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Sydney Airport, then and now
New runways beside a freshly moved river in 1955, runways out into Botany Bay by 2004.
1955
In 1955 the Cooks River has just been moved: it now runs to the bay down a new channel on the western side. Its old course is still there as a cut-off loop of water, with new runways laid across where it ran. The shore of Botany Bay is an unbroken curve of sand.
2004
By 2004 the old loop of river is gone, and the airport covers everything between the new channel and the bay. Two runways reach out into the water on land that was made for them.
The river was moved after the war to make room for longer runways. The second runway into the bay opened in 1994.