gordon

James Rhodes

2011-10-03T21:41:00.000-07:00

“James Rhodes is not your typical classical pianist. Yet his passionate playing and rock-star aura could be just what the music needs.” – The Times

JAMES RHODES is "a classical pianist with a rock-star attitude”. He is an inimitable mix of artistic cultures.

James makes it his mission to seek out new audiences for classical music through his choice of venues and his irreverent and humorous performance style.

Rhodes dispenses with the ‘straitjacket’ approach to classical music.

On stage he interacts with his audience, sharing his thoughts on the music and composers. By using his comic stand-up style, James brings a touch of rock n roll to each performance, and makes classical music accessible to a wider audience.

Swinburne Design Special Collection

2011-10-03T20:19:00.000-07:00

Design Special Collection

Swinburne has had a rare book collection for many years. Much of the material from this collection dates from the instigation of art courses at Swinburne in 1909. The collection was housed at Hawthorn campus library until the amalgamation with Prahran campus in 1992, when all of the rare art/design related material was moved to Prahran.

In 1995 Ms. Denise Whitehouse, Senior Lecturer in Design History put forward the following proposal:

“with the School of Design’s move into research activities particularly at honours and post graduate level we have begun a primary research collection which focuses on the history of Australian graphic and industrial design. We now have the beginnings of a specialist design collection that includes magazines and publications of design significance, actual examples of graphic and promotional design, and material pertaining to the history of Australian industry, manufacturing and retailing. This is pioneering work; we doubt that such a collection exists in any other university library. A special grant would enable us to continue to develop the collection as not only a valuable resource but also into a quality specialist collection which would then enable us to solicit donations from designers, companies etc. It would be good if we were able to draw on the Swinburne alumni which includes many important designers. A grant would also enable to build areas such as Australian typography, industrial design education, and magazine design. Such a pioneering collection would enhance the reputations of Swinburne University Library and the School of Design”.

Ms. Whitehouse further requested that full runs of the following historical journals be purchased, and to a large extent this has been achieved.

Australia Today
The Lone Hand
Australian Women’s Weekly
Art in Australia
The Australian Home Beautiful and House and Garden
Home Magazine
RIVA Magazine (architecture)
Building Magazine
Architectural Digest
Architectural Forum
Decorative Art
The Studio
Pix
Melbourne Punch
Oz Magazine

Over the years students have regularly been required to consult these journals as part of their research, and its use is embedded in the first year subject “Twentieth Century Design History”. Academic staff have regularly published research papers based on the contents of these magazines. Dr Simon Jackson from the Faculty of Design recently was published internationally in a fully refereed international journal from research conducted in this collection:
Jackson, S. Blonde Wood among the Gum Trees: Scandinavian Influences in Furniture Design in Australia, 1930-1975. Scandinavian Journal of Design History v. 13 (2003) p. 36-51

Dr. Whitehouse has defined the scope of the collection as:

“primary source materials on the development of Australian art, architecture and design, particularly graphic design, interior design and industrial design, and materials on the nature of Australian society which has influenced these developments”.

This collection is not a collection of rare books as such, but rather a collection of scarce material relating to Australian design and culture. It is a hands-on, accessible working collection, and is unique in its focus on the history of Australian design.

Access to this collection is easy: just ask for a key to the Design Special Collection at the Service Desk in the Library. Items may be photocopied or scanned with care.

Z Magazine

2011-10-03T18:15:00.000-07:00

Z magazine is an independent monthly magazine published in the United States. It has a challenging,left perspective on many cultural, social, environmental and political issues.

Znet is a website focussing on politics from a left perspective.

It is a refreshing alternative to the mainstream media.

Recent articles include:
GAY & LESBIAN COMMUNITY NOTES: What Happened to Queer Anarchism? by Michael Bronski
ENVIRONMENTAL TIDBITS: A Republican War on the Environment by Don Monkerud

Adbusters

2011-10-03T17:55:00.000-07:00

Adbusters in a not for profit, anti-consumerist, subversive organization founded in 1989. It challenges and raises issues to do with thoughtless consumerism, corporate domination in advertising, and dishonest manipulation of the consumer. It calls on consumers and designers to critically evaluate their contribution to society. It questions the ethics behind the advertising industry and the products and services being promoted.

It is relevant to design students because it questions many widley held assumptions about the way we live, the way we consume, and the assumption that shopping fulfills peoples basic needs and creates well being.

It publishes the advertising free Adbusters, a magazine devoted to challenging consumerism. It is a gritty publication with confronting graphics and unconventional layout.

Notable past and present contributors to the magazine include Christopher Hedges, Matt Taibbi, Bill McKibben, Jim Munroe, Douglas Rushkoff, Jonathan Barnbrook, David Graeber.

Adbusters has launched numerous international campaigns, including the famous Buy Nothing Day.

Hilary Austen Artistry Unleashed

2011-10-03T01:56:00.000-07:00

Dr. Hilary Austen is an adjunct professor and member of the dean’s advisory board of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. Cofounder of Catalyst Consulting Team in Santa Cruz, California, she has worked with such clients as Monitor Group, Oracle Corporation, Stanford University’s Intelligent Systems Lab, Shell Oil, Proctor & Gamble, Lockheed Martin, and Merck Pharmaceutical. Dr. Austen also cofounded the Brain Integration Center in San Diego, which offered programs in personal development, art, communication, and learning based on brain research.

Up until now we have been familiar with artists applying their qualitative intelligence to art works such as paintings, but this is narrow view. She argues that we should be cultivating those skills and applying them to new areas such as social problems, business models, logisitics, processes within organizations. This is seen as an opportunity for any design student to stretch their abilities beyond creating design objects.

