ON this day 50 years ago, the landmark "Singing Bridge" officially opened over the Myall River at Port Stephens.
That day, April 6, 1974, was a catalyst for great change, and the region would never be the same again.
The modern bridge finally permanently connected the once sleepy twin townships of Tea Gardens and Hawks Nest. It came 158 years since English cedar cutters speculatively moved into the district in 1816.
But they weren't the first Europeans recorded as visiting the area. The first were five convicts whose stolen boat sunk off Port Stephens in 1790. They then briefly lived with the natives, who had inhabited the region for countless generations.
Maritime explorer Captain James Cook had earlier spied the smoke from Aboriginal campfires while sailing along the NSW coast in 1770. It was he who named it Port Stephens, after the secretary of the British admiralty, in his log as he passed by.
Meanwhile, it was a grand day back in April 1974 when the nine-span, 304 metre-long, pre-stressed concrete box girder bridge opened to link the two river towns.
The new two-lane bridge, replacing Engels' vehicular punt, which had opened in 1928, was meant to last. Piles were driven 43metres (or 142ft) below low water level into bedrock with a 10.6 metre height clearance (35ft) for fishing vessels. It was an occasion to celebrate.
Soon the bridge also acquired the nickname of the "Singing Bridge" and was even signposted that way. The name struck because it "sang" eerily during strong south-westerlies, which whipped through the bridge railings creating a wind harp
The bridge unveiling was very welcome and opened, you might say, just in time. Until the 1960s it was probably easier to reach Tea Gardens by ferry from Nelson Bay than it was by road, which was rutted and slow. Around that time the residents relied on fishing, and also timber getting to supply a major mill at Winda Woppa.
But in the early 1960s, heavy industry came to Hawks Nest across the river when Mineral Deposits Ltd began sand mining for rutile and zircon.
Then, in 1969, insurance giant the AMP Society initially bought 14,000 acres of forest to develop behind Tea Gardens from Australian Paper Manufacturers.
Very soon, a $7million beef cattle empire was being carved out of the wilderness. To the relentless clank of bulldozers, more and more rough, heavily timbered "bush" country was being cleared daily for pasture growth and the introduction of 10,000 cattle.
At any one time, 27 tractors were at work, 'chaining' (clearing) up to 80 acres daily. By March 1974, just a month before the bridge opened, about 30,000 acres of land was being cleared for "improvement", including installing 160 miles of fencing.
It was described as the largest primary industry development in the Hunter region in the years following World War II.
Then even before April 1974, land prices started to explode in anticipation of the new Tea Gardens-Hawks Nest bridge and opening the area to tourism. The average cost of building a home in the still remote district suddenly became equal to Raymond Terrace just off the Pacific Highway, close to Newcastle.
Today, the area about 76km north-east from Newcastle by road, is still stunning, a tranquil holiday and retirement haven near the mouth of the Myall River where it empties out into Port Stephens.
In many ways, the twin townships with their relaxed lifestyles turn back time, reminding visitors of the 1950s. This may well have been the attraction that once lured former prime minister John Howard to the area to holiday.
So, a 50-year commemoration this weekend of the famous bridge that revitalised the district would seem appropriate. Except, sadly, there won't be a major official event to mark the significant anniversary.
Spiralling insurance costs and a mass of modern regulations, combined with public disinterest, sounded the death knell for the project, despite six months planning by individuals for the bridge's golden jubilee.
"There won't be any formal celebrations which is a pity," the vice-president of the Hawks Nest Tea Gardens Progress Association (HNTGA), Michele Winn, told Weekender.
"It's crazy we can't stage anything because it was to be a community event, after all. For example, the planned stalls were to be available for free," she said.
"The local pub and the library will be commemorating the day and we are encouraging people to hold picnics on the (riverside) park. It's such a shame though they'll be no one big celebration."
Let's now explore what the quaint names of both small villages mean. Well, Hawks Nest is said to describe where two nesting eagles once lived in tall, local pine trees.
The odd name of Tea Gardens is supposed to have originated with Chinese employees of the legendary A.A. Company in the colonial era trying to grow tea plants near their vegetable plots.
Or does it derive from early pioneer river workers stopping to boil their billy for a mid-morning cuppa (of tea) near the Chinese gardens? More likely though is that the name originates from the widespread melaleuca tree, or paperbark, usually referred to as tea-tree or ti-tree.
Or is it, as one history researcher insists, all a mistake? He claims Tea Gardens is a typo in a very early A.A. Co ledger where it should instead read "Sea Gardens".
