March 19, 2014
Nanango’s Drayton Street bridge will be renamed the “Ben Walters Bridge” when it reopens later this week.
The South Burnett Regional Council voted unanimously to name the bridge after one of the town’s pioneers at today’s monthly Council meeting.
Cr Barry Green said he had undertaken consultation with stakeholders and interested parties about the new name, and told fellow councillors the general feedback he’d received had been supportive.
Benjamin (Ben) Walters was born at Goode’s Inn – the town’s first hotel – in 1861 and died in 1950.
He spent a large part of his life working for the Clapperton family at Tarong Station.
But he was employed by Nanango Shire Council as a Works Overseer for 16 years, during which time he was responsible for building most of the timber bridges in the Nanango area.
And while the replaced Drayton Street bridge wasn’t built by Mr Walters, who was in his eighties at the time, it was built to his design.
Cr Green said two of Ben Walters’ granddaughters – Mrs Eileen Horne and Mrs Beryl Gibson – still lived in Nanango, and naming the bridge in his honour would pay recognition to “a humble man who made an extraordinary contribution to transportation in the South Burnett”.
The Council will make a budget allocation to install a plaque and signs on the bridge in due course.
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