Gadigal Elder Allen Madden performs a 'Welcome to Country' at the Sydney Opera House for the Deadly Awards in 2008. The Deadlys (1994 – 2014) were the national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music, sport, arts and community awards.

This is a good example of how the traditional welcome to country can be conveyed through sound and moving image. The decision to film Madden speaking in front of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House – two of Sydney's most iconic contemporary structures – effectively reminds the audience that the Opera House, and Sydney itself, is built on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation.

The welcome uses the iconography of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags superimposed onto Sydney Harbour and the Opera House to highlight a feeling of pride as well as asserting an unbroken connection to Country of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

The clip uses the power of the spoken work alongside images of contemporary Sydney to reflect the contemporary and changing nature of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and successfully draws a continuous line from the past into the present for a national and international audience. The importance of music in ceremony is reflected in the didjeridu soundtrack – an obvious choice as it is the instrument most connected with Aboriginal culture.

Inside the Opera House the ceremony continues with Madden introducing dancers who perform a dance of welcome accompanied by music. The performance, with its colourful sets and costumes, adds gravitas and authenticity to the awards ceremony.

See a Welcome to Country performed by Bennelong's descendant, Aboriginal actor Ben Blakeney OAM (1937–2003), at the opening of the Sydney Opera House in Queen at the Opera House (1973).

Notes by Beth Taylor

For one night only, on 25 September 2020, the sails of the Sydney Opera House lit up to celebrate the 20th anniversary of an iconic moment in Australia's sporting history and its preservation on DNA.

Cathy Freeman won gold in the Women's 400 metre race at the Sydney Olympic Games on 25 September 2000. Twenty years later the NFSA has preserved the video of the historic race for future generations using an innovative, sustainable, long-term storage technology: synthetic DNA.

This project is a world first, using emerging DNA data storage technology to preserve moving image for archival purposes. It is also the first Australian video ever to be encoded on DNA.

This preservation initiative is a partnership between the NFSA and the Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage (OFCH). Learn more about the project in this article.

© 2020 Images of Cathy Freeman and Olympic Games All rights reserved by International Olympic Committee. This footage shall only be used for personal/non-commercial purposes.

Queen Elizabeth II officially opens the Sydney Opera House at Bennelong Point on 20 October 1973. This excerpt from the documentary Queen at the Opera House shows the one-million strong crowd, a helicopter fly past, marching bands and a procession of military personnel and people in national costume.

Bennelong Point is named after senior Wangal man Woollarawarre Bennelong (c.1764–1813) who was an important interlocutor between the Eora nation and the British. Aboriginal actor Ben Blakeney OAM (1937–2003), one of Bennelong's descendents, welcomes people to the site from the top of the building's tallest sail.

Here a narrator recounts his oration: 'I am Bennelong. And my spirit, and the spirit of my people lives. And their dance, their music and their drama and their laughter also remains.' This sentiment echoes Gadigal Elder Allen Madden's Welcome to Country at the Opera House in 2008. It was reported in the Sun Herald at the time that Blakeney went on to say, 'Here my people chanted their stories of the dreamtime, of the spirit heroes and of earth's creation – and our painted bodies flowed in ceremony'.

The Queen, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh and NSW Premier Sir Robert Askin address the eager crowd.

The Sydney Opera House is complete – 17 years after Danish architect Jørn Utzon won a competition to design the building. About 10,000 construction workers were involved in building the architectural feat at a cost of $102 million.

Notes by Beth Taylor

This Cinesound Review newsreel details the competition for the architectural design of the Sydney Opera House in 1957.

The winning design by Danish architect Jørn Utzon created both controversy and excitement. His prize was £5000.

The Opera House was projected to cost £3.5 million (A$7 million) and ended up costing $102 million (equivalent of A$927 million in 2016). It was largely paid for by a state lottery.

Construction began in 1959 and the building opened on 20 October 1973.

This excerpt comes from Cinesound Review no. 1319. Released on 7 February 1957.

Notes by Beth Taylor

Before construction began on the Opera House in 1959 it was the site of the disused Fort Macquarie Tram Depot.

The Sydney Opera House was built at Bennelong Point on the land of the Gadigal clan of the Eora nation.

