History

Milsons Point was named after James Milson (1783–1872), a free settler originally from Lincolnshire. Milson settled in the area near Milsons Point and established a profitable business supplying ships with stone ballast, fresh water, and the produce of his dairy, orchard, and vegetable gardens.

In the early 1820s Milson settled in the vicinity of Jeffrey Street, Kirribilli, on 120 acres of land he leased from Robert Campbell (1769–1846). In 1824 Milson received a 50-acre grant of his own adjoining Campbell's land. In 1826 a bushfire raged through the area destroying Milson's home, orchard and dairy and farm which he subsequently rebuilt. In 1831 Campbell was involved with Milson in a court action over Milson's non-payment of the lease of the 120 acres. Milson lived in the vicinity of Jeffrey Street until 1831 when he built a new home, "Brisbane House", on his 50 acres facing Lavender Bay. The next home he built, also on his 50 acres, was called "Grantham". By the 1840s Milson was leasing only the portion Campbell's 120 acres that contained Milson's orchard in the vicinity of Jeffrey Street.  In 1872 Milson died at home at "Gratham" in the modern suburb of Milsons Point in what was then called the Municipality of East St Leonards.

Designed by architects Rudder & Grout in the Inter-War Free Classical style with art deco-style decorations, he Olympic-sized outdoor pool was built on part of the Dorman Long workshops site following the completion of the Harbour Bridge. The pool opened 4 April 1936 and hosted the swimming and diving events for the 1938 Empire Games. Heating was added in 2000 and a 25 metres (82 ft) indoor pool was added in 2001.

In all, 86 world records have been set at the pool by such swimming greats as, for example, Jon Konrads and Ilsa Konrads, Lorraine Crapp, Frank O'Neill, Judy Joy Davies, John Devitt, Shane Gould and Michelle Ford.

Luna Park Sydney is a heritage-listed amusement park located at 1 Olympic Drive in the harbourside suburb of Milsons Point, New South Wales, Australia, on the northern shore of Sydney Harbour. The amusement park is owned by the Luna Park Reserve Trust, an agency of the Government of New South Wales, and was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 5 March 2010.

The park was constructed during 1935 approximately 600 metres (2,000 ft) from the northern approaches of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and ran for seventy-month seasons until 1972, when it was opened year-round. Luna Park was closed in mid-1979, immediately following the Ghost Train fire, which killed six children and one adult. Most of the park was demolished, and a new amusement park was constructed; this originally operated under the name of Harbourside Amusement Park before resuming the Luna Park name. The park was closed again in 1988 as an independent engineering inspection determined that several rides needed urgent repair. The owners failed to repair and reopen the park before a New South Wales government deadline, and ownership was passed to a new body.

Reopening in 1995, Luna Park closed again after thirteen months because of the Big Dipper rollercoaster: noise pollution complaints from residents on the clifftop above the park caused the ride's operating hours to be heavily restricted, and the resultant drop in attendance made the park unprofitable. After another redevelopment, Luna Park reopened in 2004 and has continued operating since.

Luna Park is one of two amusement parks in the world that are protected by government legislation; several of the buildings on the site are also listed on the (now defunct) Register of the National Estate and the New South Wales State Heritage Register. Architectural plans and drawings of rides and buildings at Luna Park (Milson’s Point, New South Wales) are held at the State Library of New South Wales, including the Ghost Train ride. The plans and drawings include some from Luna Park (St Kilda, Victoria) and Luna Park (Glenelg South Australia).

The Sydney Harbour Bridge is an Australian heritage-listed steel through arch bridge across Sydney Harbour that carries rail, vehicular, bicycle, and pedestrian traffic between the Sydney central business district (CBD) and the North Shore. The view of the bridge, the harbour, and the nearby Sydney Opera House is widely regarded as an iconic image of Sydney, and of Australia itself. The bridge is nicknamed "The Coathanger" because of its arch-based design.

Under the direction of John Bradfield of the New South Wales Department of Public Works, the bridge was designed and built by British firm Dorman Long of Middlesbrough (who based the design on their 1928 Tyne Bridge in Newcastle upon Tyne) and opened in 1932. The bridge's general design, which Bradfield tasked the NSW Department of Public Works with producing, was a rough copy of the Hell Gate Bridge in New York City. This general design document, however, did not form any part of the request for tender, which remained sufficiently broad as to allow cantilever (Bradfield's original preference) and even suspension bridge proposals. The design chosen from the tender responses was original work created by Dorman Long, who leveraged some of the design from their own Tyne Bridge which, though superficially similar, does not share the graceful flares at the ends of each arch which make the harbour bridge so distinctive. It is the seventh longest spanning-arch bridge in the world and the tallest steel arch bridge, measuring 134 m (440 ft) from top to water level. It was also the world's widest long-span bridge, at 48.8 m (160 ft) wide, until construction of the new Port Mann Bridge in Vancouver was completed in 2012.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge went on to be added to the Australian National Heritage List on 19 March 2007  and to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 25 June 1999.

The Bradfield Highway is a highway in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. At 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) long it is one of the shortest highways in Australia.

The highway was opened on 19 March 1932 and was named in honour of Dr John Bradfield. As a government-appointed civil engineer, Bradfield oversaw the tendering process for the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and as the NSW Public Works Department chief engineer had oversight of the bridge design and construction. Amid some controversy, Bradfield was also considered to be the co-designer of the bridge's arch design, along with Dorman Long and Sir Ralph Freeman.