Builder came for work 1880's

[schimmellover]

Hi there,
I'm looking for ideas on how I can find out more about my G Grandfather Richard Henry Catterall b. Preston 1860. The family story is that he went to Australia for several years to work as a builder and make money so that he could marry his fiancee, who waited patiently for his return! The story was that he worked on the Sydney Harbour bridge, but, since that was opened in 1932, the dates don't fit - unless there was another bridge somewhere? He was at home in Preston, Lancashire at 1881 census, and married in Preston in 1889, so I guess he would have been gone between those dates. Does anyone know if there would be any records of temporary workers in this period? Ship passenger lists? Any other ideas?

[shume]

This entry is from Familysearch.. Victoria Outwards passenger list. He is a labourer but the age is about right. So if this is him he did go to Melbourne and then on to Sydney.
Name:   
Rh Catterall
Event Type:   
Emigration
Event Date:   
1886
Event Place:   
Victoria, Australia
Gender:   
Male
Age:   
28
Birth Year (Estimated):   
1858
Marital Status:   
Single
Departure Place:   
London
Destination Place:   
Sydney

[majm]

Mariners and ships in Australian Waters 

http://marinersandships.com.au/1886/08/media/062lig4.gif 

Recorded on Passenger List lodged in Sydney NSW for the vessel Liguria, from London arriving August 1886, 

R H COTTERALL.

JM.

add SNIP of surname.   NB Victoria PRO has it as RD CATTERALL aged 28, Destination Sydney  (Liguria, arrival Aug 1886). 

JM

[majm]

Bridges under construction in the late 1880s in NSW could be for railways or for horse drawn traffic.  There was were also various viaducts.

The Hawkesbury River Railway Bridge https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13715990 Sydney Morning Herald, 2 March 1889.


http://www.visitsydneyaustralia.com.au/railway-bridges.html 

JM  (oooops, !  sorted now  ,  plural !  )

[cupoflife]

Not sure if this is relevant in any way, but “leave no stone unturned”

Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 - 1900) Fri 10 Jul 1885 [Issue No.276] Page 4264 Government Gazette Tenders and Contracts
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/223985143
[4391] Department of Public Works, Sydney 10th July 1885
..... The following Tenders have been accepted:-
..... Catterall & Dibley - Construction of bridge over Polygonum swamp, Bourke

This is possibly the Dibley mentioned https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/162112605?

Polygonum Swamp Bridge needed further upgrading in 1898
https://media.opengov.nsw.gov.au/pairtree_root/76/fe/a1/0d/84/46/5b/e1/d3/9a/93/69/5b/8c/84/31/obj/document.pdf
see page 83 REPAIRS TO BRIDGES
.......
Attention was drawn in my report of 1896-1897 to the success attending the conversion of the Belabula River Bridge at Carcoar from a truss to a beam bridge; during the year under notice a similar work was carried out at Polygonum Swamp Bridge, near Bourke, where four 80-feet truss-spans have been converted into twelve 27-feet beam-spans, at a cost of £2,216 8s. 9d. In this cases the trusses had been constructed of red-gum, and had become so distorted as to be no longer efficient; and as the bridge carries all the traffic from North Bourke Bridge to Bourke Railway Station, the conversion to a beam bridge, which can be easily and cheaply repaired, while affording ample water-openings for the place, will doubtless affect economy in the future.