Her book is well worth reading:

Artistry unleashed : a guide to pursuing great performance in work and life

Hilary Austen
Toronto : University of Toronto Press c2010
Available

Hawthorn- General 650.1 AUS-AAvailable
Location
Call Number

Bruce Nussbaum

2011-10-03T01:40:00.001-07:00

http://www.fastcodesign.com/users/brucenussbaum1

Bruce Nussbaum blogs, tweets and writes on innovation, design thinking and creativity. The former assistant managing editor for Business Week is a Professor of Innovation and Design at Parsons The New School of Design. He is founder of the Innovation & Design online channel; founder of IN: Inside Innovation, a quarterly innovation supplement.

He believes that design is "too important to be left to designers or design schools". He suggests that Design Faculties with their traditional approach to design problem solving have not risen to the design challenges currently facing the world: pollution, over population, global warming, economic malaise. His interpretation of the challenge is "creative intelligence", which can be applied to any discipline. Creative intelligence should replace the constrained "design thinking" approach, so that truly creative and innovative solutions can be realized.

2011-10-03T01:40:00.000-07:00

Semantic Web

2008-11-18T19:59:00.000-08:00

Semantic Web is an extension of the present web, in which information is given well defined meaning that enables people and computers to work together more effevtively.

Sematic Web has the potential to enhance digital libraries enabling interoperability; the ability to access similar types of digital objects and services distributed across a number of repositories.

Semantic Web has potential for improving reference services in that it could:

1. anticipate client needs
2. improve accuracy and breadth of information provided in response to a specific request.
through being able to serach a wide source of information and analyse its relevance.
3. be able to accurately promote and publicize the scope and availablity of library services.
4. survey the information needs of the local community and create appropriate local information products.
5. evaluate the effectiveness of information services offered.

It also has the potential for collection development and building through being able to analyse current and future collection needs and sources of information.

Voyage RSS Feed Reader

2008-09-14T23:10:00.000-07:00

This is an attempt at a three dimensional feed reader. Headlines float in space in varying layers of clarity. The ones closest to you are easier to read and are more up to date, the layers behind being older. Up and down arrows on your keyboard will take you back and forward through these layers. The lack of clarity of the distant headings is frustrating.
I personally did not find it very usable or attractive to use, and the navigation is quite difficult. It is necesseary to enter the URL of the feed you wish to access, there is no bulk upload facility, feeds must be entered one at a time, and it is not possible to create an individual account on this site.

Kart00

2008-09-02T16:34:00.000-07:00

Kart00 is one of a number of search engines that uses pictures rather than text to display the relationships between retrieved internet sites. The search results are displayed visually using “peaks’- the bolder ones indicating the relative importance of the results retrieved. The mapped sites and topics are also listed in the navigation bar on the left hand side of the screen. A red triangular marker also appears on the screen allowing you to search on the site or pull up related sites. Contour lines also establish links between topics. The intention of Kart00 is to combine the power of both the logical and creative aspects of the brain. Using this search approach appears to take longer, and tends to bring to prominence unusual and peripheral aspects of a search topic.
Since serious research is approached through rational, logical analysis, a search engine that logically ranks results according to relevance would appear to be more beneficial. Kart00 however offers more entertainment value.

VuFind

2008-08-14T17:04:00.000-07:00

VuFind enables users to search and browse through all of a library's resources by replacing the traditional approach of an OPAC. It brings up a multiplicity of materials in different formats.
Features include the ability to refine search results, a tagging system, the ability to add reviews and notes, and a capacity to find similar items. A search of the National Library of Australia suggests that it has a clean inteface and is user friendly.

2008-07-20T22:56:00.000-07:00

I have joined LinkedIn. It is the prefect tool to make business connections, make new professional contacts, share knowledge and hire staff.

Reference Staff 1984

2008-07-14T02:20:00.000-07:00

Reference Staff 1984

Back Row: Gordon Turnbull, Helen Hazard, Ian Douglas, Barbara Camfield, Peter Simmenauer, Colin Bates

Middle Row: Lynne Murdoch, Barbara Nichol, Bea Donkin, Julie Ager, Jan Lindner

Reclining: Colleen Skinner

24 Hour Megaswim

2008-02-10T20:34:00.000-08:00

Multiple Sclerosis is a disease of the central nervous system affecting more young adult Australians than any other neurological condition. Your donation will help to minimise the impact of multiple sclerosis on all individuals affected by the disease by allowing us to offer a wide range of assistance, in the form of Scholarships and Financial assistance for home improvements, vehicle modifications and equipment.
So, here's how we went.
After 24 hours we had swum a total of 83km, soundly beating the other 30 teams (the next closest was 1.1km behind) and guaranteeing we'd require physiotherapy for the next four weeks.
My personal distance was 6.3km.
It was, of course, worth it. Over $160,000 was raised by the teams, a brilliant effort, all very proud. Thanks so much for your contribution.
Now, as for next year...
Your support is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Gordon

Second Life Libraries

2008-02-06T19:38:00.001-08:00

Second Life Libraries are Great!!!

2008-02-06T18:55:00.001-08:00

Second Life Libraries are a great concept and the sooner we move to them the better. It’s an inevitable consequence of Second Life itself, as after Second Life clubbing, holidaying, boutique shopping and real estate dealing, Second Life education and careers must surely follow.

A Second Life library can offer an extremely attractive Noosa- style resort like ambiance, with the Pacific Ocean crashing on golden sands on three sides of the building, and the subtropical jungle visible on another, quite unlike the grim buildings that we currently occupy in Melbourne. In fact we can eventually abandon brick and concrete buildings altogether, with their tatty collections of printed materials and ugly plastic furniture.

Within our virtual library we can deliver virtual reference, create virtual displays of art and valuable materials, present virtual lectures by famous intellectuals, artists and designers, attach a superb virtual theatre, cinema and restaurant as well as offering virtual child care to the virtual families. We can create virtual relationships with the world’s leading museums, galleries and institutions. The library staff will not be aging, graying and overweight, no, they will be young, athletic and beautiful, just like the clients. I imagine a team of blond dancing queen reference staff wearing pink jumpsuits with sequined belts, dancing from floor to floor, fielding questions with ease.

