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The Dictionary of Sydney
Multimedia
AWA tower illuminated for VE Day May 1945

AWA tower illuminated for VE Day May 1945

Image courtesy of the

State Library of Victoria

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AWA Tower Sydney

Subjects

Celebrations Commercial building Radio War World War II

Buildings

AWA Building and Tower

Places

Wynyard Park

Organisation

Amalgamated Wireless Australasia Limited

Events

World War II

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State Library of Victoria

The State Library of Victoria is contributing items from its multimedia collection

AWA Tower

Topping the Art Deco AWA building, the tower was modelled on the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and once dominated Sydney's skyline.

Sydney

Founded by Europeans as a social experiment, Sydney's beginnings brought death and dispossession to the original inhabitants of the place, as well as surprising freedom and prosperity to many of the convicts. Over its history, the city's growth has been shaped by factors that are common to many cities, but also by unique forces. In the twenty-first century, for the first time, the idea of sustainable progress is itself in doubt.

Commercial building

Radio

War

World War II

Celebrations

AWA Building and Tower

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Communications tower that was Sydney's tallest building from the time it was built in 1939 until the 1960s. AWA (Amalgamated Wireless Australasia) was a household name from the 1930s to the 1950s as both a broadcaster and a manufacturer of radios, record players and other electrical equipment. The tower was modelled on Berlin's Funkturm Tower, built a few years earlier, and both took inspiration from the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The building is decorated with appropriate symbols of communication, including a winged Pegasus, and the light fittings in the entrance in the shape of radio valves.

Wynyard Park

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Park in central Sydney, originally site of barracks parade ground.

Amalgamated Wireless Australasia Limited

Large electronics development and communications company that was first to transmit a direct wireless message from England to Australia.

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World War II

Global conflict during the years 1939–1945. Australia's involvement in the second world war began with Prime Minister Robert Menzies' radio announcement on 3 September 1939 that the country was at war, and ended with Japan's unconditional surrender on 14 August 1945. As a member of the British Commonwealth, Australia fought with the alliance of powers known as the Allies (Great Britain, France, United States of America, the Soviet Union and China) against the Axis powers (Germany, Japan, Italy). More than a million Australians served, and for the first time the country came under direct military attack.

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