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I'd like to see the tradtion of naming bridges after Australian Battle Honours, which occured on the NEXY, continued on the Northern Connector (Long Tan, Kapyong, Kokoda, Tobruck, Hamel). There will be 4 bridges on the Northern Connector (the PREXY, Waterloo Corner, Bolivar Road and Port Wakefield Road interchanges). In addition the bridge on the NEXY over the railway has not been named. I'd like to see a couple each named in honour of the RAN and RAAF as all existing ones are Army Battle Honours. My suggestions are Emden (RAN), Coral Sea (RAN), Dardanelles (RAN), Rabaul (RAAF) and Milne Bay (RAAF). What do people think?

mawsonguy wrote:I'd like to see the tradtion of naming bridges after Australian Battle Honours, which occured on the NEXY, continued on the Northern Connector (Long Tan, Kapyong, Kokoda, Tobruck, Hamel). There will be 4 bridges on the Northern Connector (the PREXY, Waterloo Corner, Bolivar Road and Port Wakefield Road interchanges). In addition the bridge on the NEXY over the railway has not been named. I'd like to see a couple each named in honour of the RAN and RAAF as all existing ones are Army Battle Honours. My suggestions are Emden (RAN), Coral Sea (RAN), Dardanelles (RAN), Rabaul (RAAF) and Milne Bay (RAAF). What do people think?

It definitely has merit. I suggest sending your suggestion to DPTI, RSL and Department of Veteran's Affairs.

mawsonguy wrote:I'd like to see the tradtion of naming bridges after Australian Battle Honours, which occured on the NEXY, continued on the Northern Connector (Long Tan, Kapyong, Kokoda, Tobruck, Hamel). There will be 4 bridges on the Northern Connector (the PREXY, Waterloo Corner, Bolivar Road and Port Wakefield Road interchanges). In addition the bridge on the NEXY over the railway has not been named. I'd like to see a couple each named in honour of the RAN and RAAF as all existing ones are Army Battle Honours. My suggestions are Emden (RAN), Coral Sea (RAN), Dardanelles (RAN), Rabaul (RAAF) and Milne Bay (RAAF). What do people think?

All for it.

ChillyPhilly wrote:

mawsonguy wrote:I'd like to see the tradtion of naming bridges after Australian Battle Honours, which occured on the NEXY, continued on the Northern Connector (Long Tan, Kapyong, Kokoda, Tobruck, Hamel). There will be 4 bridges on the Northern Connector (the PREXY, Waterloo Corner, Bolivar Road and Port Wakefield Road interchanges). In addition the bridge on the NEXY over the railway has not been named. I'd like to see a couple each named in honour of the RAN and RAAF as all existing ones are Army Battle Honours. My suggestions are Emden (RAN), Coral Sea (RAN), Dardanelles (RAN), Rabaul (RAAF) and Milne Bay (RAAF). What do people think?

All for it.

Whilst I'm all for the recognising the sacrifice made by Australian troops on ANZAC and Remembrance Day, I actually find naming these bridges after battle honours to be a form of dwelling on the dark past; we have memorials for mourning those lost, why do we need to name bridges after our battle efforts? Surely for something as progressive as a non-stop roadway we could finding something a little more fitting? Renowned Australian engineers? Explorers/Surveyors of the land it's being built on?

Patrick_27 wrote:

ChillyPhilly wrote: Whilst I'm all for the recognising the sacrifice made by Australian troops on ANZAC and Remembrance Day, I actually find naming these bridges after battle honours to be a form of dwelling on the dark past; we have memorials for mourning those lost, why do we need to name bridges after our battle efforts? Surely for something as progressive as a non-stop roadway we could finding something a little more fitting? Renowned Australian engineers? Explorers/Surveyors of the land it's being built on?

Many of the War Memorials have disappeared since the 70s. There used to be a time when every company or government department had an Honour Roll prominently displayed in the foyer - not any more. Many of the community war memorials are located in old town centre long bypassed by the highways. Many of the ones on main roads have been shifted because traffic no longer stops for the Dawn Service. I can drive from North Adelaide to Truro without passing a single war memorial. I think it therefore important that we replace them with new memorials such as the naming of bridges.

If you want to honour an engineer then you already have the honour. The "Hamel" bridge is named after the battle where the Australian Army Corp defeated the Germans in WWI under the command of Australia's most famour engineer - General Sir John Monash (who incidentally was also a lawyer!).

Why is it important that we need to be able to drive past a war memorial?

We have a prominent memorial in the city, which is being expanded into a memorial walk. Most councils have their own memorials too. We even have a main arterial in honour. Why in the world do we need to name every bridge on a route as additional war memorials?

It surprises me how people want to celebrate war. It is basically the worst outcome possible and just a reminder of how horrible humans can be to one another. Where we actively attempt to kill as many people possible that were born in the "wrong" country.

I want to be reminded about the positive and good in the world during my day to day, not constantly reminded about negative things.

I suppose you can use Indigenous or military names without attracting too much controversy.

Remember when the government tried to name the new RAH after Marjorie Jackson-Nelson? Didn't fly! Doubt we'll ever see the Rann Bridge, the Bannon Overpass, the Olsen Tunnel either.

Also, it's not really as if most of the infrastructure being built is of great architectural significance anyway. Look at Gallipoli Underpass for example - yes it's got a few red lines on it but is it really a fitting memorial to the dead?

I'm happy to restrict war memorials to the actual purpose-built ones - as for the multitude of bland concrete bridges over busy freeways and arterial roads then I'd prefer a different naming convention.

Perhaps if it was mandatory for each bridge to be named after the architect responsible for designing it, and Council/Government officials who sign-off on the final designs then we might end up with some more interesting bridges in future infrastructure projects and less run-of-the-mill stuff.

I agree - core infrastructure does not make a very good memorial.

Perhaps I'm too much of an engineer type - but I think bridges should simply have functional names that work for the real purpose - asset maintenance. Much like we are now trying to provide generic "M" and "A" classifications to arterial roads - same formula could apply to bridges and then create or maintain memorials with true merit to do justice to the intended recipients.