John Bradfield

John Bradfield (born December 26, 1867, Sandgate, Queensland, Australia—died September 23, 1943, Gordon, New South Wales) was an Australian engineer known as “the father of modern Sydney.” Bradfield was known for his lead roles in the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the underground railway system, projects that greatly aided the growth of the city. The Sydney Harbour Bridge is among the city’s most-famous landmarks.

Bradfield attended the University of Sydney, where he earned a degree in mathematics in 1886. In 1889 he completed a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering at St. Andrew’s College (a residential college of the University of Sydney). He subsequently served as a draftsman for Queensland Railways and in 1891 joined the New South Wales Public Works Department. In 1895 Bradfield founded the Sydney University Engineering Society, for which he later served as president (1902–03 and 1919–20). The following year he finished a master’s degree in engineering at Sydney.

Bradfield served as an engineer on a number of projects, including those for the Cataract Dam, located near Sydney, and the Burrinjuck Dam on the Murrumbidgee River. In 1912 he submitted a proposal to Australia’s parliament for plans for a suspension bridge that would cross Sydney Harbour (Port Jackson). Later that year he also submitted a design for a cantilever bridge. The latter was accepted in 1913. That year he was named chief engineer for Sydney’s railways.

Following the acceptance of his original design, Bradfield began to consider a larger plan for improving transportation in Sydney, which would accommodate its growing population. In 1915 he proposed a grand plan for an underground electric railway system, though the project was postponed as a result of World War I. Meanwhile, in 1922 the Sydney Harbour Bridge Act was passed. The act allowed for either a cantilever or an arch design, the latter having become possible because of advances in steelmaking. Bradfield decided to pursue an arch design, and construction began in 1924. That same year Bradfield earned a doctorate of science in engineering from Sydney—the first such degree awarded by the university. In 1926 the first stations in Bradfield’s grand scheme—the new St. James and Museum railway stations—opened. From 1930 Bradfield supervised work on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which finally opened in 1932.

Despite Bradfield’s submission of proposals for the bridge design, credit for the design has been a matter of dispute. Detailed design work for the bridge had been carried out by civil engineer Sir Ralph Freeman. Freeman considered himself to be the bridge’s true designer, a claim that was supported by some authorities. The controversy has never been fully resolved.

In 1933, retired from public service, Bradfield took on consulting and advisory work. Major projects in his later years included consulting engineer work (1934–40) for the cantilevered Story Bridge over the Brisbane River, advisory work for the Hornibrook Highway project near Brisbane, and planning and design work for the St. Lucia site of the University of Queensland.