Shire ‘no’ to Story Bridge

By Kath Gannaway
WARBURTON’S landmark bridge, known as the ‘Swing Bridge’ will remain named just that after the Shire of Yarra Ranges rejected a request by the Warburton Advancement League (WAL) to name it ‘Story Bridge’.
The WAL requested that the bridge be renamed in honour of the Story family, which WAL president Jesse James said had a long-standing association with the town in its early days.
“They built the Gainsborough Building which was a general store back in the early 1900s and were very involved in the town in business, sport and in general community activities,” he said.
Mr James said the WAL committee felt that the bridge should have a name but that council decided that the Story family had already been recognised through Story Road and Story Reserve next to the bridge.
Mr James said the bridge was built around the 1950s by the then Shire of Upper Yarra.
It provides a crossing point over the Yarra River to the Warburton Highway near the town’s tennis courts.
Mr James said there were no plans by the WAL to put forward any other name at this stage.