3-008-762 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Moorabool Viaduct on the Melbourne and Ballarat Railway, Australia, 1862. In 1851, gold was discovered near Ballarat, sparking the Victorian gold rush. 'The railway having been formally opened, great was the rejoicing of the Ballaratians, who are sanguine in the expectation of a marked increase in the prosperity of their township in consequence...The piers are spanned by iron latticed girders, each span being 130ft. The weight of the girders is about 1500 tons. The original design of the line, including that of the viaduct, is due to Mr. Darbyshire; but upon his successor, Mr. Higginbotham, as engineer-in-chief, has devolved the duty of seeing it carried out. The cost of the Moorabool Viaduct is estimated at something like £300,000'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.