Sydney Harbour Bridge Opens
Next: March 19, 2027
One great arch across the harbour.
The story
Where it comes from
This Story marks the anniversary of 19 March 1932, when the Sydney Harbour Bridge opened. Sydney had talked about a bridge or tunnel across its harbour for almost a century. The engineer John Bradfield, remembered as the bridge's 'father', championed it for years; the New South Wales Parliament passed the act in 1922, and building began in 1923. On 19 August 1930 the two halves of the steel arch met in the middle. In the depths of the Great Depression, more than 750,000 people gathered around the harbour for the opening.
How it's celebrated
There is no formal observance. The bridge is still a working crossing for trains, cars, cyclists and walkers, and people cross on foot every day for the view of the harbour. Libraries and museums in New South Wales keep photographs, programmes and souvenirs from the opening, many of them online, and it is a fine day to look through them or to send a card from Sydney.
Did you know
- Before the Premier, Jack Lang, could cut the ribbon, a horseman rode out of the crowd and slashed it with a sword; the ribbon was retied and Lang opened the bridge.
- Some 52,000 schoolchildren had already walked across the bridge before the official opening.
- More than a million people crossed in the first 24 hours, by train, tram, car and on foot.
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