![bus 15 to kane suare at dudley street at belden st bus 15 to kane suare at dudley street at belden st](https://i1.wp.com/michaelromain.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/img_0958.jpg)
Pictured alongside is Sir Manuel Hornibrook (right) whose company built the bridge. Photo: State Library of Queensland The bridge was officially opened on Friday 4 October 1935 by Governor Sir Leslie Orme Wilson (left). The first vehicles crossing the bridge on the evening of Friday 4 October 1935. Hornibrook Highway Bus Service Ltd was officially incorporated on 27 August 1935 with Sir Manuel Hornibrook as Managing Director, Jack Amies as Secretary, and a registered office of Parbury House, 127 Eagle Street, Brisbane. The Company immediately placed an order with the Watt Bros of Woolloongabba to build four brand new Reo 2LM buses with ‘streamlined’ forward-control bodies. Accordingly, the Railway Department considered this proposal to be the most satisfactory and formally announced the Company as the successful tenderer on 1 August 1935. The Company offered to provide a service with cheap fares, a frequent timetable, and with the most comfortable, modern type of buses available in order to cater for the growth of Redcliffe. In a somewhat surprising move for the industry, the Hornibrook Highway Company claimed that they should be given priority as it was their highway which made the bus service possible. Hornibrook Highway Ltd (a subsidiary of M R Hornibrook Pty Ltd).(owned by the Douglas Bros who operated a service between Brisbane and Sandgate). Redcliffe-Petrie Motor Service (owned by the Elson family who pioneered the first bus service from Redcliffe to Brisbane on 8 December 1924).When tenders closed at 2.00pm on 23 July 1935, only three parties sought the new franchise: With construction nearing the final stages during May 1935, the State Transport Board invited tenders for the inauguration of a co-ordinated bus service between Sandgate Station and Redcliffe across the new bridge. Spanning 2.7 kilometres (1.67 miles) in length and at a cost of £120,000, the new bridge would provide direct road access to Redcliffe without the need to traverse Gympie Road through the flood prone areas of Strathpine and Petrie.
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Conceived and built by the firm of M R Hornibrook Pty Ltd (founded by Sir Manuel Richard Hornibrook), the bridge construction lasted for three years and brought great opportunity to the residents of Redcliffe at a time of high unemployment with the economy suffering through the Great Depression. The story begins in 1932 with the start of construction of a privately funded toll bridge providing a direct link between Brisbane and the coastal city of Redcliffe.