Danish architect Jørn Utzon says that although he designed the plans without ever visiting Sydney he was inspired by Sydney's stunning headlands.

Jørn Utzon:

...One could not design a building for such an exposed position without paying attention to the roof. One could not have a flat roof filled with ventilation pipes. In fact one must have a fifth facade which is just as important as the other facades. 

An excerpt from the Film Australia Collection's The Fifth Facade, 1971, Film Australia Collection © NFSA. 

Full title available for purchase from the NFSA Shop.

Notes by Beth Taylor

This short film was produced by the Commonwealth Film Unit from historic and contemporary footage of the Sydney Opera House.

It includes footage of its complex interior and exterior construction, as well as the site's previous use as the Fort Macquarie tram depot.

It has a musical score but no narration and is likely an unfinished production. The fact that the footage goes from black-and-white to colour emphasises the long construction phase.

It took 14 years to build from 1 March 1959 to its opening on 20 October 1973. About 10,000 construction workers were involved in building Jørn Utzon's ambitious architectural feat. The building was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007.

The Grand Organ in the concert hall is shown still wrapped in plastic. Estimated to take two or three years, it ultimately took ten years to build - from 1969 to 1979.

The Sydney Opera House has since become one of the most identifiable of Australian icons – alongside the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Uluru, the koala and kangaroo.

Notes by Beth Taylor

This silent three-minute compilation of Eyewitness News footage shows dignitaries arriving at the formal opening of the Sydney Opera House by Queen Elizabeth II on 20 October 1973.

The Queen attended performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in the Concert Hall and Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute, conducted by Charles Mackerras. The first official operatic performance in the Opera Theatre had been Prokofiev’s War and Peace on 28 September.

Also in this footage you can see Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh meeting with performers. They are also introduced to children dressed in koala, kangaroo and monkey costumes.

Other dignitaries include Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and Imelda Marcos (the first lady of the Philippines at the time).

You can listen to an excerpt of the first performance in the Concert Hall on 29 September 1973 featuring Swedish soprano Birgit Nilsson and conductor Charles Mackerras in this excerpt from the NFSA's Sounds of Australia.

Notes by Beth Taylor

The visual diary of John Olsen (1928–2023), preserved in the National Library of Australia, documents his progress on the biggest commission of his career, the Sydney Opera House mural Salute to Five Bells (1973).

Spanning 10 years from 1972, Olsen’s diary follows the evolution of his famous mural, which was inspired by Kenneth Slessor’s epic poem Five Bells (1939), a tribute to a friend who drowned in Sydney Harbour. Slessor’s own 1937 notebook sits alongside Olsen’s diary, detailing the gradual process of constructing an epic poem.

Olsen guides Betty Churcher through the creation of his mural, and the marine world of Sydney Harbour, to reveal another treasure – a hidden corner of the painting rarely seen by the public.

This is an episode of the series Hidden Treasures – Inside the National Library of Australia (2008). In Hidden Treasures, Betty Churcher presents an insider’s guide to some of the little known and rarely displayed art treasures held by the National Library.

A Film Australia National Interest Program in association with Early Works. Produced in association with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. With special thanks to the National Library of Australia.

American talk show superstar Oprah Winfrey filmed two episodes of The Oprah Winfrey Show in the Forecourt of the Sydney Opera House. This is an excerpt from Seven News, Brisbane, broadcast on 14 December 2010.

Thousands of fans pack the steps to be in the presence of Oprah and her guests: Russell Crowe; Terri, Bindi and Robert Irwin; Jay-Z; Bono and Hugh Jackman. The Opera House was chosen as a venue because of its immediate recognition as an emblem of Australia.

Hearing Australian rock anthem 'Down Under' by Men at Work (1981) maximises the sense of Australian identity for an international audience. The Oprah Winfrey Show episodes were broadcast in 145 countries.

American singer Bon Jovi appears singing his 1986 song 'Livin' On a Prayer' – another great example of a classic rock song from the 1980s that would be known by Oprah's target audience. The brief sound bite of the anthemic chorus is enough of a reminder of the song's power. Its inclusion is about revving up the audience, and it works.

