Old Cobram Barooga Bridge

The Old Cobram-Barooga Bridge is a historic and unique pedestrian bridge located on the Barooga-Cobram Road, stretching over the Murray River between the towns of Barooga in New South Wales and Cobram in Victoria.

It was designed by Ernest de Burgh and built between 1900 and 1902 to provide access for heavy goods vehicles delivering agricultural produce from NSW to the railhead at Cobram.

The bridge consists of twelve spans made of timber, steel, iron, and concrete. It has a clearance over normal water level of 7.9m with the lift span closed and 14.3m with the lift span open. The lift span is formed by a roadway between riveted Pratt-Truss Box girders with a span of 18m. The lifting superstructure comprises four steel lattice towers connected by steel lattice girders.

On the eastern side of the bridge, only one timber beam approach span remains, terminating in a steel fence and stair to ground level. On the western side, three timber beam approach spans survive, along with a footway on the southern side. Pedestrians were required to share the road deck with vehicles for the length of the opening span.

The Old Cobram-Barooga Bridge is a rare and intact example of a Hinton-type vertical lift-span opening bridge with De Burgh Truss side spans and timber beam approaches. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 1 April 2016 due to its significance as a historic crossing of the Murray River and its association with the development of the Riverina region of NSW and railway transport to Melbourne. The bridge also has local-level significance to the communities of Cobram and Barooga as