On one of his visits to Ross in 1836 Lieutenant-Governor Arthur ‘had an opportunity of witnessing the great difficulty and danger to which travelers were exposed in crossing a small marsh or winter stream which intersects the road leading to Campbell Town about a mile north of Ross.’ He caused a temporary wooden bridge to be thrown across it by a few of the men under the orders of Captain Turner. In July of that year, Mr. Benjamin Horne of ‘Chiswick’ drew attention to the need for a more permanent bridge and Alexander Cheyne made available four masons who had been employed at Ross.
This record appears to fix the time of commencement of Tacky Bridge as being in the latter half of 1836, about the time when the Ross Bridge was opened. It crosses a little stream, which winds its way down past ‘North Chiswick’ farm to the Macquarie River and has acquired the name of Tacky Creek. At the road level, stone walls with slightly curved ends indicate a culvert, but to anyone who scrambles through a fence and walked down the grassy bank of the creek, there are revealed two stone arches of unexpectedly large proportions and careful workmanship. These are divided by a pier with sharp cut-waters indicating that the quiet little stream can sometimes run heavily. Twin vaults that support the road at Tacky Creek are of unexpectedly large proportions and display careful workmanship.
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