The black eye Hugh Jackman gets when the brakes fail on his zip-line from the Opera House's sails exemplifies the surprises inherent in live television.

As a media package this clip effectively covers most of the highlights of the event but without going into any real depth. The aerial shots successfully give a dramatic sense of the size and energy of the crowd but it can all seem a bit remote when viewing from home. More vox pops may have provided a greater feeling of connection to those lucky enough to be in the crowd.

Notes by Beth Taylor

The Sydney Opera House’s Opera Theatre has backstage facilities to accommodate a technically complex production.

A nice glimpse of The Australian Ballet rehearsing in its new home including footage of ballet dancers Marilyn Rowe AM, OBE and Kelvin Coe OBE (1946–1992).

Summary by Damien Parer.

This short Network Ten Eyewitness News story circa 1973 shows the Grand Organ for the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House in its infancy.

British organist and composer Peter Hurford plays the instrument which the reporter says will be completed in two to three years. Ultimately the organ took Ronald Sharp and others 10 years to complete.

It consists of 10,244 individual pipes and is the world's largest mechanical tracker-action pipe organ.

Like the Opera House itself, the organ was steeped in controversy over its budget ($1.2 million) and the time it took to build and voice.

The first recital was performed on 7 June 1979, almost six years after the opening of the Opera House.

You can hear more from Ronald Sharp about the painstaking construction in the documentary Man and An Organ (Film Australia Collection, Peter Johnson, 1981).

This is an excerpt from an Eyewitness News news file footage can from the NFSA collection.

Notes by Beth Taylor

American singer Paul Robeson delivers a stirring rendition of 'Ol' Man River' for construction workers at the Sydney Opera House. He was the first professional singer to perform there – singing on the concrete foundations of what would become the Concert Hall.

'Ol' Man River' is originally from the 1927 musical Showboat with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II.

Robeson, with his powerful voice and his belief in civil rights, turns the tragic song about the struggles of African American people into a protest song full of strength and defiance.

Despite how many times he must have sung it, his performance feels raw and full of emotion. The construction workers watch on in awestruck silence. The sound recording is first-rate with his words clear and easy to understand.

This performance was organised by the Building Workers' Industrial Union during his tour of Australia in 1960.

This newsreel covers the historical moment in a tantalising way with only the performance shown. The coverage could have been improved with a wider shot of him on the site and shots of him meeting workers.

Apart from the opening shot, the footage could have been filmed anywhere. The Opera House in its first phase of construction in 1960. The sails were still a long way off (construction would continue for another 13 years).

This is an excerpt from Cinesound Review no. 1516 released on 17 November 1960.

Notes by Beth Taylor

On 24 October 1993, Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter performed an outdoor concert to a big crowd on the steps of the Sydney Opera House. The concert was part of the celebrations for the Opera House's 20th anniversary.

Switching between multiple camera shots provides visual interest to their performance of this poignant song about domestic violence. The sound quality is exceptional for an outdoor recording.

Archie often shines a light on subjects that can be difficult to talk about, like stories of the Stolen Generations in 'Took the Children Away', alcoholism and homelessness in 'Charcoal Lane' and 'Down City Streets' (written by Ruby), and racism and injustice in 'Louis St John'. This song is no different.

As always, his intention isn't to educate but to honour an experience or a truth, and this song is a great example of that. Archie's respect for his audience, as evidenced by his truth-telling, is one of the reasons why he has such a close relationship with his fans.

Notes by Beth Taylor and Adam Blackshaw

The charismatic architect of the Sydney Opera House, Jørn Utzon, is initially enthusiastic about undertaking the construction of Australia’s most famous building.

On his first visit he commands respect from both workers and senior officials.

Summary by Damien Parer.

Among the works performed at the official opening concert at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall on 29 September 1973 was the celebrated aria from Act Two of Wagner’s opera Tannhauser (1845). ‘Dich, teure Halle’ was sung by Swedish soprano Birgit Nilsson.

Summary by Vincent Plush

This segment from the Film Australia documentary La Stupenda shows opera soprano Dame Joan Sutherland performing and at home in Sydney.

Known as La Stupenda, we see Dame Sutherland singing with fellow opera singer Luciano Pavarotti. He calls her the 'greatest voice of this century'.

