Peats Ferry: Iconic Bridge on The Old Pac

13 August 2022|Design History

The morning air is crisp and I wrap my hands tightly around the Bonnie’s heated grips. She purrs a deep throated burr, as twins do, as I head off for yet another morning run along my home route—the Old Pac.

Every time I come down the hill I am awed by the view of the Hawkesbury River and the iconic Peats Ferry Bridge, looking like a giant Meccano build. Today early morning sun is glistening on the water and and the bridge is thrown in to shadows. Awesome!

I pull over. I can’t resist taking some photos, and in my head I can see the bridge on a t-shirt. How cool would that be? 

Amazingly, as I take my photo, another rider is crossing over the bridge. He nods. I nod back, and I think what a great way to start and finish a ride!

This is not the first bridge to span this part of the Hawskbury River, in fact you can still see some of the pilings of the original bridge. A couple of months ago, Ms Old Pac and I watched a video on the making of the bridge, which has made me appreciate it even more. 

Clearly, from the name, the original crossing near Brooklyn was a ferry established by George Peats (funnily enough) from Mooney Mooney Point to Kangaroo Point. In 1852 the road was extended from Sydney to the ferry, creating a more direct route to Newcastle.

Here’s a fun fact, until then the only crossing north had been at Wiseman’s Ferry on the Great Northern Road—another a great ride!

In 1945 the ferry was replaced with the Peats Ferry Bridge, which carried traffic on the Pacific Highway up until 1973, when an increase in road traffic saw the first section of the Brooklyn Bridge open to carry traffic along the new Pacific Highway.

Every time I cross the Peats Ferry Bridge I think how lucky I am to have the Old Pac on my doorstep. Today I think about how in the early days of the covid pandemic this was the end point of my ride: just 2ks from home. Today it signals the gateway to another adventure!

As you know, I love a great t-shirt, I thought the bridge would make a great design. Well, it turned out to be a nightmare to get right. Finally I managed to draw one I was happy with. I won’t bore you with the trashed ones, but f you want to see how it’s done you can watch me draw over on my new YouTube channel.

I’d love to hear what you think of the new design below. Or, maybe you’d like to share some of your favourite places on the Old Pac? 

Not an Old Pac rider, why not inspire us Old Pac’ers by sharing an iconic view on your home ride in the comments below and maybe I’ll be inspired to create a new design. 

See you in the twisties! 

Jim

References: https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/peats_ferry and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn_Bridge,_New_South_Wales