I am very excited about Second Life libraries, and admire the attempts that have been made to date, but these surely are early Second Life days.

The past catches up with you...

2008-02-05T19:29:00.000-08:00

I was quite surprised to find this reference to one of my former lives while browsing on the web...

112. The Tyger.
(Brisbane, Tony Woodyatt, [1976]) 2 nos.
The Tyger was a short-lived Brisbane literary periodical which published poetry and prose and had reviews of art exhibitions as well as essays. Tony Woodyatt was a Brisbane law clerk and Queensland University student who mixed in Brisbane’s avant-garde literary and artistic set of the time. As well as editing The Tyger and arranging exhibitions of artists such as Gordon Turnbull, now at Swinburne University in Melbourne, Tony also made an experimental movie in 1976.

It is from a 1999 catalogue of an exhibition at Monash from their Rare Book Collection "Modern Australian Poetry" curated by Richard Overell.

Tony, who is an old friend, had the radical idea of sending his periodical randomly to people in Brisbane selected from the phone book, which resulted in some indignant and hostile recipients.

Tony is now coordinator of the Queensland Public Interest Law Clearing House. He has been prominently involved in public policy and legal work in Queensland since 1976 - as a lawyer for the Aboriginal Legal Service, Executive Director of the Queensland Police Review , Director of the Caxton Legal Service, Director of the Parliamentary Criminal Justice Committee which was established after the Fitzgerald Inquiry and has also worked for the Prisoners Legal Service.

e-books

2008-01-29T17:48:00.000-08:00

Does anyone else find these extremely irritating and almost useless?I would appreciate some feedback.
I have just been approaced by a memeber of staff in a hurry who wishes to start her class off on Chapter One of a novel. The Chapter is twelve pages, and she does not have a hard copy of the text as yet.
We are permitted to print just four pages!

The End of 23 Things

2008-01-28T17:30:00.000-08:00

I have now concluded 23 Things.

My perceptions:

1 Beneficial as it increased communication amongst staff through blogging, especially for those working at remote campuses. It also opened up areas of common interest, and developed new competencies.

2 Creating and managing a blog was a good experience, though the blogs are compromised through being a combination of 23 Things comments and more serious contributions. It leads me to the idea of creating a blog on design related issues for the Faculty of Design.

3 The progress chart is inappropriate and created the impression of a competition, rather than a self regulated learning programme.

4 There was a lack of expertise in offering assistance with some of the tasks, as some of the team leaders are inexperienced in these tasks themselves and are doing them for the first time. This cheap type of "you can work it out for yourself" training has its limitations.

5 Given that in the times in which we find ourselves, we work in a highly structured, authoritarian bureaucracy where communication is strictly monitored to conform to the institution’s ethos, how does the relative freedom and creativity of blogging within an organization fit in? Are blogs going to be monitored or censored, and if they are, how effective can they be?

6 Some of the exercises highlight just how inane and worthless some of the new innovations are. Facebook stands out as one such shallow, vain and inappropriate development. As educators with a social responsibility we should not be endorsing technologies like this just because they are popular with young people.

Podcasts

2008-01-24T20:48:00.000-08:00

I have subscribed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art Special Exhibition podcast in New York and also to Philip Adams Late Night Live through the Google feed reader.

Libraries and YouTube

2008-01-20T16:47:00.000-08:00

Books are not redundant after all. When we are finished with Living Libraries, we could move on to Library Dominoes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwihz7iZlx0

24 Hour Megaswim for MS

2008-01-15T14:38:00.001-08:00

As a member of the Glamourhead Sharks gay and lesbian swimming team I am participating in the continuous 24 hour swim to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis. I participate in this event each year.

The 2008 Mega Swim will be held from 6:00 P.M. on Friday the 8th of February to 6:00 P.M. Saturday the 9th of February. The 24hr Mega Swim is a fun team event which raises money for Multiple Sclerosis Limited NSW/VIC "Go For Gold" Scholarship program. Each team is made up of no more than 15 swimmers and the team must have one of their team swimmers in the water throughout the entire 24 hours.

I will be swimming a 90 minute shift in the early hours of Saturday morning( like 2 am). Typically I would swim about 80 50 metre lengths in an hour averaging about 4 kilometres an hour, so I expect to cover six kilometres in 90 minutes. If you would like to sponsor me in this event or make a small donation to MS it would be greatly appreciated. I have a receipt book and all donations over $2 are allowable tax deductions.

Here is my page if you would like to sponsor me online:

http://mssociety.org.au/MegaSwim/Page.aspx?pid=238&srcid=239&frsid=317

Some of you may have noticed posters around the place for the Asia Pacific Outgames. This international event is being held in Melbourne at the end of this month for three days. I am part of the organizing committee for the three day swimming competition which is being held at Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre. I will mostly be on the pool deck organizing the event but hope to compete in a few events if possible.

The Astor Theatre

2007-12-19T21:29:00.000-08:00

While it is pleasing to see that the future of the Astor Theatre is assured following its purchase by St Michael’s Grammar School, it is timely to place this achievement in context. In the 1940’s Melbourne boasted a (mostly) fine suburban picture theatre in almost every suburban locality, some 50 theatres in all. These glittering beacons rose out of dreary suburban shopping strips offering the possibility of escape and enjoyment to the local population. Many of these theatres were designed by the most innovative architects of the time, bringing, as one author noted “luxury and costly beauty to the masses they could not afford in their home life”. Only a few of these buildings remain today, and they have been severely compromised through twinning or tripling.They have mostly been replaced by the most artless, unappealing and poorly designed office blocks, retail outlets and fast food restaurants. The finest modernist cinema architects in the thirties in Melbourne were H. Vivian Taylor, Soilleux and Overend, and their greatest achievements have mostly met the wrecker’s ball: The Padua in Brunswick, The Regal in Hartwell, the Park in Albert Park and the Windsor in Prahran (demolished without a wimper two years ago). Only the Rivoli in Camberwell survives in a severely compromised form. It is indeed ironic that the Astor, an unremarkable and some would say clumsy example of the suburban picture house is now considered to be our iconic art deco cinema. This says much about our conservation values. Melbourne is so very self satisfied and so very pleased with itself these days that the preservation of a second rate building by chance is hailed as a great conservation achievement, and somehow means that the loss of significant, well designed buildings does not matter.

