Thursday 15th February 2007. Sydney, New South Wales.

Began my day with breakfast at MoS Cafe which was a complete rip-off where it was $4.50 for a single slice of toast and the waitresses walked around with their noses in the air ignoring you.

I am attending the Bridging Sydney exhibition today here at the Museum of Sydney which is built on the site of the Colony's first Government House. The museum opened in May 1995 to celebrate the history of the city and its people. Historically this is where Governor Phillip's house once stood.

When it was built the Coathanger was the longest, heaviest and widest bridge in the world. For example, before the building of the bridge no construction had ever used rivets this large.

Not only was the bridge to become an international symbol of Australia as a mature nation but great controversy was to surround the official opening.

The publicity for the exhibition claims that

the Sydney Harbour Bridge has become one of the key symbols of the city, inspiring painters, poets, photographers and thousands of Sydneysiders

and judging by the huge numbers attending the exhibition, Sydneysiders are justifyably proud of the coathanger.

There were many grandiose schemes for crossing the harbour from the beginnings of the colony until JJC Bradfield's design became a reality. Particularly during the 19th century proposal came after proposal; the coathanger though was to come just in the nick of time during a century which saw the population of Sydney grow nine-fold.

The bridge itself was highly controversial both in terms of cost and the huge amount of land consumed by the approaches. Let me take you now to the official opening ceremony on March 19th 1932.

In the pageant that marked the official opening, which stretched for approximately 2km, the symbolism was of the Future of Australia, Empire and the Return to Prosperity. The procession featured not only the likes of marching military bands, boy scouts and the Young Australia League; but also included a party of 25 aboriginals...was this an early attempt at inclusion?...after all it was not until 1962 that the Federal Parliament gave aboriginals the vote...some 174 years after they were dispossessed.

However, the real controversy came over who should open the bridge. Traditionally a member of the UK Royal Family or at least the Governor General opened all major projects in Australia. The call went out for the King to open this engineering masterpiece. That said, it was not until 1973 when HM Queen Elizabeth II opened the Sydney Opera House that the first ever reigning British Monarch visited this southern realm.

Jack Lang the Premier of New South Wales decided that he would perform the opening ceremony. After all the bridge was a symbol of Australia as a nation and no longer simply as an outpost of the British Empire.

However at the opening ceremony Lang was to be upstaged by Francis De Groot who like many at the time viewed Lang as overrun by his ego at best, and at worst, as a communist.

In his WWI uniform De Groot (of Irish origin) joined a group of mounted guards near Government House and followed them undetected as an interloper to the ceremony. He stole the show by riding in and cutting the ribbon with his sword declaring "I open this bridge in the name of the decent and respectable people of New South Wales".

The ribbon was re-tied and not to be outdone Lang cut the ribbon and opened the bridge.

However the actions spoke louder than words as the controversy had rumbled on for most of the projects history. A symbol of Australian pride and liberty from the Mother Country it was a great gamble for New South Wales to undertake the project at a time when she was greatly indebted to foreign banks.

The contractors for the project were indeed English. Dorman and Long of Middlesbrough-on-Tees. The engineers in charge of the workshops were all from the contractors' home works, but the labour both skilled and unskilled that was to be used in the manufacture and erection of the steel work was to be obtained in Australia (mainly though of Scots, English and Irish descent).

To further national pride it was specified that all materials used, other than steel, were to be wholly Australian. The erection scheme though was an imperial design that had been created for the Victoria Falls Arch over the Zambezi River in South Africa. Due to a shortage of suitably qualified stonemasons in Australia tradesmen were imported from Italy and Scotland (particularly from Aberdeen) to work in the quarry at Moruya.

As the massive parts required for the construction of the bearings were beyond the capacity of any machining in Australia, they had to be ordered from the Darlington Forge in England. The creeper cranes that played an essential part in the construction of the main arch span of the bridge as well as the deck were manufactured by Wellman, Smith and Owen of London.

All of this aside, there is no doubt that the project was an engineering masterpiece. To think that this huge construction opened in the midst of the Great Depression simply reflected how the nation was moving forward. The quality of the work was such that one of the permanent survey marks used in the setting out of the bridge was to form part of the survey control network for the Sydney Harbour Tunnel construction some 60 years later.

