On 19 March 1932, Sydney was humming with excitement. Having watched with awe as the bridge was built over the past eight years, 600,000 people gathered to witness the opening (half of Sydney's population at the time).

The new bridge had attracted its share of controversy – from design tussles to political power struggles and concerns over its cost. But the bridge’s most famous scandal unfolded on the day of the opening, and the Cinesound Productions newsreel got the scoop.

Right-wing paramilitary group the New Guard had been vocal in its opposition to fiery Premier Jack Lang dispensing with tradition and opening the bridge himself instead of sending for a representative of the British royal family.

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Major Francis De Groot (pictured) – a leader of the New Guard – had secreted himself behind the Cinesound newsreel van on his horse. Before Lang had a chance to cut the ribbon he rode out and slashed it with his sword, shouting ‘In the name of common decency I declare this bridge open!’.

Cinesound Productions got the footage of De Groot, with a rival newsreel produced by Paramount Film Services not even mentioning the surprise upset.

Ken G Hall, head of Cinesound, recalled with glee in his autobiography:

We're celebrating the Sydney Harbour Bridge with a curated collection.

You can see footage of the construction of the bridge, newsreels capturing the opening and home movie footage of a walk across the bridge in 1932.

There are songs about the bridge from the 1930s and news footage about Bridge Climb and the Olympic torch run in 2000. 

You can stream Constructing Australia: The Bridge (2006, 55 minutes) on NFSA Player.