Lamps and bricks to be saved from Kemp Street bridge

FOUR heritage lamps that have cast their glow over Junee’s Kemp Street bridge for the past 80 years will be carefully salvaged before the structure is torn down.

Originally installed by the Railway Department in 1945, the lamps have become a familiar landmark for generations of Junee locals.

Positioned in pairs at either end of the bridge deck, the distinctive green posts have framed the roadway for decades, guiding countless vehicles and pedestrians across.

Inland Rail has confirmed they will be among the first items to be removed, before crews begin the major task of dismantling the bridge deck on Saturday, September 13.

Junee’s existing Kemp Street overbridge was officially opened on 8 March 1945 | Photo: © The Junee Bulletin

The four lights will be delicately lifted from their brick pillars and stored in custom-made boxes for safekeeping, while the ageing bridge is cut up and removed to make way for its modern replacement.

Although they will not be used to light the new overpass, Inland Rail says it hopes to incorporate the lamps into the landscaping around the bridge if their condition allows.

Several community groups have already expressed interest, and Inland Rail says any lamps that cannot be reused will be donated back to local organisations.

Photo: © The Junee Bulletin

It’s not just the lamps being saved.

The bridge’s near-century-old red brick abutments — another defining feature of the World War II-era structure — will also be meticulously pulled apart.

READ MORE: 1934 Ford last to cross Kemp Street bridge

Inland Rail has confirmed the iconic red bricks will be salvaged and repurposed into the landscaping of the new bridge, ensuring a piece of the old structure continues to live on in its successor.

Photo: © The Junee Bulletin

Looping landscaped pathways will frame the new bridge’s western approach | Photo: Supplied/Inland Rail

The Kemp Street bridge was closed to traffic for the final time on Friday evening, September 5.

The closure of the southernmost of the town’s three rail crossings took place to much community fanfare, with dozens of locals gathering to witness the barriers be drawn across the road at 6pm.

In the final hours leading up to the shutdown, more vehicles and pedestrians than ever were seen crossing the bridge, eager to take in the milestone moment. Read more here.

SPANNING GENERATIONS

After more than half a century of debate and delayed proposals, the overbridge first opened to traffic on March 8, 1945 — marking a pivotal moment in the town’s development and transport infrastructure.

An overhead railway crossing was first seriously proposed in 1911, when then–Railway Commissioner J. Johnson suggested a bridge from Stewart Street to Seignior Street.

The £8000 project would have been two-thirds funded by the Railway Department.

However, despite support from Mayor W. J. Hiscock, Junee Municipal Council rejected the offer, a decision that would stall the project for more than three decades.

It wasn’t until the early 1940s that formal plans began to take shape for the bridge we know today.

On August 11, 1942, the Daily Advertiser reported on revised blueprints for a long traffic bridge spanning the trunk line.

Originally planned to curve from Pretoria Avenue toward George Street, the design was later revised to follow a straight route, narrowly avoiding the backyard of the Locomotive Hotel.

The updated alignment would rise at the base of Kemp Street, pass over Edgar Street and Railway Parade, and descend just clear of the hotel’s rear boundary.

This required the resumption of several businesses and private homes, including a bakery and butcher shop near the corner of Edgar and George Streets.

Lighting concerns were also addressed shortly before completion.

In February 1945 — just weeks before the bridge was opened — council minutes revealed that the Railway Department would install four lamps on the bridge, while Junee Municipal Council would handle lighting on Ducker and Kemp Streets, all powered by the town supply.

The bridge officially opened to traffic on March 8, 1945.

The first to cross was a drover on horseback — briefly reprimanded, then waved through — in a moment that became a quirky and symbolic inauguration.

The milestone followed decades of intermittent agitation by residents, and represented a crucial connection between Junee’s eastern and western halves.

Just two months later, in May 1945, the Daily Advertiser reported the bridge would already need to be raised an additional 15 inches to meet new clearance requirements.

Now, after standing for eight decades, the Kemp Street bridge is again on the cusp of transformation, this time to meet the demands of a 21st-century freight network.