She first performed in the theatre at the Sydney Opera House that has since been named after her, in 1974. The theatre is now home to the Australian Ballet and Opera Australia as well as being a venue for staging musicals, talks, comedy and contemporary music.

Sutherland's last full-length dramatic performance was as Marguerite de Valois in Les Huguenots at the Sydney Opera House in 1990 at the age of 63. She died in 2010.

Film Australia Collection © NFSA. Full title available for purchase at the NFSA shop.

The Art of the Prima Donna by Dame Joan Sutherland was added to the Sounds of Australia registry in 2011. You can hear Binny Lum's interview with Dame Joan from 1964 in our Binny Lum curated collection.

Notes by Beth Taylor

People in national dress gather for the procession at the ceremony of the opening of the Sydney Opera House.

View more photographs from the opening in the Sydney Opera House Opening latest post.

Film Australia Collection, The Fifth Facade (1973). © NFSA. All Rights Reserved.

Notes by Beth Taylor

Ronald Sharp and others worked painstakingly for 10 years to build the Grand Organ for the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House.

It consists of 10,244 individual pipes and is the world's largest mechanical tracker-action pipe organ. British organist and composer Peter Hurford is shown playing the instrument.

Like the Opera House itself, the organ was steeped in controversy over its budget (A$1.2 million) and the time it took to build and voice.

The first recital was performed on 7 June 1979, almost six years after the opening of the Opera House.

This is an excerpt from Man and An Organ, 1981 – Film Australia Collection © NFSA.

You can see more about the organ in this Eyewitness News story about its early stage of construction.

Notes by Beth Taylor

An excerpt from the Film Australia Collection's The Fifth Facade. The title is a reference to the roof, which is the building’s most distinctive feature. Architect Jørn Utzon says in voice-over:

I saw it as a building which people will sail around. There are ferries sailing past and large ships coming in. The big harbour is just outside and the large bridge nearby. So people will see it as a round thing. Therefore instead of making it a square box I have made a sculpture, but a sculpture covering the necessary functions in the same way as a walnut shell covers the kernel.

An excerpt from the Film Australia collection's The Fifth Facade, 1971, Film Australia Collection © NFSA.

Full title available for purchase from the NFSA Shop.

Notes by Beth Taylor

In one of the more interesting uses of the Sydney Opera House, martial arts film star Jackie Chan films a battle sequence atop the sails of the building.

The scene was for his 2017 film Bleeding Steel (Leo Zhang, China).

This is an excellent example of the sort of brief, quirky stories that are included towards the end of a news bulletin, designed to leave viewers with a smile on their faces.

The fact that the story was included in a Brisbane news bulletin shows the national interest in the Sydney UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This is an excerpt from Seven News in Brisbane, broadcast on 10 August 2016.

Notes by Beth Taylor

This excerpt comes from Australian Idol Series 1, Episode 32: Finale Live From the Opera House. The hosts are Andrew G (Osher Günsberg) and James Mathison with the Opera House used as a dramatic backdrop in the final showdown between Guy Sebastian and Shannon Noll. The choice of location adds musical credibility to the event.

This special episode ran for two hours, with the excitement building across the first hour of musical performances and sweeping shots of the crowd. Here at the one-hour mark, fireworks allow for the release of some of that tension and hint at the big budget behind the program.

The soundtrack features an inoffensive but rather bland fanfare, typical of a fireworks broadcast, and then morphs into a remix of the Australian Idol theme song. The display is juxtaposed with the faces of screaming fans before Noll and Sebastian arrive on stage. The performers' dress and style have been carefully crafted to contrast what they have to offer voters.

The Australian Idol logo is everywhere on the night and colourful lighting and crane shots successfully emulate a concert setting. The camera picks out famous faces in the crowd including Kieran Perkins and his wife Samantha. Idol judges Ian 'Dicko' Dickson, Marcia Hines and Mark Holden watch on, as do proud family members and third-place-finalist Cosima De Vito.

This event employs multiple cameras and slick editing. It's a good example of professional live editing and successfully captures the energy and excitement for the television viewing audience.

