Explanations of Panmure Bridge

Why the Panmure Bridge was built.

Did you know that the purpose of Panmure Bridge is to span the river between Panmure and Pakuranga more quickly than swimming in the river. The first Panmure Bridge was built in 1865 and it was swing bridge.

In 1835 the first thing used to get across the Tamaki River was a Punt. The punt is a small boat and it can carry a small amount of people but there were some  problems with the punt. A main problem with the punt was that it could not be used when it was very windy or hard rain. Because of this problem a petition was signed and council built the first Panmure Bridge.

The first Panmure Bridge was the beam bridge and it was close to the water. The bridge was made out of Totara and Kauri trees from New Zealand.  This bridge also had a problem. It was not strong enough to carry heavy things and the deck was breaking.

The second Panmure Bridge was built in 1916. It was also a beam bridge. The material that they used to build the bridge was Kauri tree and Iron. from Sydney, Australia. At that time they didn’t have enough iron in New Zealand so we had to get it from Sydney.

In 1957 the third Panmure bridge was built. The material used was concrete and Iron. It was strong so it still spans from Panmure to Pakuranga. If you have a chance to go across any bridge look at it carefully for the shapes and designs they used to build the bridge.

I think the bridge is the very important construction to have, so people can cross the river or sea very quickly and safely. In the olden days the mailman had to use a small boat to get across the Tamaki River and deliver the mail.

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This week for Writing we were writing an explanation about Why the Panmure Bridge was built. Before we wrote our plan we researched some of the facts about Panmure Bridge. During our Inquiry learning time we used our DLO to help write our explanation. I learnt that Purpose of Panmure Bridge is to easily get across the Tamaki river to Panmure, Pakuranga and Howick. If you have a chance to go across any bridge look at it carefully for the shapes and designs they used to build the bridge. I think a Bridge is a very important construction to have.