| Hamley Bridge South Australia |
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Light St in Hamley Bridge |
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Hamley Bridge
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| Population: | 631(2006 census) [1] |
| Established: | 1860's |
| Postcode: | 5401 |
| Location: | 78 km (48 mi) N of Adelaide |
| LGA: | Wakefield Regional Council |
| State District: | Goyder, Light |
| Federal Division: | Wakefield |
Hamley Bridge is a community in South Australia located at the junction of the Gilbert and Light rivers, as well as the site of a former railway junction.
Named by the government of the day, in honour of the Acting Governor of South Australia Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Gilbert Hamley, whose wife, Lady Edith Hamley laid the foundation stone of the River Light Railway Bridge on 25 July 1868.
Other settlements in the area had commenced in the early 1860s, and it was not until 1868 that the junction of the two rivers came under notice as a possible site for a township. The broad gauge northern railway was extended from Roseworthy to Tarlee during 1868 and a bridge, said to be the highest in the state, was built over the River Light. Another line extends to the towns of Owen and Balaklava.
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A railway station was established a few hundred metres north of it in 1880 and was at first known as Alma Railway Station. The stone building, occupied as a private residence today, represents the fine architecture of the era and is heritage listed along with the signal box and water tanks, and two of the bridges over the River Light.
Hamley Bridge was a major break of gauge station when the narrow gauge from the northern system reached the broad gauge system.[2] As Hamley Bridge is only 40 miles (64.4 km) from the capital and major port, this break of gauge soon became a sore point, leading lobbying over decades to extend the narrow gauge all the way to the capital and that port. Trains reaching Hamley bridge may have travelled 600 miles (965.6 km) from Oodnadatta, thus illustrating the poor design of this break of gauge. The break of gauge at Hamley bridge was very cramped and poorly sited due to rivers, bridges, gradients and curves, which were difficult to improve upon. There were also shunting delays and a shortage of trucks. A counter proposal to ease congestion at the inadequate facilities at the Hamley Bridge break of gauge was to shift the break of gauge northwards to Balaklava,[3] was stronly opposed.[4] Alternately, the break of gauge may have been moved northwards to Owen [5]
Hamley Bridge ceased to be a break of gauge station in 1927 when narrow gauge lines as far north as Gladstone were converted to broad gauge, Gladstone becoming a break of gauge station in lieu.
24 hour per day operation was made possible by the instatallion of floodlighting in 1908. [6]
Hamley Bridge is the Hometown of the band "From Dusk Till Dawn (AU)"
Hamley Bridge had a cricket team named for the Break-Of-Gauge.[7]
Around 1:30pm on the 15th of June 2010, a large sonic boom was heard near the town. Residents in the nearby Templers did not report the sound, which was loud enough to knock out windows and is believed to be the result of a supersonic aircraft test.[8]