Sydney: When the Harbour Bridge was built

(This is the 3rd article of 3 released about the Sydney Harbour Bridge on the 75th anniversary of its opening in 1932. This article is by Peter Harvey, National Nine News)

They say it just would not, could not be built today.

Plans for a 21st century above-ground harbour crossing would simply drown in objections and bureaucracy: environmentalists would oppose it, politicians would fight over it and residents would be outraged.

All of that's almost certainly true… but the bridge would still be built.


For a city split in half by a wide, meandering harbour and truncated by rivers, valleys and ridge lanes, a broad span carrying road and rail services makes even more sense now than it did at the turn of the 20th century, when the first serious plans for a harbour bridge were under active discussion.

Sunday celebrates much more than the bridge's diamond jubilee, its 75th birthday: it commemorates one of the most bitter political debates this country has ever seen and it marks an astonishing engineering achievement. It's also largely responsible for the face and nature of modern Sydney.

Convict architect Francis Greenway first proposed a bridge in 1815. His foresight was ignored until the dawn of the last century when the government of the day realised Sydney was destined to remain confined to the harbours south-eastern shore unless something was done.
The bridge was intended not to simply provide easy transport to the north shore of the harbour but to be a key link in the network of highways stretching into the interior of NSW and onto Queensland. The trade and business imperative was as much a driving force as the wish to make the trip to town easier for the folk in Neutral Bay.

The rest is, of course, history. Dr. J.J.C. Bradfield and his team of specialists from the now-vanished Department of Public Works came up with the general design — a vast single-span arch — and, in 1922, the English firm of Dorman Long won the contract.
Work began in 1924 with more than 800 residents of The Rocks and Dawes Point tossed out of their homes — with no compensation — so work could start on the southern approaches. The absentee owners of those properties were paid but there was nothing for the people who lived there.

By any standards, the eight years of construction were heroic — and staggering.
Sixteen workmen died: clambering on the high-iron without any safety equipment was always a recipe for disaster, and a blueprint for today's safety regulations.

53 thousand tonnes of steel was used, held together by six million rivets — but not ordinary rivets. One weighed 3.5 kilograms and was almost 400 millimetres long.

Smaller rivets were made red-hot in braziers suspended on the girders, and then tossed to workmen below who caught them in their hats.

As Sydney stood and stared, the giant arches crept towards each other supported by 95 thousand cubic meters of concrete poured into the holes left by 122 thousand cubic metres of excavated rock.

The construction was on a scale not equalled until the Americans built the enormous Hoover Dam on the Colorado River — the world's biggest dam.

Finally, the two spans met, exactly and precisely, 134 metres above sea level. A feat of mathematics and precision engineering so complex it defies comparison. Except to say it was all done by slide rule and building skill — no computer modelling then.

Sydneysiders cheered on that day and then again, massively, on March 19 1932 — the grand opening.

To ensure the bridge could handle anything thrown at it, 100 steam locomotives were parked buffer to buffer on the four sets of tracks — two on the west for railways, two on the east for trams.

The only aspect left unplanned: Colonel de Groot's ride to glory, or infamy, when he slashed the ribbon seconds before Premier Jack Lang was due to use a pair of golden scissors in the official opening. A monarchist, de Groot believed only a member of the British royal family should do the honours as the bridge was so important to all Australians.

But they simply re-tied the ribbon and Jack Lang snipped away.

Sydneysiders marched, danced, rode and paraded their way across the marvel of the age all day long. The bridge immediately became the focus of our first tourism campaigns: come to Sydney and see our wonderful bridge.

And they did. From all over Australia, and overseas. And it still goes on today.

The Opera House may have become a more instantly recognised symbol of this country, but it lies in the Sydney Harbour Bridge's shadow.

National Nine News.

I hope you have found these three articles about the Sydney Harbour Bridge, an Australian icon, interesting. You know, in the Global Village of our world, Sydney is in easy reach from wherever you may be.

Sue Bayliss. Cairns, Australia.

Sydney: Thousands mark bridge's 75th birthday

(The article below is the second in this group of articles released by the AAP)

It was enough to make Francis De Groot, the perpetrator of one of Australia's most famous political protests, rest contentedly in his grave forever.

NSW Governor Marie Bashir snipped a silver ceremonial ribbon to signal the start of celebrations marking the Sydney Harbour Bridge's 75th birthday. She used the same ornate pair of golden, opal-studded scissors that Premier Jack Lang had employed at the original opening.

The rabid monarchist stole Lang's thunder by riding forward on horseback and slashing the ribbon with his sword, complaining that the bridge should have been opened by the king or his representative rather than the premier. It cost him a five pound fine but earned him a place in folklore.

