There is a three-arched, sandstone bridge in the midlands of Tasmania which is architecturally unique; there is no bridge in the world that incorporates such narrative architectural decoration in which every arch stone and key stone is a sculpture in relief. Meet the characters and caricatures from the Ross Bridge brought to life through the research of Dr Jennie Jackson.
Acknowledgement
For the palawa the Macquarie River has always been tinamarakunah.
Let us remember the past and present First Nations people who have custody over the land and waterways and whose ancestors never ceded sovereignty.
“No records exist to tell us who had the vision, skills, tools, gall and time to sculpt the voussoirs and keystones of the Ross Bridge, Tasmania.”
Map of Van Diemen’s Land George Frankland, Surveyor General, 1837
Detail of Frankland’s map of 1837, the year after the Ross Bridge was completed, showing in red the roads that converged on the village, necessitating a permanent crossing.
An introduction
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JAMES COLBECK
CONVICT, FORGOTTEN STONEMASON.
An extract. Fact mingling with fiction.
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DANIEL HERBERT
CONVICT, STONEMASON.
An extract. Fabled artist of the Ross Bridge.
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CHARLES ATKINSON
ARCHITECT.
An extract. Superintendent of the Ross Bridge Gang.
“There is only the weft of our imagination to weave through the warp of written history.”
— Jennie Jackson
