"Before the Sydney Harbour Bridge there were two Sydneys. With it there was one, united by a monumental arch that rose above the water and the rooftops and wrote itself into the iconography and romance of the city and entire country. The bridge facilitated the greatest geographical change to the since the rising of the waters shifting the ocean to what would be the city's doorstep. The bridge brought together the 300,000 on the north side with the 600,000 to the south side. It gave both access to land and facilities that had been prohibitively distant before, opening up the northern beaches and further afield."