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On March 18, 2007, the National Trust Centre at Observatory and Hill and surrounds will be transformed for the first
ever National Trust Day – there will be activities, entertainment and refreshments for the whole family. Details to
be advised; please check the website, enews and National Trust magazine for updates.
The day will coincide with mass celebrations for the 75th anniversary of the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The
bridge will be closed to vehicles, and it is expected that 250,000 will walk across it north to south – ending in the
National Trust grounds.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge’s
southern approach sits directly at the front of the National Trust Centre, Observatory Hill. At the time of the bridge’s
construction in the mid 1920s - 1932 the Trust Centre was Fort St School for Girls. Fort St School lost its Prices St entrance,
fountain and several buildings to the bridge approach construction.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge was entered on the National Trust’s Register in 1974, with the Classification
Report prepared by Jim Kerr and Meredith Walker. Reasons for Listing: -
“The bridge is one of the most remarkable feats of bridge construction. At the time of construction and until recently
it was the longest single span bridge in the world and is still in a general sense the largest. The bridge has been an important
factor in the pattern of growth of Metropolitan Sydney, particularly in residential development in post World War II years.
In the 60s and 70s the Central Business District had extended to the northern side of the bridge at North Sydney which has
been due in part to the easy access provided by the bridge and also to the increasing traffic problems associated with the
Bridge. The bridge, its pylons and its approaches are all important elements in townscape of areas both near and distant from
it. The curved northern approach gives a grand sweeping entrance to the bridge with continually changing views of the bridge
and harbour.”
The Trust, in recent years, has commented on proposals for adaptations to the bridge. The Trust did not object to these
proposals
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