Sydney Harbour Bridge

The Sydney Harbour Bridge was opened on March 19th 1932 by Premier Jack Lang, after six years of construction. On the day it is estimated that between 750,000 and one million people were present within the city and around the harbour foreshores for the event. Made of steel, the bridge contains 6 million hand driven rivets. The surface area that requires painting is equal to about the surface area of 60 sports fields. The Bridge has huge hinges to absorb the expansion caused by the hot Sydney sun.

When it opened it cost a car 6 pence to cross. A horse and rider was 3 pence.

Sydney Harbour Bridge is the world's largest, but not longest, steel arch bridge, and has become a renowned international symbol of Australia.

After inviting worldwide tenders in 1922, the New South Wales Government received twenty proposals from six companies and on 24 March 1924; the contract, worth 4,217,721 pounds 11 shillings and 10 pence, was awarded to the English firm Dorman Long and Co. of Middlesbrough.

The general design was prepared by Dr J.J.C Bradfield and officers of the NSW Department of Public Works, while the detailed design and crucial erection process were undertaken by the contractors consulting engineer Mr Ralph Freeman of Sir Douglas Fox and Partners and his associate Mr. G.C Imbault.

The foundations for the four main bearings, which carry the full weight of the main span were dug to a depth of 12.2 metres and filled with special reinforced high-grade concrete laid in hexagonal formations.

The four decorative 89 metre high pylons are made of concrete, faced with granite, quarried near Moruya, where about 250 Australian, Scottish and Italian stonemasons and their families lived in a temporary settlement. Three ships were specifically built to carry the 18,000 cubic metres of cut, dressed and numbered granite blocks, 300km north to Sydney.

After the approach spans were erected, work began on the main arch. Two half-arches were built out progressively from each shore, each held back by 128 cables anchored underground through U-shaped tunnels. Steel members were fabricated in the workshops, placed onto barges, towed into position on the harbour and lifted up by two 580 tonne electrically operated creeper cranes, which erected the half-arches before them as they travelled forward.

On August 20, 1930, after the arch was successfully joined at 10pm the night before, the steel decking was then hung from the arch and was all in place within nine months, being built from the centre outwards to save time moving the cranes.

On Saturday 19 March 1932, the NSW Premier, the Hon. John T. Lang, officially declared the Bridge open. However, the opening did not go to plan with Captain Francis De Groot of the para-military group, the New Guard, riding up on his horse and slashing the ribbon prematurely with his sword, prior to the official cutting.

Exercises:

On a new page in your books put the Heading “Sydney Harbour Bridge”. Under the heading write a 1/2 page summary based upon the information above. After you have completed the summary, write the following sub-headings and the questions in your books and answer them in full sentences using the links to the websites listed below.

History of the Bridge

1. Who had the original idea of building the Harbour Bridge and when?
2. What was the traffic allocation when it first opened?
3. Why did Francis De Groot cut the ribbon at the opening of the bridge?
4. How much movement due to the temperature is there in the bridge?
5. Using this link showing the earlier designs for the bridge, write down possible reasons you can come up with for deciding not to build one of the earlier designs.

Construction of the Bridge


1. When did the construction of the bridge begin and how many men did it take?
2. What were some of the jobs that these men did?
3. How many people died while building the bridge?
4. How did they test the strength of the road deck?
5. What happened to the workers after the bridge was finished?