The Little Book of the Sydney Harbour Bridge: Tales from the Coat Hanger

(Hardback)

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Take a trip across the harbour before the bridge. Pop into parliamentary session. See visons in empty air with the Chief Engineer. Go through government mail, into the thoughts of widows left homeless. Watch as they turn the first sod. Then out onto the swaying unbuilt arch, working without harness or helmet.

Lift hammer and chisel to a giant block of granite. Be there as a rigger loses grip, flailing out into empty space. Walk across with the masses on opening day. See how she serves with open arms, in protests and celebration, birthdays and breakfasts, closing only for the end of wars and start of New Years. This is the story of the bridge told by the people that dreamed and built it.

In June 1976, the one-billionth vehicle crossed the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The first 500 million crossings took over 33 years while the second 500 million took less than 11 years!

The most common silhouette you see on the bridge, recreated thousands and thousands of times across the spans, trusses, and arches is... a triangle. Engineers will tell you it is the strongest shape, as it holds and spreads the load evenly.