Bridging Sydney

Bridging Sydney commemorates the 75th anniversary of the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and celebrates its place in our national identity. From the earliest concepts for a harbour crossing to the complexities of its construction, the story of the bridge is one that has touched many lives around the world. A remarkable feat of engineering, it signified Australia's industrial and social maturity. The bridge's construction, completed during the Depression, had a dramatic impact on the city, destroying communities and buildings in its path yet at the same time providing jobs and heralding a new and more prosperous era of urban planning, mass transport and technology. In its spectacular location on Sydney Harbour, in close proximity to the Opera House, the bridge has inspired generations of painters, poets, photographers as well as thousands of Sydneysiders, and has become an internationally recognised symbol of Sydney and Australia.
This publication is the result of extensive research conducted over four years and is illustrated with 420 images from public and private collections, including plans, photographs and works of art by Grace Cossington Smith, Will Ashton, Jessie Traill, Harold Cazneaux, Henri Mallard and others. These images have been brought together with key objects, including Bradfield's own planning materials, original sketches of alternatives for the bridge, oral histories and memorabilia, to provide a unique perspective on this much-loved Australian icon.