ON Friday August 29, the Bendall Road Bridge was closed while the Preston River burst its banks in one of the bigger floods seen in recent years. The flood brought back memories for Argyle local Linda Brown (nee Bendall), who writes for the Mail this week about the 1964 flood that washed away the first bridge to be built at the site.
THE children pictured in the accompanying photo are standing on the Bendall Road Bridge on August 29, 2014.
These children are direct descendants of the man who built the bridge on this site, 118 years ago.
Their great, great, great Grandfather, Alfred Eli Bendall, settled here on virgin land with his wife Martha and son William in 1896.
They built a road from what is now the South Western Highway and a bridge, and maintained both.
The Preston River flooded almost every year, and sometimes large logs were stranded on the bridge.
These had to be dragged off manually or with the horses, and other repairs were executed.
Later, after the Preston Road Board was established, ownership of the bridge passed to it.
The Bendall family extended to two more generations and on many occasions in winter, the children could not go to school. Once they were unable to cross over to return home after a trip to Fremantle, and had to stay with relatives in Donnybrook until the river subsided.
The biggest flood was in 1964 when the entire upper structure of decking and rails was washed downstream about 75m.
Mr Bendall walked to town via the bush and Irishtown and bought a small truck. He then retrieved his dinghy from Busselton and set up a strong rope across the river so that he could pull himself back and forth, ferrying supplies from the truck. The truck remained on the main road side of the bridge.
After about a month, an army detachment installed a steel Bailey Bridge above the remaining pylons and with access to the existing roadway.
This was greatly appreciated by the Bendalls and Jack Gemmell, as neither had access to their properties.
About a year later, the Main Roads bridge-building gang arrived to build a new bridge alongside the Bailey. The road was realigned by straightening.
This bridge has survived many floods. In 2006 it was widened to take two lanes of traffic. The structure was strengthened underneath and new surfacing and rails provided.
The old bridge had a moment of glory in the 1940s when a roving photographer took a snapshot, which appeared on a calendar and featured for many years on the front of writing pads.
