Community events relating to the opening of the Harbour Bridge were largely arranged by the Sydney Harbour Bridge Celebrations Committee, a voluntary group formed at a meeting at the Sydney Town Hall in September 1931. Chaired by Sir Samuel Hordern and representing members of the business, arts, religious and community sectors, the committee's aim was to organise 'a week's pageantry and display that would advertise to the world the faith and pride we have in our State and Capital'. The program combined activities as diverse as sporting competitions, art exhibitions, concerts, tours, balls and surf carnivals in a patriotic, fortnight-long gala across the city. The committee launched a public appeal in October 1931, aiming to raise

Mabel Adair from Sutherland
At the time I was living at Cammeray and I went to Cammeray Public school. I'm 86 now so I would have been eleven when the bridge opened. I walked with the school across the bridge. There were about 320 children who did that. We each had a flag in our hands. We were all wearing sandshoes,and walked about 3/4s of the way across the bridge, but the teachers wouldn't let us go the whole way. I was very disappointed. But I enjoyed it. After the opening, during festivities for children, we did exercises, including flag drill, at the Sydney Cricket Ground. We had learned a poem, which I can still recite, a song which we all practiced at school. On the day we sang it, we were all arranged in the shape of a bridge.

Maureen Walden from Australia
In 1932, my father Ron Walden,won a boxing competition to celebrate the opening of the Harbour Bridge. I have in my possession a beautifully engraved medal depicting the Bridge.

Mrs Yvonne Benson from Leura
I am now 93 years old and I remember clearly a popular song that was sung shortly after the Sydney Harbour Bridge opened - it is sung to the tune of "Do ye ken John Peel?".... "Do ye ken Jack Lang with his chin so long? Do ye ken Jack Lang with his plans gone wrong? Do ye ken de Groot with his sabre bright As he slashed the ribbon in the morning?"