Library 2.0

2007-12-19T20:54:00.000-08:00

While the concept of Library 2.0 is interesting and it is good to have two way communication between the library and its users and to be responsive to their needs, there is a danger in allowing clients to totally direct the nature and content of the service or the content of collections and services. As educators, our role traditionally has been to lead and direct and impart knowledge and wisdom to students, based on superior learning and adult experience. This role should be acknowledged and respected. Some current library scenarios which have been directed by the clients represent a lowering of standards and show a disregard for the welfare of others- allowing students to eat and drink with no regard to cleanliness and consideration of others, permitting loud inappropriate converations on mobile phones in public places, encouraging library users to sprawl on lounge chairs and ottomans...Our responses to the demands of library clients need to closely considered and measured.

del.icio.us

2007-12-19T20:46:00.000-08:00

is an online bookmarking manager. It allows you to add bookmarks and share them with others. It's great if you want access to your bookmarks from multiple locations, eg home and office. Very useful.

Google Maps

2007-11-22T19:23:00.000-08:00

I have looked at Google Maps, and it is most useful. It would be enhanced however through incorporating more features and landmarks on the maps - town halls, churches, parks etc.

Google Book Serach

2007-11-14T14:50:00.000-08:00

Google Book Search is a usful tool for filling gaps in our book collection. For example, I have used it to search for books on the development of industrial products, and it has produced some titles that we do not currently hold.

2007-10-25T18:01:00.000-07:00

23 Things tasks

2007-10-25T17:17:00.000-07:00

Task 8. I have subscribed to Library Thing and added titles.
Task 9. I have added selected blogs to Google Reader.
Task 12. Have explored My Space and Facebook.

no comment....

2007-10-24T20:58:00.001-07:00

Announcement

2007-10-18T23:22:00.002-07:00

I have looked at both Facebook and Myspace and can now fully appreciate their total inanity.

Announcement

2007-10-18T23:22:00.001-07:00

commenting on other peoples blogs

2007-10-18T19:35:00.000-07:00

yes, I have commented on other peoples blogs, I have been making contributions to blogs for years .

Creating Images

2007-10-04T23:05:00.001-07:00

flickr

2007-10-04T22:43:00.000-07:00

flickr site

Family swept away for a Bus Lane!

2007-10-02T17:34:00.000-07:00

Gone with the Wind; The Petries swept away for a bus lane…

While recently visiting Queensland, my mother asked me to take up the issue of the Petrie memorial that was recently removed from King George Square in central Brisbane to make way for a bus lane. There are apparently no plans to return the sculpture to the square. As the Petrie family are my mother’s forbears her distress was understandable. I don’t quite know how to go about this task. Write a letter to the “Courier Mail” to begin with I guess.

The memorial is not old. Having been commissioned in 1988 to commemorate the bicentennial, it is the work of the sculptor Stephen Walker. It has a somewhat folksy, kitsch character, but found considerable favour with families and children who used to climb over it. My mother is very fond of it because it depicts Andrew Petrie’s wife Mary as well as some of his children playing with Aboriginal children, elements that she feels are often missing in the celebration of prominent colonial men. She believes that the struggles and suffering of women in early Australia have been largely overlooked. An oft quoted poem at my parents place is "The Women of the West" by George Essex Evans.

The Women of the West

They left the vine-wreathed cottage and the mansion on the hill,
The houses in the busy streets where life is never still,
The pleasures of the city, and the friends they cherished best:
For love they faced the wilderness -- the Women of the West.

The roar, and rush, and fever of the city died away,
And the old-time joys and faces -- they were gone for many a day;
In their place the lurching coach-wheel, or the creaking bullock chains,
O'er the everlasting sameness of the never-ending plains.

In the slab-built, zinc-roofed homestead of some lately taken run,
In the tent beside the bankment of a railway just begun,
In the huts on new selections, in the camps of man's unrest,
On the frontiers of the Nation, live the Women of the West.

The red sun robs their beauty, and, in weariness and pain,
The slow years steal the nameless grace that never comes again;
And there are hours men cannot soothe, and words men cannot say --
The nearest woman's face may be a hundred miles away.

The wide bush holds the secrets of their longing and desires,
When the white stars in reverence light their holy altar fires,
And silence, like the touch of God, sinks deep into the breast --
Perchance He hears and understands the Women of the West.

For them no trumpet sounds the call, no poet plies his arts --
They only hear the beating of their gallant, loving hearts.
But they have sung with silent lives the song all songs above --
The holiness of sacrifice, the dignity of love.

Well have we held our father's creed. No call has passed us by.
We faced and fought the wilderness, we sent our sons to die.
And we have hearts to do and dare, and yet, o'er all the rest,
The hearts that made the Nation were the Women of the West.

George Essex Evans

Andrew Petrie was born in Scotland and came to Moreton Bay in 1837, where he practised as a builder and architect. He was responsible for most of Brisbane’s early public buildings such as Parliament House, old Government House, the Post Office, the Custom’s House, as well as various churches. He explored the immediate environs of Brisbane, and the monument in question depicts him mounting a horse and farewelling his wife Mary as he sets out on one of these treacherous expeditions. His children cavort with aboriginal children in the foreground while a mystified kangaroo looks on. The Petrie family lived in Queen Street on the river at Petrie’s Bight, and their home was one of the social centres of early Brisbane.