Notes by Beth Taylor

The Commonwealth Film Unit (later called Film Australia) chronicled the Sydney Opera House's construction from 1959 to 1973.

This photograph shows crew filming during the advanced work on Stage II of building in March 1966. Members of the camera crew included Tom Cowan and Jim Dale.

You can see more footage of the construction in the Colour Diary films (number 28 and 41) and The Fifth Facade (1973). View more photographs from the opening in the Sydney Opera House Opening latest post.

The Fifth Facade, 1971 – Film Australia Collection © NFSA.

Notes by Beth Taylor

Crowded House stage their Farewell to the World concert on the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House.This excerpt from Network Ten's coverage of the event shows the 100,000 plus crowd enraptured by the sounds of the popular band who formed in Melbourne in 1985.

They begin the concert with their very first single 'Mean to Me', written by lead singer Neil Finn in 1986. He's joined on stage by Nick Seymour on bass, Mark Hart on keyboards and guitars and Paul Hester (1959–2005) on drums. The band are at the height of their powers musically, managing a tight, buoyant sound that has the crowd singing along and moving as one.

Finn's mention of the New Zealand town of Te Awamutu in the lyrics juxtaposes nicely with the iconic Sydney views. Crane and helicopter shots of the Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge and harbour filled with boats successfully build excitement for the concert to come. The intercutting of multiple zooming shots gives a very 1990s look to the presentation.

The 'small world' of the Australian and New Zealand music scene in the 1990s is beautifully summed up by the colourful, irreverent logo for the farewell tour, designed by New Zealand-born artist and musician Reg Mombassa. Mombassa is also a founding member of Australian rock band, Mental As Anything.

This clip shows a good example of professional live production. Both the live editing and sound quality is first rate.

Notes by Beth Taylor

Pope John Paul II visited Australia in 1986 and spoke with the faithful at a ceremony inside the Sydney Opera House.

This compilation of footage shot by the Network Ten Eyewitness News team shows the Pope greeting crowds and having photos taken with the then-Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Edward Clancy.

Notes by Beth Taylor

Made in 1968, this film reveals some of the challenges and controversies involved in the construction of the Sydney Opera House.

Get an up-close look at the details that make the Opera House such a marvel, including the base of the building (modelled on an Aztec temple), the Swedish-designed tiles, the sail-like roofs and the granite steps.

Featuring a score by Robert Young and Sven Libaek. Made by The Commonwealth Film Unit. Australian Colour Diary 28.

Notes by Beth Taylor

Birthday celebrations for the Opera House in 2013 – celebrating 40 years since the opening of this beloved icon.

NSW Governor Professor Marie Bashir calls it 'one of the indisputable masterpieces of human creativity'. Jimmy Barnes sings 'Happy Birthday'.

Jan Utzon, son of the Opera House's architect Jørn Utzon, pays tribute to his father, who died in 2008.

Reporter Heather Walsh for National Nine News in Perth. Broadcast on 20 October 2013.

Notes by Beth Taylor

Amateur cinematographer George Browne shot this silent home movie at the opening of the Sydney Opera House on 20 October 1973.

The NFSA collects home movies to show a broader range of lived experiences – something that commercial films alone cannot provide.

Film reels were short and expensive to buy and process, so the choice of subject shows us moments that were deemed significant enough to memorialise by the home-movie enthusiast or amateur filmmaker.

This footage moves around Sydney Harbour, capturing the fanfare and buzz generated by the opening of the Sydney Opera House. The forecourt is covered with people and the harbour is bustling with watercraft, all trying to gain the best vantage point for the celebration of this new and already iconic landmark. We see a helicopter fly-over as well as navy vessels and military planes flying overhead in formation.

This footage was shot on 9.5mm film, which was not as common a format for home movies as super 8. The format was created by Pathé for distributing commercial releases to a home audience in the 1920s. A camera was released later so the home-movie enthusiast could film and then project their own films along with the commercial titles.

Notes by Heather Gill

A flash mob of hundreds of dancers covers the Sydney Opera House Forecourt steps in this story from National Nine News in Adelaide, broadcast on 14 November 2010. They are dancing to Kylie Minogue's 1992 cover of the Kool & the Gang song 'Celebration'.

