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Sydney Bridge Celebrations, 1932

Sydney Bridge Celebrations, 1932

By

Arthur James Whitmore

Contributed By

State Archives & Records New South Wales

[SR Document No.65]

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Annand, Douglas

Whitmore, Arthur James

State Archives & Records New South Wales

Statutory body established by the State Records Act 1998. The Act provides for the creation, management and protection of the records of public offices of the State and for public access to those records.

Based at Kingswood, State Archives and Records NSW manage and provide access to the New South Wales State archives collection, a unique and irreplaceable part of Australia's cultural heritage dating back to 1788.

Built environment

Built over tracks, campsites, rock art and middens used for thousands of years before the dispossession of the Aboriginal people, Sydney's early haphazard development was given form by public buildings. As public transport developed, suburbs spread, and throughout the twentieth century, town planners struggled with developers to direct the form and extent of the city. After World War II, city buildings got taller, outer suburbs sprang up ever further away, and issues of heritage and architecture were contested. In the twenty-first century, concerns about environment, urban density, public transport and renewed infrastructure are driving change.

Sport

Sport has long been important in Sydney life, interwoven with its fabric and culture. The ritual contests and physical activity of the Aboriginal people gave way to the informal, disreputable and often cruel pastimes of the early nineteenth century. The late nineteenth century saw the development of formal codes and organised leagues, leading to the commercialised, professional sports of the present.

Tourism

Shaped by tourism from its earliest days as a town, Sydney has catered to tourists from overseas, other parts of Australia and the New South Wales hinterland, becoming one of the world's favourite travel destinations.

Building the Sydney Harbour Bridge

When the Sydney Harbour Bridge opened in 1932 it was the epitome of modern bridge design and engineering ingenuity. The iconic design was the creation of Dr JCC Bradfield, of the New South Wales Department of Public Works, Ralph Freeman, consulting engineer for the builders, Dorman, Long and Co, and thousands of workers who toiled on it through the Great Depression.

Advertising

Bridges

Surfing

Celebrations

Sydney Harbour Bridge

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Steel through arch bridge from Sydney business district to the North Shore, constructed between 1923 and 1932.