Ten facts you probably didn’t know about the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
- New South Wales Premier John Lang had his big ribbon-cutting moment taken from him when the Bridge was officially opened in 1932 – tetchy paramilitary Francis De Groot barged in on horseback and slashed the ribbon with a sword.
- The Coathanger, as it is known by locals, missed out on being the world’s longest single span bridge by just 70cm – the Bayonne Bridge in the US just pipped it. However, that didn’t stop Australian schoolchildren being taught that Sydney’s was the biggest for another 50 years.
- The bridge is held together by six million hand-driven rivets.
- Celebrations of the joining of the two halves of the bridge were shortlived – due to the metal contracting, they had to be rejoined again a few hours later.
- Only two men have survived falling from the Harbour Bridge. The first, Vincent Kelly, fell whilst working on the construction of the road level. He cheated death after dropping his toolbelt in the water to break the surface tension.
- The four pylons, which many think support the whole thing, are entirely decorative.
- The calculations for the design of the bridge filled 28 books.
- The paintwork is grey as, at the time of construction, this was the only colour available in sufficient quantities.
- Over 1.5m people have climbed the Harbour Bridge since the Bridgeclimb opened in 1998, including Prince Harry, Nicole Kidman and Will Smith.
- If you decide to climb the bridge, you will have to take on 1,439 steps.
Copyright David Whitley
