On the 19th of March 1932 the Sydney Harbour Bridge was officially opened. To mark the 79th Anniversary of this occasion our Digitisation Officer Tara Majoor has put together a photographic montage of the construction of the bridge. Enjoy!
(Note: Working on the bridge was definitely not for the faint of heart or the acrophobic).
Background information
For further information about State archives relating to the Sydney Harbour Bridge see Archives in Brief 38 – Records relating to the Sydney Harbour Bridge; or for an overview of the construction of the bridge see Archives in Brief 37 – A brief history of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
All of the photographs used in this presentation are taken from the series NRS12685 Sydney Harbour Bridge 1923-1933, the Digital ID number for each photograph is listed below. To view them individually, go to the Photo Investigator Search by Digital ID page and copy and paste the ID into the search field.
Photograph Digital ID Numbers (In order of appearance)
01. 12685_a007_a00704_8722000004r.jpg
02. 12685_a007_a00704_8722000019r.jpg
03. 12685_a007_a00704_8728000001r.jpg
04. 12685_a007_a00704_8727000138r.jpg
05. 12685_a007_a00704_8729000073r.jpg
06. 12685_a007_a00704_8729000112r.jpg
07. 12685_a007_a00704_8729000181r.jpg
08. 12685_a007_a00704_8729000099r.jpg
09. 12685_a007_a00704_87290000152.jpg
10. 12685_a007_a00704_8733000089r.jpg
11. 12685_a007_a00704_8733000113r.jpg
12. 12685_a007_a00704_8732000022r.jpg
13. 12685_a007_a00704_8730000010.jpg
14. 12685_a007_a00704_8730000050r.jpg
15. 12685_a007_a00704_8729000156r.jpg
16. 12685_a007_a00704_8730000019r.jpg
17. 12685_a007_a00704_8731000024.jpg
18. 12685_a007_a00704_8732000117r.jpg
19. 12685_a007_a00704_8732000002r.jpg
20. 12685_a007_a00704_8730000195r.jpg
21. 12685_a007_a00704_8735000105r.jpg
22. 12685_a007_a00704_8734000105.jpg
23. 12685_a007_a00704_8734000062r.jpg
Toll Barriers in Operation
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ארכיב says:
Beaufiful.
First time here. Will come back.
Brian Ward says:
Hi!
I’m not an archivist, just an ordinary bloke, who’s ‘into’ genealogy research.
The harbour bridge montage was terrific; anything to do with the bridge is especially interesting to me, because, as I discovered only in the last few years, my father was involved (in a small way) in the bridge’s opening day celebrations.
I found a couple of images via the National Library’s search facility of the procession of ships that passed under the bridge on opening day. (Until then, I had never even heard it mentioned!) My interest was aroused, when the name ‘Manunda’ was mentioned, as my dad worked on that ship.
Sure enough, when I checked the copy of the record of the latter part of my dad’s maritime career, I found that he had signed on to the Manunda that morning. Amazing what one can find out about one’s own parent online!
Maybe I’ll pay another visit to Kingswood one of these days, as I still have to research the early part of my father’s maritime career.
All the best, Brian
Fiona Sullivan says:
Thanks for sharing your Dad’s story @Brian. It reminds of my Nan who walked across the bridge as a school girl and my grandfather who caught the train across that day. I can remember being shown his train ticket as a child but sadly it hasn’t survived to the present day. All the best with your future research!
Kimberly O'Sullivan says:
Beautiful montage and really liked that you added an atmospheric musical score, made it so much more evocative. I interviewed an older lady recently who was born the day the bridge opened and was called ‘Bridget’ because of that! She also said that this was not uncommon, the bridge having had such a hold on Sydneysiders imagination for so long as they watched the spans slowly growing over the years. She also said there were boys born that day called ‘Archie’ for the arches. Might be a bit of wild imagination so far down the track, but its a great story. As I am currently obsessed by the razor gangs and Underbelly: Razor I couldn’t also help but notice that one of the ways they are locating that series at a particular time in Sydney is with great shots of the half completely bridge spanning the skyline behind some scenes. Last nights episode had a great night shot with Snowy Cutmore and associate having words down by the harbour at night with the ghostly half-lit up bridge in the background. Did anyone else notice this scene?
Jackson Wong says:
Photos of the past are so interesting, and the bridge construction seems quite challenging especially back then. Thanks for sharing and the video slideshow is great!
Anthea Brown says:
Thanks for your comments @Kimberley and @Jackson.
I love the naming of new-borns around that time – “Bridget” and “Archie” :)
Collette Graves says:
I am newbie here. I would like to say the images are just fab! Great video show! Thanks for sharing it!
Fiona Sullivan says:
Thanks Collete, I glad you liked it. Welcome to blog :-). I look forward to hearing from you.