Bridges of the Falkland Islands
October 2000

 

The stamp of approval

In October 2000, the Falkland Islands Philatelic Bureau issued a series of stamps commemorating the bridges of the Falkland Islands.

I was thrilled to discover that this series featured the Bodie Creek suspension bridge as one of the three stamps. The other two are the Malo River and Fitzroy River bridges.

Not only is the Bodie Creek suspension bridge featured on one of the stamps,  the first day cover was illustrated with a beautiful, romantic painting of the bridge in winter. The stamps and cover picture were all painted by a local artist known as Mike Peake. He has passed away now, but I was able to get a first day cover, signed by the artist, from Phil Middleton at Falkland Collectibles.

This is the description of the bridge from the the Falkland Islands Philatelic Bureau's own web site:

“Bodie Creek Bridge

This steel suspension bridge was built by the Falkland Islands Company between October 1924 and July 1925. The bridge was manufactured in London by David Rowell & Co. at a cost of £2,281.00 and shipped to the Falkland Islands on the SS Ballena.

It has a span of 400ft carrying an 8ft wide roadway. It is suspended by four 2in. diameter steel cables carried over two 40ft towers. The engineer in charge was C.P.Peters and the foreman was the mason E.S.Crawford. The gang on the project numbered fourteen on average.

The decision to build the bridge came about as a proposal to centralize the sheep farming operations of Darwin and Walker Creek at Goose Green. New shearing sheds were to be built at Goose Green and it was realised that a bridge was necessary if sheep were to be brought there from the Walker Creek camps.

After construction of the bridge itself, remaining ancillary work on the approach roads was completed by the end of October 1925, enabling the first sheep to be brought across the bridge in time for the new shearing season.

The bridge was closed to traffic in March 1997, as it has become unsafe.

The First Day Cover depicts another "Mike Peake" painting showing a view of Bodie Creek Bridge in the winter.”