1926–1950: Divisions

View to terrace houses on Lower Fort Street and the southern ramp of the bridge, 1930s (PropNSW).
'The first post' of building the harbour bridge, by Robert Emerson Curtis, 1928.
The southern pylons of the bridge, seen from Hickson Road, 1930s (PropNSW).
The Sydney Harbour Bridge, seen from lower Pottinger Street, Walsh Bay, 1930s (RAHS).
SS Morinda departing Wharf 10, by Samuel J. Hood Studio, 1936 (ANMM).
On the deck of SS Runic, by Samuel J. Hood, late 1930s.

From the late 1920s, the freshly built Walsh Bay was disrupted by another major infrastructure project: the Sydney Harbour Bridge. This project had been first discussed many decades earlier but was becoming imperative as a conduit for motor vehicles between the city’s north and south shores.

Engineer John Bradfield designed the bridge with its now-legendary style of tied-arch construction, and the southern access ramp began to be built in 1927. The new motorway ramp soared above the archaeological site of Dawes Battery.