So was this Aussie feat really an Australian masterpiece. Well it is arguable that the Bradfield design would not have been possible anywhere else in the world at this time. One of the deciding factors in the bridge's eventual location was the solid foundation provided by the Hawkesbury sandstone on the shores of Sydney Harbour. The foundations of the bridge were though dug deeper than originally planned to ensure a reliable base free from weak seams of clay and shale.

The political hot potato that was the bridge led to compromise from the start. The foundation stone had been laid on March 26th 1925 by the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Dudley de Chair in the presence of the Premier, Sir George Fuller as was the established custom at the time.

BUT...More than anything else this bridge was to come to symbolise that Australia was no longer just a colony! This was to be Australia's great pride despite any British or Empire involvement.

The political compromise, that failed to please many like De Groot was that the government committee established to arrange the city festivities that followed the official opening should be presided over by the New South Wales Governor, Sir Philip Game. The official proceedings were opened with a range of speeches which began with a message from the King, George V, and which was read by Governor Game. The opening was broadcast nationally and also to Britain and the USA; and the decision not to invite a Royal was justified in terms of expense at a time of acute economic hardship. That evening saw the first ever fireworks display over the coathanger...

Luna Park where I celebrated the coming of 2007 and the 75th anniversary of the bridge was built on the bridge workshops site at Milson's Point in 1935.

And those bridge tolls...they were an after thought and added at the last minute much to the chagrin of North-Side residents who had since 1923 been paying a special land tax introduced by the Bridge Act. Although the toll collecting began immediately the toll booths were not added until December 1932 and so initially the toll collectors stood on a small concrete island protected only by a light railing.

Now for lunch and I am off to one of Sydney's most exclusive restaurants. The views are stunning and the prices quite ridiculous but here I am at the top end of Sydney dining at Quay looking out on to that iconic harbour bridge and surrounded by big business talking about the trading floor.

Making money your God won't get you anywhere in life, and it's sad when they start trying to out do each other with who's child has been made House Captain. After years in private schools...trust me its often not the best child that makes it to the top spot.

I have managed to get one of the best tables here by the window in the tower at the restaurant's north end. My view of the Opera House though is obscured by the huge Amsterdam of the Holland America Line docked here at the Oversea's Passenger Terminal today.

Today I am to pay more for my meal than my accommodation but this was an experience and that is only a bed!...and after the $4.50 toast what is a $65 steak?

I love the pretenscious behaviour as I watch one young trader trying to impress the boss by sniffing his wine and swirling it as if he would know the difference between a good wine and a bottle of supermarket plonk. It is even funnier though when a few others join him because they think it is the right thing to do.

The arrogance here though only annoys me when the conversation turns to teachers and how it is easy to set up funds for teachers unions that charge exorbitant fees because they know nothing...this from the table where one guy still can't believe that ships like the Amsterdam are built and then just plopped in the water...it defies his tiny brain to figure out the concept of the dry dock!

It is great to watch all the false laughter at the bosses appalling jokes. It makes me think that if I were the boss how refreshing it would be to meet the honest guy.

After a few vino's my character reverts to type, swinging on his chair like a sixthformer and exposing his not so corporate DM boots that were hidden under his suit trousers.

Insignificant to most and ignored by all but the most avid tourist...just behind Circular Quay at the side of the Old Customs House on Loftus Street flies a Union Jack. A replica of the flag hoisted by Captain Arthur Phillip, R.N. and his company; marking the first ceremony of saluting the flag that took place marking the foundation of Australia on January 26th 1788.

It is sad that this should be a place of pilgrimage for all True Blue Aussies, but as an old man that I chat to informs me...no-one really cares. Few people even know this place exists and many walk past each and every day without noticing it. People are to busy rushing around and achieving nothing.

For me I am glad that each and every day in the Royal Navy we still raise and lower the flag at sunrise and sunset and that I have in my naval career attended many such ceremonies taking a moment to reflect.

Tonight I am off to the Shakespeare Hotel in uber cool Surry Hills. Since 1879 this hostelry has been a popular local and since 1975 you have been greeted by NORA.

Tonight I s*** myself when a bike squeals to a halt behind me. It brought back all the fear of being attacked although it turned out that the guy hadn't seen me and was trying to avoid hitting me. In a strange way I drew comfort from the familiarity of the street names as I negotiated Surry Hills at night: Waterloo, High Holborn, Wiltshire.

A cultural lesson I am to learn tonight is that the Aussies seem to have it right for most pub customers with the pub, bottle shop and bookies all in one.