Located in downtown Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, at the foot of the southern bridge of (Sydney Harbour Bridge), the Sydney Harbour Bridge, The Argyle Cut is a rock cut crossing about 140m long and about 20m wide, built in the mid-nineteenth century. The prisoners of the colonial period of Sydney worked hard and handcrafted in shackles and were hailed as Sydney's three engineering feats along with the roundabout wharf (Circular Quay) and the (Busby's Bore) of the Baobi Reservoir.
From (The Rocks), a rocky area, from (Dawes Point), Cape Davos, to the military hospital south of the observatory mountain (now the National Trust Center building, National Trust of Australia), was once prostrated by a contiguous north-south rock ridge. Just as a natural barrier obstructs the east-west traffic of the rocky area and the land link between Sydney Port and Darling Port (Darling Harbour), it brings great inconvenience to the local commercial activities and the residents' lives. The call to dig the east-west passage in the rock area has been uninterrupted since 1804, until construction began in 1843 and was not completed until 1868, and went on intermittently for 25 years. There are several reasons for this. First, the construction is difficult, the whole work surface is a solid rock, labor intensity is very great, and prisoners still with mechanical tools with hand-drilled, the progress is extremely slow; Second, in the same period, the construction of the (Cockatoo Island) dock and the reclamation of the circular wharf on Koketu Island were given priority consideration, the technical forces were transferred and the labour was dispersed; third, the nuisance of the gang of local ruffians and rogue groups caused public indignation; Fourth, site waste clean-up is not timely, some rock pits also become landfills; fifthly, cross-street flyover supporting construction problems, and so on.
The flyover is an important part of The Argyle Cut, where access to several north-south streets formerly at rock ridges needs to be connected by flyovers after rock cuts, but now, except for the Cumberland Street (Cumberland St) flyover, it was later retained. Other street bridges have been demolished at the time of the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Sydney Harbour Bridge passes through the section of The Argyle Cut and a huge reinforced concrete semi-circular arch bridge with a length of 20 meters and a width of 50 meters is firmly seated on the rock section at both ends of the passage.
Tickets:
Free
Open time: