March 19 1932 – Sydney’s Harbour Bridge Opens
*Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons Stretching across one of the most famous waterways in the world, the Sydney Harbour Bridge cuts a familiar figure against the backdrop of Australia’s biggest city. The largest steel through-arch bridge on the planet for 80 years, it was dedicated and opened to the public on March 19, 1932. In the decades since it has become the focal point of Sydney’s landmark-strewn harbor and a favorite stop for tourists. When the British arrived at Port Jackson — modern Sydney — in 1788, the colonists immediately set out to create a settlement on the stunning natural harbor. Within a quarter-century, the idea of linking Millers Point in the south to Milsons Point on North Shore first surfaced. Francis Greenway, a prisoner charged with forging financial documents, made the suggestion in 1815 while working as the colonial architect to fulfill part of his sentence, but it would be more than a century before any movement toward bridge construction occurred. Though a first round of design submissions were received in 1900, only the close of World War I would provide the impetus for construction of a much-needed bridge. Named “Chief Engineer of Sydney Harbour Bridge and Metropolitan Railway Construction” in 1912, J.J.C. Bradfield spent more than a decade navigating the politics of the New South Wales (NSW) Legislative Assembly before finally receiving approval in 1922.