - an ancient and ubiquitous symbol of woman. Image: Brad Harris 2020
4th & 3rd VOUSSOIRS R WEST ARCH NORTH FACE The swallows' nests represent homecoming and hope. Image: Paul Reeve 2017
2nd & 1st VOUSSOIRS R WEST ARCH NORTH FACE Image: Paul Reeve 2017
2nd VOUSSOIR detail