Norman Selfe was an Australian engineer, naval architect, inventor, urban planner and outspoken advocate of technical education. After emigrating to Sydney with his family from England as a boy he became an apprentice engineer, following his father's trade. Selfe designed many bridges, docks, boats, and much precision machinery for the city. He also introduced new refrigeration, hydraulic, electrical and transport systems. For these achievements he received international acclaim during his lifetime. Decades before the Sydney Harbour Bridge was built, the city came close to building a Selfe-designed steel cantilever bridge across the harbour after he won the second public competition for a bridge design.
Studio portrait of Selfe
Illustration of the SS Governor Blackall
Tourists ride in a coal skip on the "scenic railway", 1915
Selfe's 1891 scheme for remodelling transport in The Rocks
The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, spanning Sydney Harbour from the central business district (CBD) to the North Shore. The view of the bridge, the harbour, and the nearby Sydney Opera House is widely regarded as an iconic image of Sydney, and of Australia itself. Nicknamed "The Coathanger" because of its arch-based design, the bridge carries rail, vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian traffic.
View from Port Jackson, October 2019
Sydney Harbour from the north-east with the Opera House, CBD, Circular Quay, the Bridge, the Parramatta River, North Sydney and Kirribilli in the foreground
The bridge illuminated at night
One of the nuts that hold the bridge on its abutments; this one is at the north end.