John Petrie their son was the first Lord Mayor of Brisbane, and Thomas Petrie (fourth son) was allowed to mix freely with the Aboriginal children, playing their games and speaking the Brisbane tribal dialect. My great grandfather was, as a result, in constant demand as a messenger and companion for exploratory expeditions, as he was accepted by the aboriginal population as a friend. He was an authority on Aboriginal customs and culture before they were compromised by contact with European settlers and wrote his memoirs in 1904 (Reminiscences of Early Queensland). Unbelievably, in 1851 he and friends rode on horseback to the gold fields in Victoria finding only enough gold “to make a ring”. Much of the family history resides at the John Oxley Library. He later took up a considerable land holding near Brisbane and died in 1910.

King George Square itself, where the Petrie memorial was situated, has been the subject of controversial redevelopment over the years. In my childhood it was an elegant small square with the impossibly imposing Venetian inspired City Hall on one side facing the elegant Tivoli Theatre on the other. The Albert Street Methodist church formed a third backdrop. The grand Tivoli Theatre featured an additional theatre perched on its roof called “The Roof Garden” which was accessed by a lift. The Roof Garden Theatre gave the impression of being an elaborate latticed gazebo featuring a lush sub-tropical garden, and seeing a movie there was a special childhood treat.

The Tivoli Roof Garden boasted open sides which were designed to let evening breezes cool the audience while specially designed steel shutters could protect the audience from rain. According to Australian Variety the Tivoli Theatre was one of only six theatres in the world to have a roof garden at that time (Australian Variety 29 Dec. 1915) and it was promoted as “the Coolest Theatre in Australasia” and the management claimed that it provided “full protection from inclement weather” (Brisbane Courier 10 Feb. 1916, p.2). One of the attractions of the Roof Garden Theatre was that smoking was allowed, “and the modern appointments tend to make the theatre a veritable Eden” (Brisbane Courier 25 Apr. 1916, p.5).

Sadly all of this was swept away in 1965 to make way for a vast underground car park and a new enlarged and ugly city square that featured an unattractive concrete pebble finish. During construction of the car park it was feared that the city hall would collapse into the excavation site.

Here is a link to the Tivoli Theatre in King George Square in Picture Australia:

http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an23000857

State Library of Queensland, Brisbane

2007-10-01T19:18:00.000-07:00

The new State Library of Queensland building under a dramatic sky.

Katharina Grosse: 'Picture Park’, GoMA, Brisbane

2007-10-01T18:48:00.001-07:00

For her first solo art museum project in Australia, German abstract artist Katharina Grosse has transformed the central ground-floor space of Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) into an exuberantly coloured ‘picture park’

Modernism and the Australian Glass Industry

2007-09-24T21:16:00.000-07:00

Australian Consolidated Industries Ltd.
Glass and Modernism in Australia in the Thirties

Gordon Turnbull

“We are living in the Glass Age, just as surely as our primeval forebears lived in the Stone Age. The infinite versatility of glass…the ease with which it can be adapted to a multiplicity of purposes…places it in the very forefront of constructional materials.
We live in an age when girls have dived from glass springboards; crowds have stared at thumbprints hanging in mid-air until they learned that they were looking at “invisible” glass…”1

In an age when we take glass for granted it is difficult to imagine the excitement of the inter-war years when the medium came to the forefront of technical innovation. Today we are accustomed to seeing skyscrapers clad entirely in glass, and products using advanced glass components, and it is hard to imagine a relatively recent time when glass was used predominantly for small paned windows and modest drinking vessels. As we also live in a period in Australia when the large scale manufacturing of certain types of domestic glass products has all but ceased or has reverted to an arts and crafts type industry, it is difficult to imagine that there was once a time when a dynamic industry manufactured a myriad of high quality and well designed glass products for architectural, scientific and domestic purposes.

While Australia was a net importer of glass in 1900, by 1939 the value of local production was five times that of imports. In fact, by 1938, the Australian Glass Manufacturer’s Company, an important component of A.C.I., manufactured a greater variety of glassware than any other company in the world, producing some 9,634 types of bottles and containers alone. 2. The company boasted that it could supply the entire needs of the country. 3. Whilst tariff protection partly explains some of the success of the company in this period, its success was also due to a culture of innovation that encouraged the company to develop and import new technologies, allowing it to economically produce short production runs in a wide variety of products for the relatively small domestic market. In the period 1913 to 1939, AGM acquired proprietary rights to 175 innovations to improve production. Of these, 45 were generated internally by AGM in an innovative environment favoured by management. Also during this period the Australian Tariff Board considered 16 applications for tariff protection by AGM, and only one of these resulted in a reduction in tariffs.4. This high level of tariff protection was also accompanied by a bold, high risk strategy of importing and developing new technologies by the company.

The origins of A.C.I. can be traced to1866 when Messrs. Felton and Grimwade who were wholesale chemists erected a small furnace in Port Melbourne. They employed English glass blowers to manufacture glass bottles. About the same time a small glass bottle factory was established by Mr. Joseph Ross on the site of the Darling Harbour Goods Yard in Sydney. This business was later moved to Camperdown near Sydney. As the country developed, and due to increased competition from overseas suppliers, a larger operation was called for. Australian Glass Manufacturers Company was established in 1916 through consolidating a number of smaller manufacturers. The company greatly expanded in the early 1920’s, employing some 2,260 people by 1925, and over 6,000 by the late 1930’s.

By 1935, AGM operated plants in all Australian states and in New Zealand, making it one of Australia’s earliest manufacturing multinationals. The company was vertically integrated in that it designed and constructed its own furnaces and also manufactured its own forming equipment, transmission systems and fibreboard packaging. By the early thirties it had become the first Australian producer of flat glass, and was the sole producer until Pilkington Bros. Ltd. entered the market in 1936. 5. AGM then embarked on a programme of diversification by modifying some of the processes used in the glass business to produce rigid moulded plastics, items such as table lamps, stools, trays, radio cabinets, and even aircraft components.

