Many believe that the Sydney Harbour Bridge was modelled on the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle in the UK, Mount Hutton's John Ure tells Topics.
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"However, it is the other way around," John said.
"Their bridge - which is only about a third of the length of the Sydney Harbour Bridge - wasn't started until 1925.
"Its design - based on the Sydney bridge - was completed in 1928. Our coathanger was started in 1923 but wasn't completed until 1932."
John added that the Sydney bridge was based on the design of New York's Hell Gate Bridge.
When Topics wrote last Wednesday about Newcastle Castle in the UK, which is the source of the name of the cities of Newcastle in England and Australia, John reminded us of more links between the two places.
"Many of the first coal miners actually came here from Newcastle upon Tyne.
"And several of our suburbs are named after suburbs over there, including Jesmond, Wallsend, Wickham and Hexham. Gateshead, which is a town in its own right, is g across the river from Newcastle upon Tyne.
"Morpeth in the Hunter is the same distance from Newcastle here as Morpeth is from Newcastle upon Tyne."
John's mother was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1911.
"Her father fought with the Northumberland Fusiliers on the Western Front for three years. He was awarded a Military Medal and recommended for another," John said.
"They emigrated to Australia in 1920 when mum was about nine."
Some years ago, John found a "mud map" of the area where his granddad spent much of his war service - on the Arras-Wancourt front near the French-Belgian border.
"He had drawn it on his large service handkerchief. It depicts the village of Baillieu and the various military positions," he said.
"There are two small slits down one edge, which suggests that he may have hung it off his bayonet. I now have it framed and hanging in pride of place."
John and his wife Elizabeth spent some time in the area in 2015, taking with them some postcards that John's granddad had sent to family from the front.
"We were able to locate the exact sites of the postcards and take photos from the position where the original postcard photographs were taken," he said.
"Granddad also maintained a detailed diary of his war service. I have had that transcribed. It's fascinating reading."
Kirk Douglas Memory
This from Kurri Kurri's Col Maybury: "So the great actor Kirk Douglas has died at 103. A good innings.
"The movie of one of our greatest stories, The Man from Snowy River, was my best memory of Kirk.
"Did you know, however, that the movie accomplished a unique task? There was a visible fart when the black stallion commanding the brumby herd called out the colt from old Regret on a frosty night."
Topics: "No Col, we did not know that."
Col: "It was there for some seconds, like a warm fog in frosty air."
Topics: "OK, we'll take your word for it."
Col recalled a scene in the snow in which the main character "turned the exhausted brumby herd for home".
"There is a horseman with a whip further down in the snow to make sure the horses did turn. Anyway, it was a lovely film - enhanced by that grand old actor."
- topics@newcastleherald.com.au