1970s Australia Sydney Opera House Aerial Hydrofoil Ferry Werner Bartel Harbour Postcard
Front Description
A vintage colour photographic postcard showing an elevated aerial view looking down onto the Sydney Opera House on Bennelong Point, photographed on a bright sunny day. The image captures the building from above, with the deep blue-green waters of Sydney Harbour surrounding the point on three sides.
The Opera House’s famous tiled roof shells dominate the centre of the card, their cream-white surfaces showing the chevron pattern of the ceramic tiles and casting strong shadows across the podium below. The larger group of shells rises on the left, the second group stands on the right, and the smallest pair of shells in the foreground encloses a restaurant with an amber-tinted glass wall. The broad granite-paved podium and forecourt stretch around the building, with the wide Monumental Steps leading up from the forecourt at lower right.
On the left, a long harbourside promenade runs along the western broadwalk, lined with rows of small lamp posts and dark rectangular pillars, with small figures of visitors strolling along it. At lower left, a row of colourful 1970s-era cars is parked beside the building, a small white van stands near the entrance, and an Australian flag flies from a flagpole beside a waterfront structure. Palm trees and a large leafy tree appear at lower right.
In the upper left, a hydrofoil ferry speeds across the harbour on its foils, leaving long white wakes curving across the water behind the Opera House.
The card is printed in rich, saturated colour. Condition is good, unused, with minor corner wear.
Back Description
Printed box (top right):
Did you know—
the world’s first
Post Card was
issued in Vienna
on 1-10-1869 ©
Printed text (vertical, centre):
WERNER BARTEL PHOTOGRAPHY — SYDNEY — TEL. 3898310
Printed caption (bottom left):
OPERA HOUSE
One of the world’s great buildings and part of Sydney’s beautiful Harbour.
Printed number (bottom left):
280
Printed address area (right): Five dotted lines for the recipient’s address.
The card is unused, with no handwriting, postmark or message. The reverse is clean with light toning along the top edge.
Estimated Era
This postcard dates to the mid 1970s to early 1980s. The Opera House is shown complete with its glass walls and forecourt, placing it after the building’s official opening in October 1973. The hydrofoil ferry reflects the Manly hydrofoil services that operated across Sydney Harbour from the 1960s until the early 1990s, and the parked cars are characteristic of 1970s models. The seven-digit Sydney telephone number (389 8310) predates the move to eight-digit numbers in the 1990s. The Werner Bartel Photography imprint and the colour printing style are also consistent with Sydney tourist postcards of this period.
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