A Message Set in Stone

The Ross Bridge is a national icon, constructed from locally quarried sandstone and built by convict labour.  Its elaborate and superbly detailed carvings are the work of two convict stonemasons, Daniel Herbert and James Colbeck whose efforts earned them their freedom.  Had the authorities of the time realized, that freedom may have been cut short.

Amongst the beautiful carvings of flowers, birds and other seemingly harmless subjects, Herbert and Colbeck had incorporated a number of very unflattering likenesses of the people of the day, including Governor Arthur.  However, it is the bridge's keystones that reveal their clever subversion; the crowned lions with lambs in their jaws.  Some suggest their message was clear - that it was the British state that had mauled the innocent convict. 

In fact at Ross, the convicts gave as good as they got. Despite plentiful supplies of labour and resources, the bridge took five years to complete amidst repeated allegations of bribery and corruption. While the bridge building proceeded at snail's pace, the convicts traded sandstone for precious supplies of tobacco, alcohol, sugar, clothes and tea with their partners in crime - the local free settlers. The results of this clandestine partnership can still be seen in the village's many impressive and historic stone buildings.