Hanging across Sydney harbour

Press, 6 November 1984, Page 16

Hanging across Sydney harbour

Sydney Harbour Bridge has often been described as a giant coat-hanger in its 50 years of existence. The joke will become a reality in 1988 if enthusiasts in Sydney have their way.

Australia will celebrate 200 years of European settlement in 1988 with a nation-wide extravaganza of festivals and special projects. The Australian Bicentennial Authority, formed four years ago to encourage and co-ordinate the celebrations, is seeking ideas both serious and silly.

The proposal to build a giant hook on top of the centre of the Harbour Bridge is among the more daft suggestions. Enthusiasts at the bicentennial headquarters, under the shadow of the Harbour Bridge on the Sydney waterfront, are taking the “coat-hanger” idea seriously. Such a spectacular practical joke would be in keeping with the generally exuberant Australian mood towards the bicentennial. Much stranger ideas have come forward. One is to cover Ayers Rock in white icing and have the Queen stand on top to lead the country in singing “Advance Australia Fair.” (Or “Waltzing Matilda”?) By comparison, the coathanger bridge seems possible and even worth doing. Ideas for more serious and permanent projects are flooding in. Throughout Australia roads are being improved and widened. Notices abound to tell motorists: “This is a Commonwealth Bicentennial Road Project.” . No more sensible, permanent memorial could be found in a country of vast distances and scattered population.

The new Parliament House in Canberra is intended to be finished for 1988. The Australian War Memorial Museum is being expanded and refurbished. A National Science Centre is also planned for Canberra. The national capital is not getting all the benefits. More than 800 local committees have been formed round Australia to encourage local events and memorials. Queensland, for instance, is holding an international exposition on the theme "Leisure in the age of technology.” Much attention is being given to improving the environment. The N.S.W. Government has plans to beautify the foreshore in Newcastle. All states are being encouraged to develop historic walk-

ing trails on routes once used by Aboriginals, or stockmen, or golddiggers. Encouragement of Aboriginal arts and culture is central to much of the planning, in keeping with the general theme for the bicentennial of “Living Together.” Among the' most spectacular events at the year-long birthday party are likely to be those in the air and at sea. A round-Australia air race is planned, lasting about 14 days andwith up to 200 entries.

Hot air balloons will also race for two weeks — across the country from Perth to Broken Hill, and then on to Sydney, always assuming that the prevailing westerly winds co-operate.

At sea the -bicentennial organ-

isers hope for a gathering of tall ships — square-rigged sailing ships from round the world. The intention is to have the ships gather in Melbourne or Hobart by December 3L 1987. Then they would sail northward along the east coast to Sydney. This would be a fitting tribute for a country of 16 million people that owes much of its existence to sailing ships. If all goes well, the fleet of tall ships would enter Sydney on Australia Day, January 26, 1988. just 200 years after the first convict fleet reached Port Jackson. And instead of the wild beauty of 1788 they will be greeted by a glittering modern city, its northern and southern halves linked by a giant coat-hanger.