NRS-17045 | Records relating to the planning and construction of Sydney Harbour Bridge

Full description

This series consists of a wide variety of records relating to the planning and construction of Sydney Harbour Bridge. Although the majority of the records relate to the existing Bridge, there are records for earlier proposals to build a bridge over the Harbour. One such proposal led to a call for Tenders published in the New South Wales Government Gazette on 17 May 1901.

There are also records relating to other attempts to improve the city and its transport system. These include the Royal Commission for the Improvement of the City of Sydney and its Suburbs in 1908 - 1909, and Improving the means of passenger transit in the City and Suburbs of Sydney in 1912.

Records in this series cover the calling for tenders, selection of the successful tenderer, design, planning, construction and opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. There are also documents dated long after the Bridge was opened but relating to the period of the Bridge’s planning and construction or subsequent anniversaries of the Bridge’s opening.

Included in the series are the following: correspondence, tenders, calculations, bridge specifications, newspaper clippings; photographs; recommended final design for the Bridge; contracts; journal articles on various aspects of the Bridge; letters; fatalities during construction; Test Results, for example on steel, carbon steel pins, and main bearing; delivery books; lithographs; poems dedicated to the Bridge; souvenir books; programme and timetable of the official opening of the Bridge. There is also material by and relating to J.J.C. Bradfield, including a copy of Bradfield’s Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Science in Engineering and a copy of the index to Dr Bradfield’s lectures (the original list now at the National Library, Canberra).

The series contains numerous reports on various aspects of the Bridge’s planning and construction. These reports include: Report by JJC Bradfield on Tenders; Report by Sydney Harbour Bridge Advisory Board; Report on Bridge to connect Sydney to North Sydney – submitted by Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works; Report on Improving the means of passenger transit in City and Suburbs of Sydney; Annual Reports from JJC Bradfield to Under Secretary; Public Works Department Annual Reports; Report on Estimated operating costs - Railways, Sydney Harbour Bridge, and North Shore Bridge; Reports on construction (eg. Piers and abutments); Monthly progress reports by RJ Butler, Resident Engineer; Annual Progress Reports on fabrication and erection of steelwork; Report and plans by JJC Bradfield on the Quay Highway, Railway and Ferry Terminal.

The series seems to contain records created, collected or used by a number of agencies and possibly assembled in this form for the convenience of users. It is unlikely to reflect the original order of the records.

These records were originally with the Public Works Department and some material was donated by the Bradfield family. The records were subsequently transferred to the Department of Main Roads.