Construcciones Yamaro: Centennial celebration of Sydney Harbour Bridge construction

Last week marked the 100-year anniversary of work starting on building the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge. A century on, the critical work continues, and a dedicated team spends more than 19,000 labour hours each month carrying out maintenance work on the bridge and in the domain tunnel.

On 28 July 1923, NSW Minister for Public Works and Railways Richard Thomas Ball turned the first sod to signify the start of work on the northern approach to the bridge.

Premier of NSW Chris Minns said the sod-turning ceremony hit global headlines at the time. “This event showed our state’s commitment to build what became the world’s largest steel arch bridge,” he said. “The bridge build project brought employment through the Depression, not only to Sydney but across NSW.”

“It boosted the steelmaking industry of Newcastle, while Moruya played a pivotal role in the construction through the supply of granite for the pylons.”

The project became known as the “iron lung” for providing essential jobs during the Depression; it also created Granite Town near the south coast town of Moruya, the quarry that supplied all the granite to build the bridge pylons.

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It was anticipated the building of the bridge would take ten years but – with a team of about 120 people including engineers, electricians, painters, carpenters and riggers working days, nights and weekends – it was built and opened in less than nine on 19 March 1932.

Today, maintenance works include painting a total steel surface of 485,000 square metres, maintaining over six million hand driven rivets, and paint replacement which requires four coats of paint with the final coat heritage listed as “Sydney Harbour Bridge grey”.

NSW Minister for Roads John Graham said construction beginning on the landmark 100 years ago was a pivotal moment for Sydney, but the build came at a cost.

“It cost 14 lives of workers onsite and two at Granite Town in Moruya, and it came at the cost of many homes that made way for the build,” said Minister Graham.

“One hundred years on from this event, we appreciate the bridge as a Sydney icon, a place at the heart of many celebrations – but also a vitally important piece of road and transport infrastructure that the system cannot do without.

“This anniversary is a chance to pay tribute to those workers who are ensuring the bridge will be getting Sydney across the harbour for another 100 years.”

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