Original bridge: More than a century ago this photograph was taken of the Campaspe River bridge, from the north side of the river back toward the town.
An October 1917 portrait of the original Campaspe River bridge in Rochester was last week presented to the Rochester Historical Society.
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It came with an interesting story about the engineer behind the bridge’s construction, Walter Chaplin, who had a significant sight impairment.
The portrait of the bridge was presented to Mr Chaplin on its completion and came to the High Street headquarters of the historical society via his Melbourne-based great-great niece.
John Foster from Rochester Historical Society said the framed photograph was found when she was cleaning her mother’s house. It was found under the house.
She travelled up from Melbourne to present the framed photo to the historical society.
Mr Foster said the society didn’t have a photo of the bridge from that angle, taken from the north side of the river, in its possession.
The interesting story attached is that the engineer Walter Chaplin had been sacked by the Shire of Rochester when it was discovered he was seriously sight impaired.
He earned his living thereafter from tutoring.
Mr Chaplin had suffered a serious eye injury as a teenager, but still managed to become a civil engineer.
Bridge builder: Walter Chaplin was the Shire of Rochester engineer responsible for building the bridge. He was dismissed after it was discovered he had a severe vision impairment.
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