The Sydney Harbor Bridge is one of those icons of Sydney, it is one of the best known tourist icons in the world really and it is true to say that almost everyone is familiar with it. When you think of Sydney, along with the Opera House in Sydney Harbor, we think about Sydney Harbor Bridge.
A little bit of history on the Harbor Bridge. Sydney Harbor Bridge joins the Sydney CBD to the northern suburbs of Sydney, which is north Sydney, which is again a business area. But to the northern suburbs which is essentially a link to those residential areas. The Bridge itself is 503 metres long, so it is a fairly long Bridge and it is 134 meters above the sea level, so it is a very high Bridge.
Now, some interesting trivia this Bridge was opened in 1932 and this quite interesting story that comes along behind it. The story goes that on the 19th of March 1932, it was a huge occasion after many years of building this Bridge, an enormous crowd had gathered on the Bridge itself and around Sydney's foreshore both on the CBD side and the north Sydney side.
People had gathered to see the official opening of this Bridge. One of the ceremonial things that was to happen, was that the Premier, the head-of-state for the state of New South Wales would declare the Bridge open and would slash a ribbon, which was sitting across the Harbour as a ceremonial signification of opening the Bridge. There is a fantastic idea, but there was certain people that had a different idea. At the time there was a para-military group called the New Guard, who firmly believed amongst other things (they were firm Monarchists) that it was appropriate that a member of the royal family would actually open the Harbour Bridge by cutting the ribbon.
So vehemently did they believe this, they took real offence to an Australian head-of-state actually cutting the ribbon. A General by the name of Capt. Francis de Groot, who was a representative of this group was on horse back and he positioned himself quite close to where the ribbon was waiting for Premier Lang to arrive. Just before the Premier got there, de Groot mounted on his horse galloped forward, pulled out his sword and slashed the ribbon, and declared the Bridge open in the name of the decent citizens of the New South Wales.
De Groot was subsequently arrested and taken to a psychiatric hospital, where they found him sane, but he faced a fine and a charge for offensive behavior in a public place. Anyway, interesting little bit of trivia in the history of the Harbour Bridge.
A little bit of history on the Harbor Bridge. Sydney Harbor Bridge joins the Sydney CBD to the northern suburbs of Sydney, which is north Sydney, which is again a business area. But to the northern suburbs which is essentially a link to those residential areas. The Bridge itself is 503 metres long, so it is a fairly long Bridge and it is 134 meters above the sea level, so it is a very high Bridge.
Now, some interesting trivia this Bridge was opened in 1932 and this quite interesting story that comes along behind it. The story goes that on the 19th of March 1932, it was a huge occasion after many years of building this Bridge, an enormous crowd had gathered on the Bridge itself and around Sydney's foreshore both on the CBD side and the north Sydney side.
People had gathered to see the official opening of this Bridge. One of the ceremonial things that was to happen, was that the Premier, the head-of-state for the state of New South Wales would declare the Bridge open and would slash a ribbon, which was sitting across the Harbour as a ceremonial signification of opening the Bridge. There is a fantastic idea, but there was certain people that had a different idea. At the time there was a para-military group called the New Guard, who firmly believed amongst other things (they were firm Monarchists) that it was appropriate that a member of the royal family would actually open the Harbour Bridge by cutting the ribbon.
So vehemently did they believe this, they took real offence to an Australian head-of-state actually cutting the ribbon. A General by the name of Capt. Francis de Groot, who was a representative of this group was on horse back and he positioned himself quite close to where the ribbon was waiting for Premier Lang to arrive. Just before the Premier got there, de Groot mounted on his horse galloped forward, pulled out his sword and slashed the ribbon, and declared the Bridge open in the name of the decent citizens of the New South Wales.
De Groot was subsequently arrested and taken to a psychiatric hospital, where they found him sane, but he faced a fine and a charge for offensive behavior in a public place. Anyway, interesting little bit of trivia in the history of the Harbour Bridge.
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