Punting for Perth: Early attempts at bridging the state's North-South divide

Even so, he made the trip in just seven days.

He couldn't have done it in winter.

There were several places to cross the South Esk, such as at today's Evandale, but you took your life in your hands when the water was up, and many people drowned.

By 1818 a track existed and the government ordered all carts to ford the river at Evandale, so they could be monitored, with heavy penalties to both travellers and landowners if they crossed somewhere else.

But it seems that when Macquarie passed through again in 1821, he looked closer at the best place to cross the river, and selected and named Perth.

The ford at Perth was 200 metres north of Arthur Street.

Macquarie also seems to have ordered a military post established there, together with a means of reliable and safe crossing.

As our Lieutenant Governor Sorell didn't have the money to build a bridge, he placed a punt 1.4km south of the ford at the end of today's Old Punt Road.

In 1824 Sorell met with locals.

Together they settled on a spot at the end of George Street for a bridge, but nothing further eventuated.

Years of complaints followed, with many drownings, including the official punter Tom Fisher in 1831 - killed when the punt spun round in the current and threw him into the river.

The punt was often unavailable and its fees an unbearable imposition for ordinary farmers.

Finally, work began on a bridge at the end of 1835 under Lieutenant William Kenworthy. But halfway through construction, work was abandoned. About £5,000 had already been spent.

It seemed a new director of roads and bridges had been appointed, and was determined to make his mark. This was Captain Alexander Cheyne.

He persuaded Sir John Franklin that Kenworthy's bridge was in the wrong place, needing a sharp bend in the approach road.

Rather than spend £200 to straighten the approach, he pulled down the half-completed bridge and began rebuilding about 1.3km away, below the punt!

This cost £20,000.

Not just because the new bridge needed to be longer, but because Captain Cheyne put most of the 220 convicts onto doing private work for himself and locals - and apparently also stole large quantities of bridge materials.

After a big exposé in the press, the Perth bridge finally opened on April 3, 1839. Lieutenant Governor Franklin's carriage was the first to cross.

And it stood the test of time.

Until, that is, the great flood of 1929 that did so much damage in Launceston. Like the Duck Reach power station, the Perth Bridge was swept away.

It was rebuilt by late 1930, and fortunately, it seems the latest bridge is of sterner stuff, and shows no sign of failing again.