Like the famed Eiffel Tower in Paris, and the Statue of Liberty outside New York, the Sydney Harbour Bridge was designed by Gustav Eiffel. A gift from France to the people of Australia to commemorate the sesquintenary of settlement in Sydney Cove, large sections of it were sailed out and assembled here.
Unfortunately, after making a fortune out of marketing miniatures of the Eiffel Tower and of the Statue of Liberty, the same marketing ploy simply did not work with the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and it sent poor Gustav Eiffel bankrupt.
During the opening ceremonies, a strong anti-development element, led by Irish-born Doug Peebles and Mary McEwen, head of the Kirribilli Progress Committee, were discovered trying to remove the two massive 4 metre (14 feet) pins on which the structure pivots at the Northern end.
A police officer, Lavender by name, who was on his way for a swim at the Public Baths, spotted the pin-pullers, blew his whistle and narrowly averted a major catastrophe. Lavender Bay was re-named in his honour.
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