How was the Sydney Harbour Bridge built?

0:00 Welcome to History's Not Boring by Kidopoly.com. I'm Mira! And I'm Finn! Before we jump into time travel, we want to send a giant thank you to Sarah Morgan's family in Australia. They sent us a brilliant listener request that inspired today's massive episode.

0:19 And speaking of Australia, a huge shout out to Ben, Hannah and Tom. We hear you listen every day on the way to and from school. And you also asked how today's big structure was built. This one is for you, Ben, Hannah and Tom.

0:35 We also have a big hello all the way to Billy in Bakasi, Indonesia. Billy is 11 and told us he loves the show 100 out of 10. Thank you for listening, Billy.

0:48 So what are we talking about today, Mira? Is it a giant sea monster? A massive fortress?

0:55 No monsters today, Finn. But we are talking about something monstrously huge. Have you ever seen a coat hanger that weighs exactly 52,800 tonnes?

1:08 What? A coat hanger that heavy? That's as heavy as. Wait, how heavy is that?

1:15 That is as heavy as about 10,000 elephants stacked together. And it's not actually a real wire coat hanger. It's the world-famous Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia.

1:27 Whoa, the Sydney Harbour Bridge! I've seen pictures of that. It's one of the most famous bridges in the entire world.

1:35 Exactly! But let's rewind time back to the early 1900s. Back then, the beautiful city of Sydney was split completely in two by a huge, deep body of water called Port Jackson or Sydney Harbour.

1:49 So if you lived on the north side, how did you get to the city centre on the south side?

1:54 You had to take a slow ferry boat. Hundreds of wooden ferries chugged back and forth every single day. But by the 1920s, Sydney was growing fast. The population was booming to over one million people.

2:09 Ugh, imagine waiting in a massive line for a boat every single morning, just to go to school or get to work.

2:16 That is exactly what an incredibly smart Australian civil engineer named John Job Crew Bradfield thought. He had a giant dream. He wanted to build a massive steel arch bridge straight across the deep harbour.

2:31 Just an arch, like a giant steel rainbow over the water.

2:35 Yes, a through arch bridge. In 1924, after years of planning, he finally got the green light. A British company called Dorman Longen Company won the contract, and construction officially began.

2:51 So how big was this rainbow of steel going to be?

2:54 Gigantic! The main arch alone had to span 503 metres across the water. That is more than five football fields lined up end to end.

3:05 No way! How do you even build something that huge over deep water without it falling in? That was the ultimate challenge.

3:13 Because the water in Sydney Harbour was way too deep to build temporary scaffolding underneath, they had to build the heavy steel arch out from both sides of the land, hanging in mid-air.

3:24 Wait, hanging in mid-air?

3:27 Who had to go up there and build that? An army of about 1,400 workers. And Finn, remember this was the 1920s. There were no safety harnesses, no safety nets, and no modern hard hats. Are you serious?

3:43 They just climbed up the wet slippery steel.

3:46 Yes, they worked up to 134 metres high in the sky. That is as tall as a 40-story skyscraper. The wind howled up there, and it was incredibly dangerous. Did anyone fall? Sadly, yes. During the eight long years it took to build, 16 workers tragically lost their lives. But there was one incredible survival story.

4:12 A boilermaker named Vincent Kelly survived a massive fall in October 1930.

4:18 He fell from a skyscraper-sized bridge and lived. How is that possible?

4:23 He fell 55 metres straight down into the harbour. But he was an experienced diver, so he managed to do a mid-air somersault and land feet first in the water. He survived with just a few broken ribs and went right back to work a few weeks later.

4:40 Phew! That is the luckiest guy ever. What exactly were they doing up there anyway?

4:46 They had to connect all the massive steel plates using rivets. Over six million hand-driven rivets hold the bridge together. A worker called a cooker would heat a metal rivet in a small furnace until it was glowing red hot.

5:01 And then they carefully carried it over?

5:03 No, they literally threw it through the air, sometimes 20 metres away, to a catcher who caught the red hot flying metal in an old tin bucket.

5:13 They threw red hot metal across the sky. That sounds like a crazy circus act, mixed with extreme sports.

5:21 It really was! They then smashed the glowing rivets into the steel using incredibly loud pneumatic guns. The noise was so deafening that many workers actually lost their hearing later in life.

5:33 Wow, they sacrificed a lot to build this. How did they stop the bridge from falling before the two sides met?

5:40 They used 128 massive steel cables, tied to tunnels dug deep into the sandstone rock on land. These cables pulled back on the heavy archers. Slowly, giant machines called creeper cranes moved out over the water, adding more steel day by day.

5:58 But what if the two halves didn't line up perfectly in the middle? That would be a million-dollar disaster.

