More than 50 years may have passed, but four old colleagues have vivid memories of working on the construction of the Sydney Opera House.
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The four - who now all live in the Upper Mountains in NSW - were young and green but still very aware that they were working on an icon-to-be.
Leura architects Ron Powell and Phill Paull, draughtsman Ross McMurray from Wentworth Falls and Katoomba's Denise Holden gathered recently to reminisce about those crazy days in the 1960s.
Mr Powell was a NSW department of public works trainee when he joined the design office in the government architect's branch (GAB).
"The whole GAB joined the protest campaign to bring Joern Utzon back in March 1966," he said. "When that was unsuccessful, [local architect] Peter Hall very reluctantly acceded to the then government architect, Ted Farmer's, request to take up the design role to complete the Sydney Opera House.
"Peter invited me and two qualified architects from GAB to join his team."
Some time later, Mr Paull - a friend of Mr Powell's from their very first day as architecture students - also joined.
Mr Paull remembers facing the daunting task of having to work on the beams in the main concert hall that twisted and curved in ways he had never seen.
"There were no drawings and we just saw the enormity of it. But we were students and we were enjoying the ride."
In another area, Mr McMurray was employed to work on, among other things, the air-conditioning outlets in the ceiling of the concert hall.
"I realised it was significant but I didn't capture it all fully. It was just an exciting job, though I thought I'd peaked at 25."
And Ms Holden, aged 16, was in her first job post-school.
She remembers "a lot of whistling" from the mostly male workers. She pushed the tea trolley twice a day and took lunch orders, clambering through the construction site to get to the canteen.
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It was an eye-opening experience in many ways.
"I was so unworldly. I had lived a very sheltered life."
She recalled tasting mustard for the first time - "I thought, what is this thing on my ham sandwich" and discovering a baguette - "I'd never heard of one".
"The biggest impact was learning things about the world," she said. "Afterwards, I felt some pride in having something to do with the building."
Mr Powell's first job was to build a model of the glass walls, which were probably the most complete documents Utzon had left behind.
In the end, that plan was abandoned. He then worked on the louvres on the sails before taking on a range of interior design jobs, such as dressing rooms and green rooms.
He recognised at the time that it was a "very controversial project" because of the departure of Utzon. It was also significant in another way for him.
"The government decided to conduct tours on Sundays and I was asked to do the tours. Quite often my three-year-old daughter was dragged around," he said.
Years later, the daughter, Toni, became a tour guide herself at the Opera House and later an opera singer, completing a full circle for the Powell family.
The team worked ridiculous hours, Mr McMurray said, often until 10pm, and there was no paid overtime. Instead they would be offered treats - like a ferry ride on the harbour or a party.
The old colleagues are now part of a group lobbying to have Peter Hall's contribution better recognised.
Already Mr Hall's work has become part of the tour guide information but their ultimate aim is to have the playhouse renamed the Peter Hall Playhouse.