In 1939, an important new development became necessary as parts of the company had expanded to such an extent that they became large enough to be treated as independent businesses. Sixteen proprietary companies were formed and operated as separate entities under the A.C.I. umbrella covering the areas of glass manufacture (both industrial, architectural and decorative) plastics, metal forming (building materials, tools) packaging and insulation. Some of the subsidiaries formed are briefly described below.

Australian Window Glass Pty Ltd.
This major A.C.I. subsidiary produced plain sheet glass and figured rolled glass for architectural applications. It also produced the famous Insulux Glass Bricks in a range of patterns and sizes and Flushlite lighting fittings. Bent glass for curved windows used extensively in the late 1930’s was also a speciality of this company.

Crown Crystal Glass Pty. Ltd.
Crown Crystal Glass was the artistic subsidiary of the company producing table and kitchen glassware, coloured water sets, Agee Pyrex ovenware, display stands, commercial and domestic lighting ware, table lamps, standard lamps, as well as chromium, metal and glass smokers’ stands, tables, furniture etc. Traditional cut crystal wares produced alongside more adventurous modernist designs.

A.C.I. Engineering Pty. Ltd
A.C.I. Engineering Pty. Ltd. Operated plants in Melbourne and Sydney produced machinery, moulds, dies, lathes as well as many components used in aircraft.

Australian Glass Manufacturers Company Pty. Ltd.
A major subsidiary that produced glass containers in over 10,000 designs as well as glass tubing used extensively in Neon signage. The company also produced medical equipment, in particular ampoules which were manufactured in Australia for the first time in 1938.

Dott and Company Pty. Ltd.
This important Melbourne subsidiary of A.C.I. produced the glassware needs of laboratories, technical departments and specialised industries. The company produced the type of glassware in which mechanical precision was combined with the personal skill of expert craftsmen.

Bernard-Smith Pty. Ltd.
Produced structural steel and heavy girders used in major building projects- “the steel demanded by modern buildings and bridges”

A.C.I. Fibre Packages Pty. Ltd.
This subsidiary was responsible for the cartons and containers required for the packaging of A.C.I. products as well as those required by other industries.

A.C.I. Plastics Pty Ltd.
This subsidiary produced everything from bottle caps to radio cabinets, from lipstick cases to refrigerator accessories, from cups and saucers to light fittings, aircraft parts and toilet seats. The modernist design aesthetics was probably most apparent in this enterprise with its streamlined range of products.

A.C.I. Metal Stamping and Spinning Pty. Ltd.
This subsidiary developed to cater for the metal caps that were necessary when the cork was replaced as the means of capping a glass container. Not only was it necessary to produce these caps or lids, but also to imprint them with attractive designs and insignia. Gradually the facilities were required for more ambitious projects so that by the late 1930’s this plant was engaged in the production of lighting fixtures and other components of decorative illumination.

The Modern Image of A.C.I.

In the 1930’s, the modern face of A.C.I. was displayed in their buildings – offices, showrooms and factories, with obvious pride. The Australian Glass Manufacturer’s Building (1937) at 420 Spencer Street, Melbourne which contained both offices and a showroom for glass products was designed by the leading commercial architects in Melbourne of the period H.W. and F.B. Tompkins. This building, which has recently been the subject of a conservation battle, is faced in buff cement stucco and features a black ceramic and vitrolite glass veneered base. The massing of the building is angular and symmetrical, and a raised central feature terminates in a flagpole. Glass bricks are used in long vertical panels on the corners as well as in the central tower feature, although the whole composition of the façade aims at a horizontal flow.

While the Melbourne building, although modern, owed much to symmetrical art deco monumental design of the twenties, the A.C.I. headquarters at 52-58 William Street in Sydney (1940-42) by the architects Stephenson and Meldrum was a bold exercise in international modernism. Its character, and the spirit of innovation and excitement of the period, is best revealed in the description offered in its opening brochure “The House that Glass Built”.6

“Towering gracefully at the foot of William Street, is the new State Headquarters of ACI – a new addition to the dignity of Sydney’s architecture.

This is the house that glass built! By day it glimmers and glows contentedly in the sunlight; at night it becomes a pillar of colour – its soaring glass brick walls still living when other walls are dead.

Before you go inside this nine-floored building, ask a question or two about the frameless main door. It is made of glass: of glass strong and unsplinterable; armour plate glass which will bend but not break. And the floor over which you enter is glass also! But look up at the face of the building. See those beautiful mosaic tiles? Glass again – used for the first time on a complete exterior. Throw your head back and look at the pavement awning. There are glass domes inset to light the footpath.
Now go inside. Ahead of you as you enter the ground floor showroom is a decidedly unusual elliptical stairway to the glass balconied mezzanine.

Now- up in either of the high speed automatically operated elevators to the mezzanine floor—a charming setting for Crown Crystal lighting fittings, architectural glass, and chromium furniture. When you stroll around the centre balcony you are walking on glass. Glass bricks, too, form the internal partitions.

Up further now to the second floor to see the display of pressed glassware and to inspect the well-designed offices of Crown Crystal Glass. The third floor provides convincing evidence that ACI intends to provide its visitors with exceptional comfort. There is a charmingly furnished lounge complete with writing tables, and even a sound proofed glass bricked dictation room –with stenographers available for those who prefer to “talk” their correspondence…

On the third floor also are the Director’s offices and the Board Room – interesting examples of dignified efficiency in the modern manner.

Another step forward in the march of A.C.I.!”

The Australian Glass Manufacturers Company factory in Dowling Street, Waterloo, Sydney (1941) also displayed the streamlined modernism of the period. Built on a corner site, it arose from a jumble of Edwardian factory buildings in brick and corrugated iron sheeting. A curtain wall comprising five dramatic bands of uninterrupted horizontal glass bricks defined the floors of this immense building. This horizontality was slashed at the corner by a vertical tower emphasized by vertical bands of glass bricks, and carrying the company name A.G.M. This building has recently been refurbished as a part of the residential redevelopment of this inner city industrial area.

