Richmond Bridge

This is a photograph I took of the “famous” Richmond Bridge, while on our picnic last week.
As most of you who read my dear little blog have probably never heard of this bridge, I will tell you a little about it. It is Australia’s oldest bridge. Made from sandstone by the convicts, it was completed in 1825.

This is the view from the bridge. Beautiful, no? This remind me of a “true” story I read in Ghostly Tales of Tasmania by Buck and Joan Emberg, titled The Flogging Ghost of Richmond Bridge.
As the tale goes Groover the Flagellator was one of the overseers of the convict gangs building the bridge. A most hated man, he would often add his own weight to the carts that were pulled uphill from the quarry and if their pace was too slow he would enjoy picking off slabs of skin from the convicts backs as they worked.
The bridge was almost complete, when on a dark, foggy night Groover was followed across Richmond Bridge and was  murdered, his body discovered on the banks below.
 
The murder of  Groover the Flagellator is a true enough tale but whether or not people have truly seen his often headless ghost, haunting the bridge is another matter. I haven’t seen him… yet.