[5] Kangaroo Valley region is within the Dharawal/Thurawal clan country, a language group extending generally from the "Cowpastures" (Camden/Appin) east along Georges River then to the south of Jervis Bay and west to Braidwood.

Local Dharawal names are still used such as "Noggarah", a big gully and "Parronrah", suitable camping areas on the river side flats.

[3] Regardless of the physical exorcising of the Aboriginal people from the land, the rich Aboriginal landscape of this valley remains captured in the numerous traditional campsites marked by stone artefact scatters along the "Parronrah" and axe grinding grooves at Barrengarry; and also in the special places such as rock art sites in the sandstone overhangs along the "Noggarah" that feed into the main river, accompanied by the sharing of stories and song lines describing the important connections people have to country, and most importantly in the continuing culture of the Aboriginal people of the region today.

[3] Charles Throsby had passed through Kangaroo Valley in 1818 in search of a route from the coast to the settled districts along the Great South Road (Hume Highway).

Charles McCaffrey, one of a group of settlers from Fermanagh, Ireland, brought dairy farming into the Kiama-Shoalhaven region, settling at Barrengarry in 1846.

[3] As the local farming activities reached a peak in the 1870s, it was decided to construct a two span timber truss bridge over the Kangaroo River of the "Old Public Works Department" (Old PWD) design.

The awarding of the contract to build the bridge for A£3,000 to the Braidwood-based company, Kelly and Walsh was advertised in the Government Gazette 11 September 1876 p. 3608.

The new bridge significantly improved access for the residents of the Valley, supported the five butter factories, the main township which had now gained a school, Post Office, churches and hotel and the nearby village of Barrengarry.

[3][7] Farm amalgamations in the twentieth century have reduced the population greatly, and hobby farmers and retirees are increasingly attracted to the valley.

The original suspension bridge was constructed with a 152 metres (500 ft) main span that was supported by steel cables and hanger rods.

To carry the cables there will be erected on each side of the river a pair of towers of sandstone masonry, produced from the immediate vicinity of the bridge.

[3] The first milestone celebrated in the construction period was on 30 May 1896 when the keystone to the southern end pier was laid by Florence Comer whose family had a number of associations with the Kangaroo Valley region.

The keystone to the northern end pier was then laid less than 4 months later on 3 September 1896 by Barrengarry businessman Israel Karnofsky.

Leading up to the official opening, a number of tasks were identified as part of the "clean up" including the removal of the old timber bridge.

[3] The bridge features four large Victorian Gothic Revival crenellated turrets made of locally quarried sandstone.

[citation needed] In 2012 the bridge underwent a major A$3 million renovation by Roads & Maritime Services, after many years of lobbying by local resident Bruce Ramsay, who agitated for the preservation of this iconic structure.

[citation needed] The towers, constructed mainly from sandstone quarried on the site are of Victorian Gothic style, similar to the (former) suspension bridge at Northbridge in Sydney.

Immediately below the roller saddle bearings supporting the cables, the mass concrete is surmounted by bedstones composed of the rarely found hard trachyte weighing 3 tonnes and quarried at Mount Gibraltar at Bowral.

At the bottom of each shaft is an enlarged chamber where riveted steel beams transfer the tensile forces from the cables to upthrust in the sandstone above.

On the Nowra side, the main drainage drive was some 30 metres (100 ft), opening to the northeast of the abutment, with a cross cut to the western pit.

The maintenance files on the bridge, describe that in 1970 the cables were coated with Davidsons X3016 Anticorrosive primer, BA77 Lumatint and Line 176 Black Finish.

[3] From the cables, suspension rods of varying length hang in an inclined plane at 2 metres (6 ft) centres to support the deck.

In its current configuration, plastic flaps are fixed approx 1m in from each kerb to provide pedestrian access to the bridge, leaving approximately 3.5 metres (11 ft) carriageway for traffic.

Stiffening of a minor nature is provided by the deck, but this is insufficient to prevent large vertical movements for heavy vehicles.

This configuration allows the truss to transfer loads from where it is applied in both directions to the elastic supports provided at each node by the suspension cables.

Galvanised wire mesh grillesare provided to prevent bird access to the suspension cable saddle areas on each tower.

The gantry is a lightweight steel truss structure supporting a personnel platform which can be skidded from the upstream to the downstreem side of the bridge.

The Hampden Bridge also has historic significance because it facilitated the agricultural prominence of the Kangaroo Valley area in the first decades of the twentieth century.

The form of the bridge, its sophisticated structural design and elaborate tower castellations, reflects the cultural importance of this crossing at its time of construction, on what was then both a major route to the south of the state, and an area of emerging prosperity.

It is readily viewed and interpreted from the surrounding recreational areas and is held in high esteem by the local and wider community for its historic, aesthetic and technical qualities.