Add Your Piece of History… 28th July

• On this day in 1923.  Construction begins on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  In 1912, John Bradfield was appointed chief engineer of the bridge project, which also had to include a railway.  Plans were completed in 1916 but WWI delayed implementation until 1922.  Workshops were set up on Milson’s Point on the North Shore where the steel was fabricated into girders.  Granite fort he bridge’s construction was quarried near Moruya.  It took 1400 men 8 years to build.  16 lives were lost during its construction, while up to 800 families living in the path of the proposed Bridge path were relocated and their homes demolished when construction started.  The Premier of New South Wales, Jack Lang, opened Sydney Harbour Bridge on the 19th of March 1932.

• On this day in 1945.  A B-25 Mitchell bomber crashes into the into the 79th story of the Empire State Building killing 14 people. The freak accident was caused by heavy fog.  It slammed into the building at 322 kilometres per hour.  The aircraft’s wings were torn off and a 5m x 6m hole gouged in the side of the building.  One engine flew right through the Empire State Building and out the other side, and crashed through the roof of a nearby building.

Please feel free to add  your piece of history (something personal or general history).

School Children on Bridge – Sydney Harbour Bridge opening (Photo credit: State Records NSW)

English: First train across Sydney Harbour Bridge carrying Dr.J.J.C. Bradfield. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

 

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