6:04 Everyone was holding their breath. Metal expands in the heat and shrinks in the cold, so the engineers had to calculate the temperature perfectly. Finally, on August 19, 1930, the two sides met. And guess what? They locked together flawlessly.

6:22 Yes. That must have been a huge relief for John Bradfield.

6:27 It was, but they still had to build the roadway underneath the arch and paint the whole thing. It took 272,000 litres of paint just for the first three coats.

6:40 Haha, that is an ocean of paint. I bet every hardware store in Australia was sold out.

6:46 Seriously? Finally, on March 19, 1932, it was opening day. Over 300,000 people gathered to watch the Premier of New South Wales, Jack Lang, cut the ceremonial ribbon.

7:01 That sounds like a nice, fancy party.

7:03 Oh, but it wasn't. Just as Premier Lang stepped up with his golden scissors, a man named Francis de Groot suddenly galloped out of the crowd on horseback. A guy on a horse? What was he doing? He was wearing a full military uniform and holding a giant cavalry sword. He charged right at the ribbon, slashed it in half with his sword, and shouted that he was opening the bridge himself.

7:29 No way. You can't just steal a ribbon cutting with a sword. Did he get arrested?

7:35 Oh, definitely. The police immediately dragged him off his horse and fined him five pounds. They quickly tied the ribbon back together, and the Premier officially cut it for real.

7:47 That is the wildest opening day ever. Did the people of Sydney actually like the bridge after all that drama?

7:55 They loved it. It became an instant symbol of Australia, giving people hope during a really tough economic time called the Great Depression. Because of its big, curved shape, the locals quickly gave it a funny nickname, the Coat Hanger.

8:11 The Coat Hanger, because it looks just like a giant wire coat hanger. I love that.

8:16 The bridge totally changed the city. Suddenly, eight lanes of traffic, two train tracks, and pedestrians could easily cross the harbour. When it opened, the toll was six pence for a car and three pence if you crossed with a horse and wagon.

8:33 A horse and wagon on the same bridge as cars. How much did this whole thing cost to build?

8:39 It ended up costing over 6.25 million pounds, which is equal to hundreds of millions of dollars today. It was so expensive that it took the city 56 years to pay off the debt. They finally paid the last bill in 1988.

8:59 Wow. Since it's made of steel, do they still have to paint it to stop it from rusting?

9:04 Yes, time for a fun fact. The bridge is constantly being repainted. For decades it was a joke that as soon as the painters finished the entire bridge, they just walked back to the beginning and started over again.

9:20 It's the chore that never ends. Imagine painting one thing for your whole life.

9:25 Here's another fun fact. You know those four massive granite pylons at each end of the bridge? They don't actually hold up the arch at all. They were just added to make the bridge look more solid, so the public wouldn't be scared to cross it.

9:40 They're just giant decorations. That's hilarious. Those engineers were pretty clever. Alright, Finn, time for the quiz.

9:48 Are you ready?

9:49 Okay, I'm ready. Hit me with those massive bridge facts.

9:54 First question. What year did the Sydney Harbour Bridge officially open to the public? Next one, this is a huge number. How many hand-driven rivets were used to hold the bridge together? Question three. Think about the shape. What funny nickname did the people of Sydney give to the bridge? Here's number four, the crazy opening day.

10:28 What weapon did Francis de Groot use to slash the opening ribbon? Last question, remember the mastermind. Who was the chief engineer with the giant dream to build the bridge? Great job, let's see how you did. The first answer is it officially opened on march nineteenth, nineteen thirty two. For question two, there were over six million hand driven rivets used.

11:03 three the answer is they called it the coat hanger. Question four. He dramatically slashed the ribbon with a cavalry sword while on horseback. And the final answer is, the chief engineer was John Job Crew Bradfield.

11:20 Over six million rivets! I still can't believe they built that hanging 134 metres in the air.

11:29 I know! The incredible bravery of those 1,400 workers and the genius of the engineers is just mind-blowing. Every time I look at a picture of the coat hanger now, I'm going to think of them throwing red hot metal across the sky.

11:44 Me too. Hey, if you love learning about amazing historical stuff with us, could you do us a huge favour and leave us a five-star review? It really helps other kids find the show.

11:55 Yes, please. Just scroll down on your podcast app and tap the five stars. Maybe write a quick review telling us what you think of Francis deGroot and his sword-slashing horseback ride.

12:07 Oh, and don't forget to check out our site kidopoly.com. We have loads of fun learning games and cool activities there for you to explore.

12:15 And if you want to shout out on the show, like Ben, Hannah, Tom, or Billy, or just want to say hi, send us an email at hello at kidopoly.com. Thanks for building history with us today. See you next time on History's Not Boring. Bye!