« Acne Solution | Home | Pet Dogs Lucky Dogs »
Sydney Harbour Bridge
By peace | July 12, 2007
Nothing you have ever seen can prepare you for the size and surprising beauty of the world’s largest steel arch bridge, opened in 1932. Its balanced composition and the graceful sweep of its southern approach have captivated artists for years.
Sydney Harbour Bridge has spanned the water dividing north and south Sydney since the early 1930s. It’s hard to imagine the view of the harbour without the castle-like sandstone pylons anchoring the bridge to the shore and the crisscross of steel arch against the sky. At 503m, it was the longest single span arch bridge in the world when it was built; construction began in 1924 and continued to provide employment through the height of the Great Depression — sixteen workers also lost their lives to it.
Francis Greenway proposed a bridge in 1815, but the logistics vexed engineers until 1911, when John Bradfield suggested a single-span bridge. By then North Shore’s rapid growth demanded a solution, the only alternative being a long road trip through the western suburbs. Most visitors can easily understand why Sydneysiders love their old “coathanger”.
As the New South Wales premier, J.T. Lang, of the Labour party, prepared to cut the ribbon to open the bridge in 1932, further excitement was provided by the dashing horseman and royalist fanatic, Francis de Groot, who galloped up like a cavalryman and cut the opening ribbon with a sabre declaring “I open this bridge in the name of the Majesty the King and all the decent citizens of New South Wales” in protest at Lang’s socialist leanings.
Engineer John Bradfield established the design parameters, completed by Dorman Long and Co. Sir John Burnet and Partners of London designed the decorative granite clad Art Deco pylons.
Residents of the north of England might find the bridge familiar: the much tinier Tyne Bridge in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, built in 1929, was the model for Sydney’s. The bridge demands full-time maintenance, protected from rust by continuous painting in trademark steel-grey. Over $3 million and 30 000 litres of paint a year are needed to keep the bridge shipshape. Before establishing himself as an actor, Paul Hogan worked as a painter on the Bridge. When the bridge opened in 1932, the toll for cars was 6 pence. Horse and carts cost 3 pence and sheep and pigs were a penny per head. The current toll for vehicles is $3.