My personal interest in A.C.I. was aroused in 1992 when I purchased a home in the Melbourne suburb of North Caulfield. . The house had been designed by the architects H.W. and F. B. Tompkins for a Mr. and Mrs. Smail in 1938, and was changing hands for the first time. The modernist theme was also evident internally, as the house contained furniture and light fittings in chrome plated steel and glass that attested to a bold modern aesthetic in Australian design. These fittings and furniture had been manufactured by Crown Crystal Glass Pty. Ltd.

Mr. Smail was a Director of Australian Consolidated Industries, and he aimed for his house to be a showplace for some of their products. The company boasted that it catered for “the vogue for combining chromium with glass – in everything from smokers’ stands and display accessories to lighting ware”. The modern image of his company, and their notable modernist commercial buildings, particularly the headquarters at 420 Spencer Street influenced his decision to build his own residence in this style by the same architects.

My home, “Learmonth”, a two- storey brick house was constructed on a prominent subdivision created through the demolition of the Victorian era mansion “Molonga”. It was designed in the modern manner, and at ground level displays the typical characteristics of the “moderne” style of the late thirties, albeit in the slightly clumsy and typically Australian interpretation of pure European modernism. The prominent features at ground level are the glazed bull-nosed projection of the living room, and the sweeping corner window of the dining room capped with a horizontal band of contrasting concrete to add horizontal emphasis to the design. These projections with flat concrete roofs form the basis for two of the three balconies accessible from the first floor. These balconies feature low horizontal balustrades composed of wide bands of wrought iron designed in a simple yet rhythmical pattern.

Internally the house also compromises its “modernism” in favour of numerous decorative art deco features such as wide cornices, an elaborate wrought iron stair balustrade, a tall sandblasted stair window, decorative light fittings, built-in furniture and flush panel doors faced in Queensland walnut. Barry Humphries has commented on the pristine European modern houses of the thirties “with their flat roofs and corner windows…white and serene standing beside birch forests and lakes” and the clumsy interpretations his father and other builders created in Melbourne. As he has so succinctly put it they are “the chubby colonial relations of their austere German cousins in Dessau and Stuttgart”. 7

Australian Glass Manufacturers supplied all of the glass products used in the building of “Learmonth” which includes the curved glass sections used in the windows, numerous panels featuring sand-blasted designs usually based on a nautical theme, tinted stepped mirrors over the fireplaces, vitrolite engraved panels, glass bricks, and some remarkable lighting fixtures more reminiscent of the ocean liner or cinema foyer than of a suburban house.

The Products of A.C.I.

The link between a healthy lifestyle and sunshine was reflected in the domestic architecture of the thirties. A northerly orientation embracing sunlight was considered desirable, and windows became more plentiful and larger. As well, curved streamlined effects that enhanced horizontality became desirable in more expensive residences, producing a series of rounded corner windows forming a waterfall façade (albeit a horizontal one), or a prominent semicircular protrusion (called a “bull-nose”) from the living room. The A.C.I. division, Australian Window and Glass Pty. Ltd. responded to this fashion by producing bent glass sections available in any size. “Bent glass assists the trend towards bold curves in modern architectural design” advised the promotional literature.8.

The “Agee” glass brick, named for the initials of Australian Glass, was introduced in the mid 1930’s and became fashionable for curved glass brick stairwells, glass brick feature walls, and entrance hall illumination.
The quest to be modern resulted in commercial/industrial type building materials such as glass bricks being used domestically.
Barry Humphries has commented on this trend.
“In the very late thirties, if the client was especially rich and daring and my father able to procure enough glass building blocks and aubergine-coloured ‘manganese’ bricks he would build them a ‘jazz moderne’ house with curved corner windows, a flat roof, a nautical-looking sun deck and no front fence” 9.

Eighteen types of hollow glass bricks were produced by the company, creating dramatic “walls of light”. For example the Prevost House (Sydney Ancher, 1937) in Bellevue Hill featured a steel- framed front door set into a wall of glass bricks. This dramatic style of entrance was also achieved at the Seabreeze Hotel, Tom Ugly’s Point, N.S.W.
“everywhere glass bricks are being use for their beauty-the sparkling, brilliant beauty of glass-and for the sound practical advantages they offer. For this modern masonry is light-transmitting…floods interiors with abundant, glare-free, natural day-light. It is, too, simple to erect and compares favourably in cost with other good quality masonry”. 10.

Also produced were sheets of figured rolled glass in a variety of designs-some simulating bubbles, ripples, waves, or crystalline surfaces. These were employed in window glazing, sometimes for decorative effect, but often for reasons of modesty such as in the bathroom. They were also used in cabinetry, especially in the kitchen.

The domestic glass products produced by the A.C.I. division Crown Crystal during the 1930’s appear to be varied in both style and in quality. Stylistically, two distinct influences can be found, one modernistic, the other traditional. Modern designs derived from Continental art deco were produced, items such as vases and bowls featuring geometric sweeps and curves, or heavily moulded with vertical stepped pylon shapes. Others featured classic art deco motifs of the period such as stylized leaping deer. These wares were produced in amber, pink, and lettuce green as well as clear glass, and on occasions the colour was applied externally through frosting. These products are usually of indifferent quality and were manufactured to compete as a cheap alternative to expensive imported Continental glass such as Lalique, Etling and Sabino.

