What happened to the footbridge across Dee Why Lagoon
John Morcombe explains what happened to the footbridges across Newport and Dee Why lagoons.
Manly
Don't miss out on the headlines from Manly. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- The master mariner who was a leading light behind the leading line
- The assassination attempt that put Clontarf on the world map
- How one of the lagoons on the northern beaches was destroyed
A century ago, several of the lagoons had wooden footbridges across their mouths but most of them were short-lived.
For obvious reasons, the first footbridge was built across the mouth of Manly Lagoon.
It was built about 1884 by the developers of the Queenscliff Estate and remained in place until a concrete bridge was built in 1918 as a joint work by Manly and Warringah councils.
A timber bridge was also built across the mouth of Newport Lagoon that was in existence by 1915 and remained until the lagoon was reclaimed in 1933.
There was also a footbridge across the mouth of Dee Why Lagoon that was built in January or February 1925 by the Salvation Army, which owned all the land around the lagoon, including the sand dune between Dee Why and Long Reef.
The footbridge was built along a road reserve that started on Pittwater Rd and followed the route of what is now the road down to the carpark behind Long Reef surf club but continued across the mouth of the lagoon and across the beach to the edge of the ocean.
The road reserve was in place by 1905, although why it was there in the first place is anyone’s guess.
No sooner had the Army built the bridge than one local resident was asking Warringah Council to erect signs on the bridge forbidding dogs and horses from the water in the lagoon and warning people against diving from the bridge.
In April 1925, the Salvation Army asked the council if it would take accept control and maintain the footbridge, which the council agreed to.
At various times the council had to undertake minor works on the footbridge, such as putting wires along the fence in 1929 to stop people falling through the fence and into the water
In 1931, the council installed additional piles to the footbridge, in 1934 it replaced missing planks and in 1935, it renewed the handrails on both sides of the bridge.
In 1939 a man threatened to sue the council after saying his son had been injured when he slipped between broken boards of the footbridge, which the council referred to its insurer, the Royal Insurance Company, although the outcome of the man’s complaint is unknown.
In early 1941, the council’s overseer of works recommended the footbridge be demolished but the councillor’s instead asked the council engineer to prepare an estimate of the cost to repair it.
The engineer submitted a report that rebuilding and repairing the footbridge would cost £55.
As councils sometimes do, Warringah Council did nothing.
At some point in 1941, the council did go so far as to erect signs warning users that the footbridge was unsafe, although by October that year the signs had gone.
The council’s engineer was again asked to provide an estimate for rebuilding and repairing the footbridge and again the engineer said it would cost £55.
The council voted to spend the money on the bridge but it’s not certain whether the work was done or if the army took matters into its own hands first.
Following Japan’s entry to World War II in December 1941, Australian military strategists feared the Japanese might attack Sydney and saw the northern beaches as one of several key locations that had to be defended.
Batteries had already been installed at North Head and West Head but smaller works were still needed, such as trenches manned by Garrison Battalions, anti-tank traps and barbed-wire anti-personnel defences.
To prevent tanks being driven from the northern end of Dee Why Beach to the suburb of Dee Why, anti-tank trenches 3-4m deep were dug across the neck of sand between the beach and the south-eastern corner of the lagoon that filled with water and timber poles were driven into the bed of the lagoon at the end of the trench to prevent tanks driving around it.
Some of the sand dunes north of the mouth of the lagoon were flattened to allow for a wide arc of fire for a gun that could have been placed beside Pittwater Rd halfway between Hay St and Pittwater Rd, while some of the sand dunes south of the mouth of the lagoon were reduced in height.
And of course the timber footbridge had to go, lest the invaders use it to their advantage.
In January 1942, Warringah Council was asked by the military authorities to remove a bandstand on the reserve behind Dee Why Beach and to assist with the installation of barbed-wire along roads and the demolition of footbridges in the area.
It is thought the footbridge across the mouth of Dee Why Lagoon was demolished soon after.