Prior to the bridges being built, river crossings were often dangerous in times of rain, which caused bulk freight movement to be prohibitively expensive for most agricultural and mining produce.

Only the high priced wool clip of the time was able to carry the costs and inconvenience imposed by the generally inadequate river crossings that often existed prior to the trusses construction.

[1] Timber truss bridges were preferred by the NSW Public Works Department from the mid 19th to the early 20th century because they were relatively cheap to construct, and used mostly local materials.

[4] The original bridge was formally opened on 24 May 1880, with the wife of local MP, William Johnston breaking a bottle of wine under an arch.

Constructed from timber to conform with the 1861 parliamentary decree that local materials should be used in public works, the trusses took advantage of the high quality hardwood that was available in NSW.

The design is essentially a copy of the European timber truss bridges that had their origins in the work of the 16th century Italian architect Andrea Palladio.

[1] Clarence Town Bridge over Williams River was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 20 June 2000 having satisfied the following criteria.

[1] The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales.

Through this, the complete set of bridges gain some social significance, as they could be said to be held in reasonable esteem by many travellers in NSW.

[1] The place possesses uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales.

[1] This Wikipedia article was originally based on Clarence Town Bridge over Williams River, entry number 01462 in the New South Wales State Heritage Register published by the State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) 2018 under CC-BY 4.0 licence, accessed on 2 June 2018.