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New year, new phd, new blog
It’s 1 January 2015, which marks the commencement date of my phd. Still feeling groggy, rather than hitting the books, I instead have set up this blog. Over the next three or so years I’ll be...
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On the road
Despite my intentions, this blog has not progressed much since January. Unsurprisingly, I became caught up in my literature review, seminars, and other activities required during the first six months...
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Australian urban history at AHA 2015
Urban history is one of the oldest forms of history practiced in Australia. Early local historians like A.W. Greig were interested in cities and its spaces. Similarly, since World War II, the...
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Regenerating heritage at Melbourne’s Rialto
New Rialto wraparound building The Rialto precinct in Melbourne is undergoing another facelift in the coming months. The Age reported last week that at the corner of Collins and King streets a new...
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Torch the House! Gough Whitlam’s Ngara.
Whitlam’s Ngara (Age) No Australian Federal Government did more for urban heritage than Gough Whitlam’s. Yet his childhood home, called Ngara, faces demolition any day now, at the tail end of an urban...
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Australia’s greatest urbanist: Hugh Stretton
A portrait of Stretton by Robert Hannaford, which won the Peoples Choice Award in the 1991 Archibald Prize. The Australian City in History has yet to be written. If it were, there is one person that...
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Innovation and Reaction: What Would a Minister for Cities Be Good For?
Whitlam & Uren (News Corp Collection, 1972) Calls for an Australian Minister for Cities are becoming louder. Groups such as the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council, the Australian...
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The 25,000 Square Metre Rule: An Obituary
ICI House, 1958. (Courtesy SLV) Without warning last Friday at midnight the Victorian Government did away with the ‘25,000 square metre rule’ as it has been for the past 20 years. Especially...
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Past Liberal ‘Ministers for Cities’
Last Sunday the new Turnbull Liberal Government made Jamie Briggs Minister for Cities. This marks the Liberal Party’s first positive intervention into the Australian city in almost five decades. In...
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A historical rumination on heritage advocacy (Part 1)
‘Defend Collins Street’, Architect, September 1976. A few days ago, tumultuous events played out at the National Trust of Victoria, as reported in the Age. Whilst the Trust often appears in print over...
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Brisbane and Gold Coast urban heritage in the early 1970s (and today)
In late January, a hundred or so urbanists descended on the Gold Coast for the 13th Australian Urban History Planning History (UHPH) Conference. Attendees included academics, historians, planners and...
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Sketching the National Trust of Victoria
Two thousand and sixteen marks the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of the National Trust of Victoria. Drawing from my research into heritage in Victoria, I wrote the following article for the...
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Preserving cities: how ‘trendies’ shaped Australia’s urban heritage
This article was originally published in The Conversation on 3 November 2016. Read the original article. Lygon Street, Brunswick East, Melbourne, 1956. State Library of Victoria The Australian...
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Satirising the Australian City: Bruce Petty
Outstanding Contribution to Journalism winner: Bruce Petty #Walkleys — Walkley Foundation (@walkleys) December 2, 2016 Bruce Petty was awarded the gong for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Journalism’ at...
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Exhibition Review: A History of the Future: Imagining Melbourne
Last year I wrote a review of the exhibition A History of the Future: Imagining Melbourne, presented at the City of Melbourne Gallery. It originally appeared in the Melbourne Historical Journal (vol....
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Apple is exploiting the power of its brand to claim an important part of our...
This article was originally published in The Age on 20 December 2017. Five days before Christmas, news has dropped that a section of Federation Square has been given to Apple for its flagship Melbourne...
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Apple store has no place in the people’s square
This article was originally published in The Herald Sun on 19 February 2018. The Andrews Government’s Apple store is a bad deal for Victorians and an even worse deal for Fed Square. Tania Davidge and...
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