Although it's a brief story, the classic song, originally released in 1980, is instantly recognisable. Its upbeat tempo and catchy chorus matches the party atmosphere evoked by the joy-filled flash mob phenomenon.

The choice of the iconic Sydney Opera House Forecourt as the location makes for news-friendly footage, with the dancers spread out along the Monumental Steps, dancing in unison.

This is a good example of the kind of 'human interest' story often shown at the tail end of a news broadcast which is designed to be brief and upbeat, leaving the television viewing audience in a positive frame of mind.

You can watch the full flash mob on YouTube.

Notes by Beth Taylor

The exterior walls of the Sydney Opera House were inspired by the sails of the pleasure craft on the nearby harbour.

Good shots of the Opera House and surrounds, with the narration and music being very typical of the sponsored documentaries of the time.

Summary by Damien Parer.

In 1972 the Sydney Opera House was in the final stages of construction. With the external structure all but complete, this film focuses on the internal fit-out.

This documentary made by the Commonwealth Film Unit is part of the Australian Colour Diary series (number 41).

This Network Ten Eyewitness News story details the plans for the Sydney Opera House opening ceremony.

With a budget of half a million dollars, the reporter quips that the opening will make anything previous 'look like a country carnival'.

The footage shows organiser Sir Asher Joel talking up the ceremony with the associated watercraft, fireworks and release of balloons.

The story is cut off prematurely. This footage is from a news file footage can (number 2322) from the NFSA collection.

Notes by Beth Taylor

Ice skating duo Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean pose like any other tourists with the iconic sails of the Sydney Opera House behind them. This same year they won a gold medal at the Sarajevo Winter Olympic Games.

Millions of photographs are taken every year by the 8.2 million visitors to the Opera House – including celebrities, tourists and locals. Known around the world as an emblem of Australia, this photograph is a great example of the many publicity images taken of national and international stars soaking up the ambience of the UNESCO World Heritage site. It's unfortunate though that the photographer didn't pay more attention to the background light. If the sky hadn't been overexposed this could have become an iconic photograph.

Other celebrities and dignitaries who have appeared at the Opera House include: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip, Lady Diana and Prince Charles, Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul II, Oprah Winfrey and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Famous performers at the House include Dame Joan Sutherland, Paul Robeson, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Bangarra Dance Theatre, Crowded House and Winifred Atwell.

Winifred Atwell plays 'Waltzing Matilda' on the piano while construction workers at the Sydney Opera House site look on. Note: the first 20 seconds of this clip is silent.

This clip has a charming spontaneity and is surprisingly well recorded. At first it seems the piano playing may have been dubbed in post-production but the microphone picks up Winifred singing and the workers applauding at the end so it was recorded live. Most probably the microphone was placed directly into the sound board of Winifred's beloved upright honky-tonk piano, which would also explain why clip is silent at the start.

This short clip makes the most of a single camera shoot with a number of pans, cutaways and close-ups and is very effective in capturing Winifred's performance and the appreciation of the construction workers around her.

Construction on the Opera House commenced in 1959. It was envisaged that it would take four years to build but it wasn't until 1973 that it was finally completed.

A model of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House on the set of post-apocalyptic Sydney, created for Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (George Miller and George Ogilvie, Australia, 1985).

Another photograph shows the Sydney Opera House and Circular Quay building models from another angle.

Notes by Beth Taylor

Accompanied by a chamber orchestra the Sydney Opera House is shown from many angles both inside and out.

Director Bruce Beresford went on to have an internationally successful career in feature film directing. This early film reveals skilful storytelling ability and stylish filmmaking technique. Two other films about the Sydney Opera House were also produced in 1973 – The Fifth Façade and The 8th Wonder of the World.

Summary by Damien Parer.

Composer Larry Sitsky comments that the opera theatre has many 'liabilities'. Opera director Sam Wanamaker suggests that the space is manageable. 

Summary by Damien Parer.

The Sydney Opera House as seen from the Royal Botanic Garden on its opening day. Over 60,000 balloons were released when Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the site.

A still from the documentary production The Fifth Facade about the opening of the Sydney Opera House. The Fifth Facade, 1971 – Film Australia Collection © NFSA

Notes by Beth Taylor