The present-day premier of NSW, Morris Iemma, was happy to play second fiddle to the governor as he joined an estimated half a million people toasting Australia's first internationally iconic structure. Mr Iemma said it was appropriate that the governor should do the honours, and not only because he was approaching an election. "Unlike 1932, the role of governor is now an authentically Australian office, chosen from among us and chosen to reflect us," Mr Iemma said. "No longer are our governors minor English aristocrats or soldiers."
The premier and his photogenic young family then led around 200,000 people across the bridge as planes flew in formation overhead, ferries tooted their horns and generations recalled the great grey span's place in their lives. They ranged from babies in prams to grannies in wheelchairs, from those who were born on the bridge to those touched by deaths there, from the descendants of Premier Lang to the descendants of the bridge's chief engineer John Bradfield.

The youngest person to walk across the bridge in 1932 was back to do it all again.
"I can remember the crowd of people, I can remember the elation of it all," said Bruce Boddington, 79, from Bathurst, who was four years old when he made his first crossing.
"There was a lot of publicity around and all the adults were talking about it."

The oldest person making the crossing on Sunday, Jean Martin, 99, of Sydney's Lane Cove, did so in a wheelchair but she, too, walked on opening day in 1932. She recalled paying sixpence to buy a fruit box so she could see over the heads of the crowd, and the "buzz" when Francis De Groot slashed the ribbon. "I felt so privileged to cross the bridge on opening day," she said.
"And I still feel privileged to think I'm crossing again 75 years later."

Elaine Beavis, 68, from the NSW north coast, accepted a proposal of marriage on the bridge's northern Pylon 49 years ago. "Every year I watch the new year's eve fireworks and remember my own fireworks," she said. Not all of the tears shed were joyful.

Mr Iemma unveiled a plaque to the 16 workmen killed during construction of the 52,000 tonne giant, which took 1,600 men eight years to build during a severe depression. Olive Kerr, from northern NSW, wept for the father she lost as a three-year-old, Alexander Faulkner. He survived the horrors of World War I on the western front but died after being crushed by a falling girder while building the bridge. "I can burst into tears any tick of the clock," said Mrs Kerr. "Every time I see a photo of the bridge I think of dad. "He was a lovely man." Mrs Kerr joined her sister and two brothers in a family reunion as Mr Iemma noted that workers 75 years ago wore no safety harnesses, helmets or protective clothing. "Today such a loss of life would seem appalling," he said. "We know who we have to thank (for improved conditions) - a strong, vigilant, democratic trade union movement."

The federal government used the milestone to add the bridge to the National Heritage List. "To create this extraordinary bridge right in the centre of our most important gateway city was like an adrenaline shot of confidence for a nation that had been on its knees," Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull said. Governor Marie Bashir described the bridge as a "sermon in steel" which showed what Australia could do. "It will never date, never grow old," she said. "It has become a structure for all time."
©AAP 2007

Sue Bayliss. Cairns, Australia.

Sydney Harbour: Bridge crowds praised for good behaviour

Sunday Mar 18 13:24 AEDT

Crowds celebrating the Sydney Harbour Bridge's 75th birthday have been praised for their behaviour. Thousands of people have poured into Sydney's central business district to walk across the "coathanger". Motorists have appeared to heed warnings not to travel to the city by car and use public transport instead, with the streets virtually deserted of vehicles.

NSW Premier Morris Iemma said he had travelled into the city with his family by train on Sunday morning, describing it as a "very pleasant trip". "The planning has been extensive, it has been treated seriously as if it was a New Year's Eve event," he told reporters.

"So far it's been a successful and enjoyable day. "Tens of thousands of families have come out in a great spirit of celebrating our bridge, one of the great icons of the world." Organisers expect about 500,000 people to venture into the city on Sunday to celebrate the bridge's birthday.

Transport Minister John Watkins said public transport was running well and there had been no reports of police having to deal with any misbehaviour among the crowds. "So far Sydney siders have done what we thought they would - they've taken part in this great festival, this great historic occasion with all the good sense and good humour that we know they have. "Reports so far show that transport's working very well with light to medium loads. "Traffic is flowing very smoothly in and around the city. Crowds are flowing smoothly. "But it's early days, there's still tens of thousands of Sydneysiders that have not left home to come into the city because they'll be walking across the bridge until 7 o'clock tonight."

NSW Police and the NSW Ambulance Service have reported a quiet morning with no serious incidents recorded. The RTA has reported some delays on the northern and southern approaches to the harbour tunnel and Victoria Road, Rozelle but no major traffic incidents have occurred.

©AAP 2007

This is the first of a short series of articles released by the AAP about The Sydney Harbour Bridge, 75th Anniversary of the opening in 1932 during the Great Depression. I hope you enjoy the stories. Sydney is a great place to visit from wherever you are.

Sue Bayliss. Cairns, Australia.