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The Dictionary of Sydney
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View of AWA tower from GPO tower, 17 May 1942

View of AWA tower from GPO tower, 17 May 1942

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National Archives of Australia

[C4078, N1991C]

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Commercial building Communications Radio

Buildings

AWA Building and Tower

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National Archives of Australia

Commercial building

Communications

Radio

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.