William R Morrow began working as a nipper in the railway in 1864 when he was just twelve years old. By the 1890s when this bridge was built as part of the project linking Gladstone and Bundaberg by rail, he had risen to the position of ganger in charge of the section. On his retirement, after 58 years of service, he said, “It was my lot to lay down or actually work on some 1,100 miles of railway and 60 miles of tramway.”
So this beautiful old bridge has served Queensland Rail for over 100 years. It spans the Boyne River and was described by Mr Morrow as “a handsome structure with two steel spans resting on concrete piers at both approaches and supported by iron cylinders built into the river bed. Unhappily the building of this bridge was marred by an accident in which a workman lost his life. Crossing the bridge he slipped a distance of 48 feet and was killed instantly.”
