The Sydney Opera House is launching a website which gives the public a new way to experience the story of the iconic venue.

The site, www.theoperahouseproject.com, is a rich mulitimedia online documentary that has been developed in cooperation with the ABC. It goes live at 5am on Thursday.

The project arose out of an idea to document the Sydney Opera House in an innovative digital environment.

The experience is crafted from a balance between newly written material and the archival narratives that reveal aspects of the story in the words of those who were there.

Hours of content are available to view, including this rare video interview with Mark Hamill, the actor who played Luke Skywalker in Star Wars. It was filmed not long after the movie was released in 1977.

Footage courtesy of the Sydney Opera House.