Leading lights : the promotion of garden suburb plans and planners in interwar Australia

This thesis explores interwar town planning in Australia, focusing on the period of large-scale urban expansion in the 1920’s. It problematises aspects of Australia’s urban planning history, particularly the 1920s ‘garden suburb. It also investigates the question of the use of international planning ideas in Australia, and the assertion or creation of authority by the Australian planning movement. The thesis additionally investigates the use of authoritative planning rhetoric for commercial or creative advantage. The thesis argues that the majority of innovative planning projects in the interwar years took place in the formation and foundation of the garden suburb. It shows that the garden suburb – assumed in much planning history to be an inferior form of Ebenezer Howard’s ‘garden city’ ideal – has, in fact, a number of precedents in 19th century Australian suburbia, some of which were retained in 20th century commercial estate design. Much of the Australian town planner’s authority at this time required recognition and awareness of the interests and needs of the general public, as negotiated through land vendors. As Australians looked to the future, and to the US for guidance, they were invited to invest in speculative real estate development modelled on this vision. The thesis concentrates primarily on the lives, careers and work of the British-Australian architect-planner Sir John Sulman; the Chicagoan architect-planners Marion Mahony and Walter Burley Griffin; and the Australian surveyor-planner Saxil Tuxen. These individuals were among the most prominent planners in Australia in the interwar years. All designed Australian garden suburbs, and combined advocacy with practice in private and public spheres. The thesis examines images and personas, both generic and individual, of the planner and the vendor. It shows that the formulation of the garden suburb and design practices, and the incorporation of international elements into Australian planning, are important in the creation of planning practice and forms. It also outlines the way these continue to have significant impact, in diverse and important ways, on both the contemporary built environment and planning history itself.

HE community fights ALTC closure

While universities stand to lose more than twice as much from cuts to capital funding, it’s the abolition of the ALTC that really has the higher education community up in arms.

Pensions as well as postcodes : new SES measure

Centrelink information, as well as postcodes, will determine student SES for the purposes of the new equity loading – but only as an interim measure.

Unis becoming more equitable, as applications rise

Unis are opening their doors – and particularly to low-SES students, new figures suggest.

Government under-planning for a student snowball : Go8

The government’s plans for higher education system will barely cope with growing demographics, let alone growing participation rates.

Calm before the storm?

Dwindling school enrolments in the years ahead will impede progress toward the Bradley attainment target, new modelling suggests.

Sector lobbies independents : don't wreck equity program

The Coalition’s plans could destroy new-found unity over equitable access to higher education, the rural independents have been warned.

Income support best way of fixing equity : Go8

The Go8 has broken ranks with other university groups in suggesting that base funding shouldn’t have an equity component.

Equity improvements queried

More disadvantaged students applied for university last year. But not enough, according to the experts.

Women doing OK but men lagging behind

Women have all but met the federal government's higher education attainment goals, but the overall population can't reach the target unless men's participation rates improve drastically, according to a Sydney higher education researcher.

"Rogue" figure skews attainment data

The ABS higher education attainment data has been skewed by a statistical blip that artificially inflated the 2009 figure, according to higher education researcher Alan Olsen.

Low-SES students wrongly classified, but who cares?

Equity experts agree with research findings that the metrics for measuring socioeconomic status (SES) are problematic. But they disagree that it really matters.

Sir John Crawford: agriculture and trade

Sir John Grenfell Crawford was one of the most significant of the seven dwarfs – the group of diminutive senior Commonwealth public servants active in the period from the 1940s to the 1960s. Agriculture and trade, the two issues with which Crawford engaged as a Commonwealth public servant, were closely connected. In 1948–49, immediately before Crawford was appointed secretary of the Department of Commerce and Agriculture, agricultural commodities still amounted to 85 per cent of Australia’s exports. Moreover, wool alone made up between 40 and 50 per cent of the total in the 1940s and 1950s