Julie Hornibrook is the granddaughter of Manuel Hornibrook, who led the team of builders that constructed the bridge simultaneously from both ends of the bridge with the goal to meet in the middle. The bridge officially opened on July 9, 1940 to a crowd of 37,000 people.

Brisbane-born John Bradfield, the man behind the Sydney Harbour Bridge, was brought on as consulting engineer for the Story Bridge project in 1934, with Evans Deakin-Hornibrook Constructions building the bridge.

“I’m so proud and excited and I feel like I can represent the generations of my family and my grandfather’s determination and his contribution to Queensland,” she told ABC Radio Brisbane.

“There were big Brisbane bridges that were built during the depression and into World War II and my grandfather built a workforce that was loyal to him, and [he] was loyal to them, and that’s an important thing still today.”

Ms Hornibrook said as a child she knew her grandfather played an important role in the bridge’s construction.

“It was a huge project for Grandpa and all his brothers lived the life and built it while we were growing up,” Ms Hornibrook said.

“I’ve heard that there is an Australian flag and a flag of the Southern Cross buried under one of the pillars in recognition of knowing how historical the bridge would be when it was built but we can’t prove that now.”

Author Michael Moy, who wrote Story Bridge: from Idea to Icon, said many people did not realise the engineering feats the bridge achieved.

“One of the most amazing things is under Captain Boat Park on the southside is an airlock that reaches 40-metres down and was one of the deepest airlocks in Australia at the time,” Mr Moy said.

“There’s a bend in the river so they had to dig down but the hole filled with water.

“So they had to essentially [build] an airlock of concrete and it was an engineering feat.

“Scuba divers would have to decompress when coming back up and needed to have a hospital on-site as there were 65 cases of the bends [decompression sickness] at the time.”

All women crew recreate bridge

In addition to the original bridge, Brisbane recently added another Story Bridge.

The director of Constructionarium Australia, Nicky Vaisey, said the second smaller bridge was completed by an all-female team of engineers in 2019 as part of a training project.

The bridge is a 1:20 scaled down version that is 24m long and 4m high using 5 tonnes of steel.

“You can’t drive over but you can walk over it,” Ms Vaisey said.

The non-for-profit group provide practical on-hands skills to early career engineers.

Located at Salisbury, the site has great historical significance as the location is where the steel was fabricated for the real Story Bridge by Evans Deakin Industries.

Ms Vaisey says each time residents drive over the original Story Bridge they should remember how much perseverance and innovation goes behind the building of such a structure.

“It takes effort and a lot of hard work that goes into it,” she said.

– ABC / Jessica Hinchliffe