Australia celebrates landmarks – Sydney Harbor Bridge turns 90

Round birthday
A coat hanger as a landmark: Sydney Harbor Bridge turns 90

“This bridge was built by people who had mountains of coal and blast furnaces that could melt a battleship,” bestselling author Bill Bryson once wrote of the almost 53,000-ton Sydney Harbor Bridge, enthusing: “It’s a magnificent building.”

Along with the nearby Opera House, the Uluru rock and the kangaroo, the striking structure is one of Australia’s symbols. Although the harbor bridge is already 90 years old, its design is timelessly beautiful. It is the main traffic artery and landmark at the same time.

Thousands of people at the inauguration in Australia

A look back: it was a mega event when the Harbor Bridge opened on March 19, 1932 with a great deal of fanfare. 750,000 people flock to marvel at it and to commit it for the first time. “The great job is done!” A commentator cheered at the time. After seven years of construction, the bridge finally belongs to “the man on the street – and how he took possession of it!” Film footage shows huge crowds pushing onto the bridge.

1600 people were involved in the dangerous construction work at a dizzy height. 16 men did not survive them. “Every day these men went onto the bridge the way a soldier goes into battle, not knowing whether they would come off alive or not,” said construction supervisor Lawrence Ennis at the time. But it was the Great Depression, and any job was in high demand.

A popular photo motif for tourists to Australia

“Coat Hanger” is what Sydneysiders affectionately call their icon. The comparison lags a bit, because it is not filigree and wiry. But the shape fits: With a span of 503 meters, it is still one of the longest arch bridges in the world. It connects the center of the metropolis with the northern suburbs. Anyone who is not afraid of heights has been able to climb the arch and climb to 134 meters since 1998 using BridgeClimb. The enthusiastic online comments from courageous climbers range from “brilliant experience” to “sensational” to “awesome”.

But the sight is also unforgettable from the ground. When tourists first approach the harbor from the Royal Botanic Gardens or disembark on a ferry at Circular Quay, many people take their breath away: the white, nested roofs of the opera house gleam in the sun, behind them the Harbor Bridge rises majestically over the water blue water. This architectural double stroke of genius is one of the most beautiful and sought-after photo motifs in the world.

“The Opera House is a beautiful building and I don’t mean to belittle it, but my heart belongs to the Harbor Bridge,” wrote Bill Bryson in his Australia tribute, Breakfast with the Kangaroos. She is not so solemn, but far more dominant: “You can see her from all corners of the city, from the most oblique directions she pushes into the picture like an uncle who wants to be in every photo.”

New Year’s Eve fireworks at the Harbor Bridge

A few dates: The actual construction work started in 1925. Over the next few years, six million rivets were tightened by hand. In August 1930 the time had finally come and the arc was closed. With the ramps, the Harbor Bridge is 1,150 meters long and a whopping 50 meters wide. On weekdays, almost 200,000 cars drive on the eight lanes from one part of the city to the other. There are also two railway lines as well as paths for pedestrians and cyclists. In 2004, the structure even made it into the Guinness Book of Records as the “world’s widest long-span bridge”.

Half the world’s eyes are on the bridge once a year – namely on New Year’s Eve. When the New Year is rung in Down Under, one of the most spectacular fireworks on earth sparkles above the steel.

Incidentally, at the beginning of 2018 another symbol of Australia paid an unannounced visit to the bridge: A small kangaroo suddenly hopped onto the Harbor Bridge. The swamp wallaby jumped across all eight lanes towards the center an hour before sunrise and thus before rush hour. Several police cars and police officers from the cavalry squadron had to move up to get the marsupial from the bridge.

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DPA