Moorabool Viaduct, Vic

he Moorabool Viaduct, 12km north-west of Geelong and about 1.5km west of the Geelong-Ballan Road, is the most important engineering feature of the Geelong to Ballarat Railway. The bluestone and iron viaduct was the largest in Australia until the construction of the Hawkesbury River Bridge in 1889, and remains in railway service today. The bridge takes the railway over the Moorabool River, that runs past several small towns and areas such as Meredith, Anakie, and Staughton Vale (north-west of Geelong). The river joins with the Barwon River at Fyansford.

The viaduct, which cost costing over £250,000, was built between 1858 and 1862 to the design of Victorian Railways engineers. It has a total length of 396 metres consisting of 10 spans resting on 9 bluestone piers up to 35.5 metres high above the valley floor. Originally the deck was supported on 36.9 metre wrought iron Warren truss girders. These were replaced in 1918 by steel plate girders. At the same time intermediate support trestles were added to a design of Victorian Railways engineer Frederick Esling.

Geelong - Ballarat Line

During 1856-1857 there was much discussion about the best route for a Geelong to Ballarat line. The residents of Clarendon and Buninyong were particularly vocal, arguing that the line should follow the coaching road from Geelong to Ballarat, rather than cutting through the Lal Lal and Warrenheip forest. The engineer-in-chief George Derbyshire and his surveyors were instructed to find “the best and most direct route”, and resisted thelobbying by local community groups. His team prepared detailed specifications for the line, which would need an estimated 49 million cubic yards of earthworks, and 120 bridges, culverts and viaducts along the line.

Work begun on the Geelong - Ballarat line in 1858, under the supervision of the Victorian Railways engineer Robert Watson. The line was officially opened by the Governor with great ceremony on 10th April 1862. Trains left Geelong twice daily, at 10.30am and 6.30pm, and the journey took two and a half hours, stopping at Steiglitz Road (Moorabool), Lethbridge, Meredith, Lal Lal and Buninyong (Yendon). Later stops were added at Bannockburn, Elaine, Navigators and Warrenheip.


Lethbridge Railway Station

The Lne remained the only rail link from Melbourne to Ballarat until 1889 when a direct line between those two cities was opened. The 86km of line from Geelong to Ballarat was built to a high standard by the Victorian Railways, with double track provided throughout, stone station buildings at all of the initial stations, a number of stone bridges for roads that crossed the line, and the Moorabool Viaduct.

Passenger trains from Ballarat and beyond continued to use the Geelong–Ballarat line as an alternate route to Melbourne until the 1990s, not stopping at any stations along the line. Other than local trains, the Ballarat line also also used an an alternate route for trains to Ballarat, Mildura, and Dimboola. In 1978 passenger services on the line were withdrawn when the 153hp Walker railmotor used to operate them fell into disrepair, and a replacement bus service was introduced.


Photo: Weston Langford Railway Photography

The line passes across one of the world's largest volcanic plains, so not surprisingly the predominant building material was bluestone, examples of which can still be seen along the line. Stone for the construction was quarried at Lethbridge, a township along the chosen route. The railway stations are two other towns on the line - Maredith and Bannockburn - were also constructed of stone from the quarry. The last major use of this bluestone, before the quarry closed, was for the spire of St Mary's at Geelong.



During construction of the Lethbridge section of the line, the 300 or so workers lived in tents at two camps along the route, one of which was located a few hundred metres north of Lethbridge station. The second camp, about 3km south and a little east of Lethbridge, was situated on the banks of Bruce's Creek (a tributary of the Barwon River) just to the south of a bluestone rail bridge which crossed the creek. The bridge was known to locals as Lower Camp Bridge, presumably after the camp. Rivalry between the two camps was said to be strong, not only over their bridge-building prowess, but also in the games of football they played on Sunday afternoons.