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Clip description
This unedited mute, black-and-white footage shows the columns of the Sydney GPO clock tower being removed in 1942.
Curator’s notes
In this clip the crew is seen removing columns from the clock tower, and the internal staircase is eventually exposed. The workers ride the pillars as they’re lifted by crane through the air and they balance, unaided by harnesses, on the edges of scaffolding. The clip guarantees a case of heartburn for anyone involved in occupational health and safety.
Once the sandstone blocks and pillars, and the cornices and scrollwork, were removed, they were stacked in the open yard of the post office. There, the media of the day came to view proceedings. Reportedly there were 811 individual parts, weighing over 1,500 tonnes. While the clock and bells were stored elsewhere, the masonry and ironwork went to the Maroubra Telephone Exchange for safekeeping.
