Moorabool River

Moorabool River
The Moorabool River, between Steiglitz and
Location
Country	Australia
State	Victoria
City	Geelong
Physical characteristics
Source	Moorabool Reservoir, near Ballarat
• location	Australia
• coordinates	37°30′33″S 144°5′0″E / 37.50917°S 144.08333°E / -37.50917; 144.08333
Mouth	confluence with Barwon River at Fyansford
• location	Australia
• coordinates	38°8′39″S 144°18′54″E / 38.14417°S 144.31500°E / -38.14417; 144.31500
Length	160 kilometres[1]
Basin features
Tributaries
• right	Lal Lal Creek

The Moorabool River is a river in Victoria, Australia, which runs for 160 kilometres^[1] through several small towns such as , Anakie, and Staughton Vale. It runs into the Barwon River at Fyansford. It is believed that the name Moorabool derives from an Aboriginal word meaning the cry of a curlew or a ghost.^[2]

The river features several historic bridges, many built of bluestone in the 19th century.

Batesford was originally the site of a ford crossing the Moorabool River. The first bridge was built by the Corio and Bannockburn shire councils in 1846. Provided with a tollgate, the wooden bridge was located upstream from the ford, but collapsed in 1847. Rebuilt in wood in 1848, it was damaged by flood in 1852 and later repaired. A bluestone bridge was built in 1859, which still exists today as a service road. The current concrete bridge on the Midland Highway was built on a new alignment in 1972.^[3]

The first river crossing at Fyansford was again a ford. The first wooden bridge was built by the Shire of Corio and Shire of Bannockburn in 1854, down river from the ford, and was tolled until 1877. It was in poor condition by 1898, with load restrictions being put into place. A new bridge was built nearby in 1900 by John Monash and J. T. N. Anderson, the three-arch bridge being the largest Monier reinforced concrete bridge in world at the time.^[3]

In 1970, a new bridge was built on the site of the old wooden bridge to cater for heavier traffic on the Hamilton Highway, with the 1900 bridge being retained for pedestrians.^[3]

Work on the Geelong Ring Road bridge over the Moorabool River commenced in late 2006. Costing $15.5 million,^[4] it carries four lanes of traffic and is the largest bridge on the road, with 70 beams and 12 piers. The final span was installed on 6 March 2008.^[5] It has been named the Lewis Bandt Bridge.^[6]

The 440-metre (1,440 ft)-long bluestone and iron Moorabool Viaduct was opened in 1862 to carry the Geelong-Ballarat railway over the river valley. It remains in use today, having been reinforced with extra steel piers in 1918, to a design of Victorian Railways engineer Frederick Esling.^[7][8]

• "Great Otway National Park". Parks Victoria. Government of Victoria. 2014.
• "Corangamite Catchment Management Authority". Government of Victoria. 2014. Archived from the original on 12 May 2014.
• Moorabool River at BIRD (wiki)
• People for A Living Moorabool