The Crown Crystal quality range, introduced in 1932, comprised cut lead crystal named “Grimwade” a name resonating with high society connotations in Australia and named after the earliest founders of A.C.I.. The “Grimwade” range featured traditional patterns of “chequered cut”, “star cut” and “cross cut” crystal with the occasional finial or knob suggesting the influence of art deco. All items were hand cut using a high speed carborundum wheel by skilled artisans. Occasionally the angular forms also suggested the modern age in which they were created. Items produced in this range included vases, tumblers, glasses, powder bowls, perfume bottles to more exotic items such as clock cases, cocktail shakers and electric table lamps. Most examples had the name “Grimwade’ etched on the underside. The “Grimwade” range was promoted in the up market magazines of the period including “The Home”, “Art in Australia” and “The BP” (Burns Philp magazine for a leisured travelling class), and were greatly favoured as wedding presents. The Australian Glass Manufacturers own magazine “Decoration and Glass: A Journal of Architecture” also promoted the “Grimwade” range. The 30’s and 40’s were a period in which most homemakers aspired to owning a crystal dressing table setting, crystal salad bowls and crystal water sets. “good crystal…really good crystal… is the essence of refinement and taste” read an advertisement of the time.11. One advertisement from 1933 depicts Jocelyn Howarth, a popular Australian actress, seated at a dressing table with “Grimwade” accoutrements. For those with less to spend, Crown Crystal also produced cheap moulded glass items imitating their cut crystal range. It is ironic that today, the stylish art deco range of medium quality moulded glass items command far higher prices in the antique trade than do the conservative but higher quality, hand cut “Grimwade” lead crystal range, which is generally viewed as being conservative and unattractively old fashioned.

By the late 30’s, the demand for modern furniture had increased in Australia in order to complement modern streamlined architecture.
A.C. I. responded with a range of avant-garde products combining glass with chromium plated steel, veneered timber, and plastics. In particular, occasional tables, traymobiles, and smokers’ stands were produced, as well as a range of modern light fittings. These designs occasionally approached the refined functionalism of the European Bauhaus, but were usually more elaborate. A typical product was an occasional table consisting of a glass top that was ornamented with “grave” (engraved) lithe, art-deco inspired figures or animals supported on a simple chromium plated steel base. My own home, which was once owned by an executive of A.C.I. as previously mentioned, features standard lamps produced by Crown Glass Industries comprising a circular chromium base supporting a walnut veneered column culminating in chrome plated metal arms supporting tinted glass shades. The modernist flush ceiling light fittings in my home were also produced by this company. Sections of curved sand blasted glass are set into a large cylindrical metal frame from which protrude horizontal fins of pink tinted glass, and a large disc of plate glass is supported at the base. Changing the light globes in these fittings is not for the feint hearted! Fittings similar to these were produced for many hotels and theatres of the period by the company – the elaborate lighting scheme at Railway House Wynyard Square, the Manly Steyne Hotel, the Trocadero Ballroom, The Australia Hotel, Sydney are some examples.

During the war years, the manufacture of “luxury” items ceased. When it became difficult to purchase china cups and saucers, Crown Crystal produced a range of glass cups, saucers and plates. These were available in amber, green and clear glass, and were of simple functional design with shallow fluting. Being of thick moulded glass, they lacked the refinement and delicacy of the German Bauhaus “Jenaer” glassworks counterparts, designed by Wilhelm Wangenfeld. An advertisement of the period promoted their superior hygiene as well as their artistry, as well as appealing to the public’s sense of patriotism with a society hostess proclaiming that “I wouldn’t change my GLASS tea cups for all the tea in ‘China’!” 12. These items are little desired today, and although produced in the austerity of the war years are associated more with the period of the depression in the public imagination.

Another functional and popular product was the Agee Pyrex range of cooking ware that included casserole dishes, pudding dishes and baking dishes. These dishes were promoted on the basis of their hygiene and cleanliness, another preoccupation of the era, and promised to preserve the delicate flavours during cooking, as well as being suitable as tableware.

In the immediate post war period the company expanded and diversified, with plants being established in south-east Asia. In 1973 Crown Crystal Glass merged with Corning Glass works of the United States and appears to have become an importer of domestic glass products rather than a manufacturer. At this time the market became flooded with cheap imported domestic products from Poland, Czechoslovakia and China. This business was sold in 2000.

In 1998 the ACI glass and plastics business was acquired by Owens-Illinois, Inc. of the United States. Under this ownership ACI continues to produce beer and wine packaging, and also manufactures a wide range of food and other beverage glass containers through nine glass plants and two mould shops in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and China. 13.

Today we can only imagine the excitement and spirit of optimism of a period when there existed in Australia a diverse, dynamic and innovative Australian-owned glass manufacturing industry, when the possibilities of glass were described thus “its force is creative; its future endless”.14.

Bibliography

1. Looking Backward and Forward through Glass, Sydney, Australian Consolidated Industries, 1942.

2. Made in Australia: an illustrated record of Australian manufactures endorsed officially by the Associated Chambers of Manufactures of Australia, Sydney, John Fairfax and Sons, 1938, p.44.

3. Australia 1788-1938. Sydney, Simmons, 1938.

4. Fountain, Helen. Technology Acquisition, firm Capability and Sustainable Competitive Advantage: a Case of Australian Glass Manufacturers Ltd., 1915 – 39, p.103.

5. Fountain, Helen. Technology Acquisition, firm Capability and Sustainable Competitive Advantage: a Case of Australian Glass Manufacturers Ltd., 1915 – 39, p.103.

6. The House that Glass Built, Sydney, Australian Consolidated Industries, 1942.

7. Humphries, Barry. More Please, Ringwood, Penguin Books, 1993, p.17.

8. Made in Australia: an illustrated record of Australian manufactures endorsed officially by the Associated Chambers of Manufactures of Australia, Sydney, John Fairfax and Sons, 1938, p.46.

9. Humphries, Barry. More Please, Ringwood, Penguin Books, 1993. p.17.

10. Australian Window Glass Advertisement. Art in Australia, May 23. 1940, p.98

11. Advertisement, “Grimwade” Crown Crystal Glass, Decoration and Glass, April 1939, cover.

12. Crown Cups Saucers and Plates BP Magazine Summer Number, 1st. December, 1941

13. About ACI Packaging http://www.acipackaging.com/

14. Looking Backward and Forward through Glass, Sydney, Australian Consolidated Industries, 1942.

first posting

2007-09-23T23:17:00.000-07:00

This is my first posting.