OPENING CEREMONY

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 178, 21 March 1932, Page 5

OPENING CEREMONY

(Press. Assn.-

NATION'S VISiON REALISED IN SYMBOL OF PROGRESS CHILDREN'S STRIKING TRIBUTE

— By Telegraph — Copyright).

SYDNEY, Saturday. The great day for which the people of Sydney have waited a decade in patient hope dawned bright arid cool. Indeed there were citizens of Sydney over a century ago with vis10ns of a bridge spanning the waters of Port Jackson to bring th© City and North Shore areas into closer touch. The " difficulty of financing such' a Venture, however, was an obstacle which the pioneers found too much for them. ' ' : When the War had accuAtomed people to think in rriillions'the dreamers gave place to practiCal realists, and the scie'ntist and engineer evolved the means of creating a strrictufe which would link the two sides of the harbour while permitting ships to follow their lawful occasions, carrying the life'stream of the people — their commerce — to and fro. To-day, iri the presence of nearly half a million spectators who gathered from every State and from lands beyond the sea, the hopes of years were consummated, and "The Bridge" (there is only one bridge iri people's minds these days) was publicly opened for traffic. The day having been proclaimed a public holiday, and an additional attraction being the Royal Show, the city was thronged by record crowds. Message From King The opening ceremony took place at the southern approaeh or city side of the bridge overlooking Observatory Park. At 10 a.m. the State Governor, Sir Phillip Game, delivered the operiing address. He read a message from' His Majesty the King, and then pressing a button on the dias, unveiled a tablet naming the bridge the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The Premier, Mr. J. T. Lang, then declared the bridge open for traffic; and unveiled a commemorative tablet. Speeches followed hy the Minister of Works, Mr M. A. Davidson, the Lord Mayor of Sydney, Alderman Walder, the Mayor of North Sydney, Alderman Primrose, the Parliamentary representatives of the districts served by the bridge, the chief engineer of the bridge, Di\ J. J. C. Bredfield, and representatives of the builders, Messrs Dorman Long and Co., Ltd. (Messrs Kitson, deputy chairman, and Laurence Ennis, director of construction.) In the presence of the Governor and the official party the Premier, using a pair of gold scissors presented by the builders, then cut the ribbon sretehed across the entrance to the bridge proper, to the accompaniment of bands playing national airs, a salute of twenty-one guns from a battery in one of the parks, and the4* acclamations of the assembled multitudes on the neighbouring foreshores on both side of the harbour, and on every headland from which even a distant view of the scene was obtainable. Combined aerial and aquatic displays occupied the spectators' attention. A squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force planes, which had been waiting at a great altitude above Paramatta River, picked up the signal and swooped down toward the erown of the bl-idge arch, whence th^y flew away again in a thrilling manoerivre. Simultaneously a huge fleet of motor launches and similar craft manoeuvred on the harbour and under the bridge. Country Schools' Message Before the ceremony at the southern approaeh was finished a schoolboy, the last of a relay of boys from a township in far-away central Ausfcralia, delivered at the daig a congratulatory message from country schools, which had been passed from hand to hand throughout its long journey. This was read to cheering thousands who, if they did not hear the words, at least sensed the tenor of the message and gave it a cordial reception. The official party then crossed the bridge to the north side, where the Mayor of North' Sydney cut the ribbon to signalise the opening of the thoroughfare into the Northern Suburbs. The scissors- used hy the Mayor of North Sydney were thoseused recently at a similar ceremony at Killvankull Bridge, New York, and had been sent by the Mayor of New York as a goodwill offeririg.