Lake Manchester suspension bridge

This photograph shows two couples on the Lake Manchester suspension bridge in October 1927. Jack Bain is on left in the dark clothing, age 22.

Proposed as a way to secure Brisbane’s water supply, the dam at Cabbage Tree Creek was constructed between 1912 and 1916. Later renamed Lake Manchester, the dam was at the time of completion the largest dam in Queensland. The dam is a 220m long, 35m high Cyclopean concrete dam, with a valve house in the centre and pipelines (added in the 1920s) discharging into the Brisbane River. Stone for the dam wall was taken from a quarry on the northern side of the creek and mixed on site with cement carted by local contractors. The suspension bridge, spanning the dam wall and adjacent gorge, was added in 1919 as an innovative way to access the site when the dam was in flood. The bridge was removed in 2007 to allow for site works. Nevertheless, the Lake Manchester Dam wall is an element of unusual engineering significance and contributes to a remarkable recreational precinct. It also demonstrates the solutions taken to the problems of Brisbane’s water supply in the early twentieth century.