Back in 1940, when the bridge was built, cattle were part of daily life for the townspeople, and sometimes created quite a nuisance.

“As the town grew and the cattle were coming over the Wodonga Creek bridge it was absolute bedlam,” historian Jean Whitla said yesterday.

“People say they charged through people’s yards and put their hooves through the wheels of children’s bikes and the like.

“People would come around a corner to be confronted by a stampeding horde of cattle.”

Wodonga historian Jim Parker said when it was built, the bridge gave drovers an alternative route for their stock — previously they had to share the road with cars and trucks as they crossed Union Bridge.

“The stock would be driven up past the houses there in Dick Street.

“ They would then be herded south under the railway bridge and come up where the Aldi supermarket is now.

“Then it was straight to the saleyards.

“It was an important bridge in those days and it kept the stock off the Lincoln Causeway.”

Mrs Whitla said she felt the city was destroying too much of it’s history — the council’s move to consider replacing the old bridge instead of repairing it another example.

“You can’t replace what is destroyed,” she said.

“To me, it’s a small price to pay to do it up for the importance it has.”