Part of a series of posts by Neil Cownie on The Future of Swanbourne Village

Here you can see the Swanbourne Village Bridge and the village at the train station site as it was in the early 1900’s.

The following is a letter to the editor of the Guardian newspaper on the 3rd October 1903 regarding the yet unnamed bridge; ‘Dear Sir, is it not time we began to hunt for a name for our new railway station, otherwise if we left it to the old parson who named the others we will get a nice short name, such as South Claremont, Cottesloe number three, or Lockjaw Congdon Street. Sea View would have been a good name, but as they are digging a hole to put the station in, perhaps ‘Dug-out’ would be more appropriate. I am Nomenclator.’

Today, as was the case back at the time of this letter to the editor, the local community of the Swanbourne Village are asking for something better than a standard roll out when it comes to a replacement bridge.

The Swanbourne Railway Station was originally known as the ‘Congdon Street Station’ (from 1904 – 1911) and then known as Osborne Station (1911 – 1920). In 1920 the station became known as ‘Swanbourne Station’.

The Swanbourne Village Bridge and the village at the strain station site as it was in the early 1900’s.

The bridge was originally called the ‘Congdon Street Bridge’ and is now less affectionately known by Main Roads WA as ‘Bridge Number 902’, while locals know it as the ‘Swanbourne Bridge’.

The Swanbourne Bridge has been witness to many historic local events including, local community using the bridge to wish their soldiers well as they were travelling by train from Perth to Fremantle to sail to the first world war, the collection point for milk from the local diaries to be transported by train, holiday makers arriving by train from Perth to stay at the Swanbourne Hotel, the collection point for a taxi service to take people to the beach and to the rifle range along with many others.

Interestingly there were buildings associated with the train station and bridge that are now long gone. The integration of the bridge with the built form of new buildings is exactly what is needed in the design of the new MRWA replacement bridge and the potential refurbishment of the existing bridge for use by pedestrians and bicycles. Master planning to allow buildings to be considered as part of the new replacement bridge works will assist in concealing what will otherwise appear as a new freeway off ramp once it is completed.

Local community within the Town of Cottesloe and the Town of Claremont needs to lobby their local councillors to encourage them to work together in providing a future for the location of the existing bridge for pedestrian and bicycle traffic. While MRWA have a mandate for a new replacement bridge for vehicles, it is only the engagement of the two local councils that can save the vibrancy of the Swanbourne Village from being obliterated by the undoing of the important historical community connections via the Swanbourne Bridge.

Go back to the The Future of Swanbourne Village

The Bridging Communities Series