Tourists and locals alike have benefited from the completion of the James Harrison Bridge in 1990, at the time an innovative structure that is a silent memorial to James Harrison’s vision and invention. He was one of Australia’s greatest inventors and thinkers. James Harrison (1816-1893) was a journalist, inventor, newspaper proprietor, postmaster and politician. He served in local and state politics, established The Geelong Advertiser and pioneered mechanical refrigeration. Moreover, the bridge is close to the site where he started work on a way of producing ice in commercial quantities.
Read more about this man in our current edition of HISTORY MATTERS available free on line to members and subscribers of Torquay Museum Without Walls or $10 for printed copies available at Torquay Newsagents.