Peace Memorial BridgePrint Page

The Peace Memorial Bridge commemorates the declaration of peace in 1919 and is also dedicated to those who gave their lives to save civilisation. The bridge was opened for traffic on the 24th August 1919 with the official opening being held on the 29th August 1919. 

The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War One. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of World War One were dealt with in separate treaties. Although the armistice signed on 11 November 1918, ended the actual fighting, it took six months of negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference to conclude the peace treaty.

At a meeting of the Dandenong Shire council on Monday, the president (Cr Abbott) reported in regard to the opening of the bridge, for which, he said, tablets had been prepared, and would be placed on each side of the bridge. He specially invited councillors and Cr Pearson (what ever the result of the election), also old identities of the district. He proposed to have a small social function, in the council chamber, at which visitors could be entertained. Cr Wilson suggested that Mrs Abbott be invited to cut the ribbon, to open the bridge; the necessary scissors to be purchased by the council, to be presented to Mrs Abbott. The proposal was seconded by Cr Harris and carried.
South Bourke and Mornington Journal (Richmond, Vic), 28 August 1919.

A new bridge erected over Dandenong Creek on the main Gippsland road by the Country Roads Board was officially opened on Friday.  The actual cost of the bridge was £3285, but additional work, including road construction, involved a total expenditure of £4435. The Premier said the Government was greatly interested in the development of provincial towns such as Dandenong, aud wished to help the people. It was recognised that a new railway station was needed at Dandenong, but the finances did not permit of the work being carried out at present. As soon as possible, however, the proposition would receive sympathetic consideration from the Government. Mr. Lawson called upon Mrs. Abbott, wife of the shire president, to cut the ribbon stretched across the bridge, which was the signal for cheers. He then declared the bridge officially opened. Mr. Groves,. M.L.A., unveiled a tablet, placed in the side of the bridge, in memory of fallen soldiers, and Mr. Calder, chairman of the Country Roads Board, also spoke in regard to the new bridge.
Age (Melbourne), 30 August 1919.

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