New
South Wales (abbreviated as NSW) is Australia's
oldest and most populous state, located in the
south-east of the country, north of Victoria, south
of Queensland and east of South Australia. It was
founded in 1788 and originally comprised much of the
Australian mainland, as well as Lord Howe Island and
Norfolk Island. New Zealand was not initially part
of the colony, although when Britain annexed New
Zealand in 1840 it was briefly a part of New South
Wales. During the 19th century large areas were
successively separated to form the British colonies
of Tasmania (proclaimed as a separate colony named
Van Diemen's Land in 1825), South Australia (1836),
Victoria (1851) and Queensland (1859).
Inhabitants of New South Wales are referred to as
being New South Welsh or New South Welshmen. New
South Wales's largest city and capital is Sydney.
Sydney
Harbour Bridge:
The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel arch bridge
across Sydney Harbour that carries rail, vehicular
and pedestrian traffic between the Sydney central
business district (CBD) and the North Shore. The
dramatic view of the bridge, the harbour, and the
nearby Sydney Opera House is an iconic image of both
Sydney and Australia. The bridge is locally
nicknamed "The Coathanger"or "Colin" because of its
arch-based design.
The
bridge was designed and built by Dorman Long and Co
Ltd, Middlesbrough Teesside and Cleveland Bridge,
Darlington, County Durham and opened in 1932. Until
1967 it was the city's tallest structure. According
to Guinness World Records, it is the world's widest
long-span bridge and it is tallest steel arch
bridge, measuring 134 metres (429.6 ft) from top to
water level. It is also the fourth-longest
spanning-arch bridge in the world.
The
Sydney Harbour Bridge construction started in 1923
from the design by Dorman Long and Co's Consulting
Engineer, Sir Ralph Freeman. It took 1400 men eight
years to build and includes six million hand driven
rivets and 53,000 tonnes of steel making up its
construction. 272,000 litres of paint were required
to give the Bridge its initial three coats!
Sadly, sixteen workers died during construction, but
surprisingly only two from falling off the bridge.
It now carries eight traffic lanes and two rail
lines and almost 200,000 cars per day cross the
bridge. It is the world's largest steel arch bridge
with the top of the bridge standing 134 metres above
the harbour.
Sydney
Opera House:
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing
arts centre on Bennelong Point in Sydney, New South
Wales, Australia. It was conceived and largely built
by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, who in 2003 received
the Pritzker Prize, architecture's highest honour.
The
citation stated " There is no doubt that the Sydney
Opera House is his masterpiece. It is one of the
great iconic buildings of the 20th century, an image
of great beauty that has become known throughout the
world – a symbol for not only a city, but a whole
country and continent. "
The
Opera House was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site on
28 June 2007. It is one of the world's most
distinctive 20th century buildings, and one of the
most famous performing arts centres in the world.
The
Sydney Opera House is situated on Bennelong Point in
Sydney Harbour, close to the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
It sits at the north-eastern tip of the Sydney CBD,
surrounded on three sides by the harbour (Sydney
Cove and Farm Cove), and neighboured by the Royal
Botanic Gardens.
Contrary to its name, the building houses several
separate venues rather than a single opera theatre,
the two main venues, the Opera Theatre and the
Concert Hall, being defined by the two larger
shells. The Sydney Opera House is a major presenting
venue for Opera Australia, The Australian Ballet,
the Sydney Theatre Company and the Sydney Symphony,
as well as hosting many touring productions in a
variety of performance genres, and is a major
tourist attraction. It is administered by the Sydney
Opera House Trust, under the New South Wales
Ministry of the Arts.
Conductor Eugene Goossens began work with the Sydney
Symphony Orchestra in 1947, and soon afterwards
approached John Cahill, then premier of New South
Wales, with an idea to build an opera house for the
state. However, it was not until 1956 that the NSW
Government announced that they would hold a design
competition for an opera house to be located at
Bennelong Point, Sydney.
A
Danish architect Jorn Utzon was the winner. While
the Sydney Opera House was being built, several
government officials demanded Utzon make changes to
his design. He refused, and the arguments between
Utzon and the officials ended with Utzon leaving
Australia in 1966 never to return. In 1973, the
Sydney Opera House was finally completed.
Sydney Tower:
Sydney Tower (also known as the AMP Tower, AMP
Centrepoint Tower, Centrepoint Tower or just
Centrepoint) is Sydney's tallest free-standing
structure, and the second tallest in Australia (with
the Q1 building on the Gold Coast being the
tallest). It is also the third tallest observation
tower in the Southern Hemisphere (after Auckland's
Sky Tower and Melbourne's Eureka Tower, though
Sydney Tower's main observation deck is almost 50 m
(164 ft) higher than that of Auckland's Sky Tower).
The Sydney Tower is a member of the World Federation
of Great Towers.
The tower stands 305 m (1,001 ft) above the Sydney
CBD, being located at 100 Market Street, between
Pitt and Castlereagh Streets. It is accessible from
the Pitt Street Mall, and sits upon Centrepoint (to
which the tower is often referred), an office and
shopping centre development. The tower is open to
the public, and is one of the most prominent tourist
attractions in the city, being visible from a number
of vantage points throughout town and from adjoining
suburbs.
While AMP managed the Centrepoint shopping centre,
the tower was officially referred to as "AMP Tower".
After the Westfield Group took over ownership of
Centrepoint in December 2001, the name was changed
to Sydney Tower. Locals almost always refer to it as
Centrepoint Tower.
