19th March: Opening of Sydney Harbour Bridge

Sydney Harbour Bridge, (aka "The Coathanger") was officially opened on this date in 1932. 10 things you may not know about Sydney Harbour Bridge.

1. 79% of the steel used to build the bridge was imported from England. Only 21% was sourced in Australia.
2. There was a big celebration when the arches joined in the middle in August 1930. The Australian and British flags were flown from the cranes.
3. At the opening ceremony, before New South Wales Premier John T. Lang could officially open the bridge, a military captain, Francis de Groot, rode up on his horse and slashed the ribbon, declaring "I open this bridge in the name of His Majesty the King and all the decent citizens of New South Wales." He represented a paramilitary group who believed that the English King, George V, not Lang, should have opened the bridge. De Groot was arrested, and the ribbon was tied back together so that Lang could cut it as planned.
4. 30,000 gallons of paint are needed to paint the steelwork. They use special paint which dries so fast that it is dry before it hits the ground, or someone's car.
5. Actor Paul Hogan (Crocodile Dundee) worked as a Sydney Harbour Bridge painter before he was famous.
6. The iconic bridge has always attracted tourists. As well as exhibitions and guided climbs, in the 1940s a big attraction was a rooftop cattery in one of the pylons, where the then owner, Yvonne Rentoul, kept several white cats.
7. The road that runs across the bridge is called the Bradfield Highway, after JJC Bradfield who oversaw the construction of the bridge. It is 2.4km long (1.5 miles) making it one of the shortest highways in Australia.
8. The top of the arch rises and falls about 180 mm due to changes in the temperature.
9. The steelwork of the bridge weighs 52,800 tonnes. This includes 6,000,000 rivets. The height of the bridge is 134m (440ft) making it the tallest steel arch bridge in the world. At 48.8m (160ft) wide, it was also the widest long span bridge in the world, until its record was beaten by the Port Mann Bridge in Vancouver.
10. About 800 homes were demolished to make way for the bridge, and the families who lost their homes were not compensated. Sixteen workers lost their lives during the construction.