Frank Tesseyman can remember the first time he saw the site that would eventually become Canberra's Telstra Tower.
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"The tower was just starting stick out of the ground about a metre high, and there was a big protest going saying it shouldn't be built, but construction had already started."
The Yarralumla resident has a particularly close attachment to the prominent landmark on Canberra's skyline: he was involved in its construction.
Mr Tesseyman was part of a small team that installed hundreds of metres of sprinkler systems and fire-protection measures in the 195 metre structure.
This weekend marks the tower's 37th anniversary.
Working with a team of about eight people on the aspect of the project, Mr Tesseyman started construction in 1974 and finished his section of the tower three years later.
He said that out of the many building sites he was involved in across the ACT, such as the ANU School of Music and the National Gallery of Australia, the Telstra Tower was among the most challenging in terms of construction.
"It was a difficult job because of the new concreting technique called slip forming being used, that nobody had any experience of in Canberra," Mr Tesseyman said.
"We had to get the pipework up the shaft to the top of the tower and there was no lift so we had to walk up hundreds of stairs. In the winter it was particularly cold and foggy."
The construction wasn't the only challenge, with a lengthy court case carried out over approving the structure to be built on Black Mountain, to provide telecommunications across the ACT.
Regular protests also occurred near the building site opposing it being built, but Mr Tesseyman said the activists didn't get in the way of work.
"They were all saying how it would damage the landscape and it would be hideous," he said.
It was eventually opened on May 15, 1980 by then-Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, six years after construction work began.
"The construction took about five years, and then we heard that some people in Canada had built a similar tower in only six months, which wasn't good for morale," Mr Tesseyman said.
"It was a very difficult job and it was very stop and go. We had pipes running right from the basement to the top."
Thirty-seven years after it was first opened, the tower brings in an estimated 430,000 visitors every year.
The anniversary is being celebrated on Sunday, with free entry between 10am and midday, with food stalls and events running throughout the day.
More than three decades after it was completed, Mr Tesseyman said the Telstra Tower still remains one of the ACT's biggest symbols.
"You can see it from anywhere in Canberra, even 20 kilometres before you reach it and it's still very prominent," he said.
"I'm very proud of my work on it."