The Three
Sisters:
The Three Sisters are a famous rock
formation in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales,
Australia. They are close to the town of Katoomba
and are one of the Blue Mountains' most famous
sights, towering above the Jamison Valley. Their
names are Meehni (922 m), Wimlah (918 m), and
Gunnedoo (906 m).
The
Sisters were formed by erosion. The soft sandstone
of the Blue Mountains is easily eroded over time by
wind, rain and rivers, and the cliffs surrounding
the Jamison Valley are being slowly broken up.
Formations like the Three Sisters are created when
water seeps into small cracks in the rock, gradually
enlarging them over time to form large indentations.
Eventually, the Sisters will be eroded away
completely.
The
modern day tourism industry has created a legend
that says that three sisters fell in love with three
men from a neighbouring tribe, but marriage was
forbidden by tribal law. Battle ensued, and the
sisters were turned to stone by an elder to protect
them, but he was killed in the fighting and no one
else could turn them back. This legend is falsely
claimed to be an Indigenous Australian Dreamtime
legend.
From the nearby Echo Point, a bushwalking trail
leads to the Three Sisters and down to the valley
floor via more than 800 well-maintained steel and
stone steps called "The Giant Stairway". Then a
1.5-hour walk on The Federal Pass trail leads to the
base of Katoomba Falls and the Katoomba Scenic
Railway. Walkers who don't wish to climb back to the
top can take the Scenic Railway back to civilization
for a small fee.
The
Three Sisters is part of the Blue Mountains National
Park which is located just an hours drive west of
Sydney. The formation is named after the Aboriginal
dreamtime story of three sisters named Meehni,
Wimlah and Gunnedoo who lived with their father.
The
Blue Mountains National Park area itself was
originally formed many thousands of years ago from
the sediment of a very large river system which over
the years have eroded the surrounding landscape to
form the multitude of deep valleys and relatively
high peaks we find today.
The
Blue Mountains earned their name from the
distinctive and deep blue haze caused by scattered
rays of light coming in contact with fine dust
particles and droplets of oil dispersed from the
eucalyptus trees in the valleys.
Stadium
Australia:
Stadium Australia, presently known as ANZ Stadium,
is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Sydney
Olympic Park precinct of Homebush Bay, Sydney,
Australia. The stadium was completed in March 1999
at a cost of A$690 million to host the 2000 Summer
Olympics. The stadium held the 2000 Summer Olympics
and the 2003 Rugby World Cup Final.
The
stadium was originally built to temporarily hold
110,000 spectators, making it the largest Olympic
Stadium ever built as well as the largest stadium in
Australia. In 2003 reconfiguration work was
completed to shorten the north and south wings, and
install movable seating. These changes reduced the
capacity to 83,500 for a rectangular field and
81,500 for an oval field (making it the second
largest stadium in Australia to the Melbourne
Cricket Ground).
Awnings were also added over the North and South
stands, which means that now most of the seating is
under cover. The stadium was also engineered along
sustainable lines for example with the low use of
steel in in the roof structure in comparison to the
Olympic stadiums of Athens and Beijing.
Mount
Kosciuszko:
Mount Kosciuszko is a mountain
located in the Snowy Mountains in Kosciuszko
National Park. With a height of 2,228 metres (7,310
ft) above sea level, it is the highest mountain in
Australia (not including its external territories).
It was named by the Polish explorer Count Paul
Edmund Strzelecki in 1840, in honour of the Polish
national hero General Tadeusz Kościuszko, because of
its perceived resemblance to the Kościuszko Mound in
Krakow.
The
name of the mountain was formerly spelled "Mount
Kosciusko," an Anglicisation; but the version "Mount
Kosciuszko" was officially adopted in 1997 by the
Geographical Names Board of New South Wales.
Various measurements of the peak originally called
by that name showed it to be slightly lower than its
neighbour, Mount Townsend, and the names were
thereupon transposed by the New South Wales Lands
Department, so that Mount Kosciuszko still remains
the name of the highest peak of Australia, and Mount
Townsend ranks as second.
An
1863 picture by Eugene von Guerard hanging in the
National Gallery of Australia titled "Northeast view
from the northern top of Mount Kosciusko" is
actually from Mt Townsend.
Anzac
Bridge:
The
ANZAC Bridge or Anzac Bridge (both forms are used by
the Roads and Traffic Authority), formerly known as
the Glebe Island Bridge, is a large cable-stayed
bridge spanning Johnstons Bay between Pyrmont and
Rozelle in proximity to the central business
district of Sydney, Australia. The bridge forms part
of the Western Distributor freeway leading from the
Sydney CBD and Cross City Tunnel to the suburbs of
the Inner West and Northern Sydney.
The
ANZAC Bridge is the longest cable-stayed bridge in
Australia, and amongst the longest in the world. The
bridge is 32.2 metres (105.6 ft) wide and the main
span is 345 metres (1131.9 ft) long. The reinforced
concrete pylons are 120 metres (393.7 ft) high and
support the deck by two planes of stay cables.
Initially the stay cables were plagued by vibrations
which have since been resolved by the addition of
thin stabilising cables between the stay cables.
This
article is licensed under the
GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia articles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Harbour_Bridge
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Opera_House
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Tower
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Sisters_(Australia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telstra_Stadium
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Kosciuszko
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anzac_Bridge
