The Bridge

Peter Lalor traces how Sydney Harbour Bridge went from an idea to the country's most recognisable emblem. Completed in March 1932, it took close to nine years to build, cost more than six million pounds and claimed sixteen lives. Its story is told through the people, political battles and feats of engineering that shaped it.

The book focuses on the individuals who built the bridge, imagined it and were drawn to it. They include Dr J.J.C. Bradfield, the engineer who finally saw his plan to link Sydney's two shores realised; Vince Kelly, a outsized boilermaker who fell from the arch and lived; and Lennie Gwyther, a nine-year-old who rode 900 miles alone on horseback to see the opening. Many other colourful figures appear along the way.

The account also covers the more unusual episodes in the bridge's history, from a strange plot to disrupt the opening ceremony to the part it played during the Sydney Olympics. It is written for readers who enjoy lively popular history and want to know how one of the world's best-known structures came to be.