THE MAN known to some as the greatest ever Australian, left his mark on the region with a little known bridge in the town of Lawrence, north of Creswick.
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Sir John Monash, engineer, First World War general and founder of Australia's first Rotary Club (among many other things) was celebrated by a visit to the 1900 bridge on the Creswick-Lawrence Road on Saturday by his engineering and Rotary successors.
Engineer and former president of the Melbourne Rotary Club, Clive Weeks AO has followed in Monash's footsteps in two ways.
He said Wheeler's Bridge had been pivotal to Monash's engineering business.
"In 1899 he needed some success, to get the contracts to build eight more bridges in Bendigo," he said.
"So he took over this one to get a win under the belt when bidding for those."
Mr Weeks said he took the project out of the hands of the Ballarat construction company run by the Jenkins brothers, who had started it in 1898.
The visit took place in the lead up to the 150th anniversary of Monash's birth, and will help the Rotary, Monash Pioneers society and Engineers Australia raise money for a statue of Monash as the university named for him.
Dr Kevin O'Flaherty from the Spirit of Australia Forum and fellow Monash alumnus said the Wheeler Bridge had been crucial to the development of the area.
"It provided all the access to the major goldmine of the area (from Creswick and beyond)," he said.
The bridge is one about a dozen in Victoria of the same design (stone piers and reinforced concrete) because it was made while engineers were still working out how best to use concrete, according to Monash bridge engineering lecturer Dr Colin Caprani.
"They were using it like stone, before a newer design came along," he said.
"This was only done for period of 15 to 20 years."
Dr Caprani said the bridge had a lasted well, with the cracks along the side almost original and recent damage only done in car accidents.
