National Trust of Australia (NSW)

Suburbia

A Conference
25 February 2002

Invitation

You are invited to attend a conference which examines the nature of a city: the diversity and grain which defines its character and gives it value, both cultural and financial. Following the 2000 conference Adaptive Reuse: Creativity and Continuity which explored key issues associated with the adaptation of buildings and places of significance this conference examines the nature of cities and their suburbs and the changing ways we inhabit them. A ‘Call for Papers’ was made in July 2001 and the response was overwhelming. A number of clear themes emerged; in particular State government urban consolidation policies, the role of landscape and street patterns and the importance of those things we consider ‘local’.

The conference is being held in Sydney at the S. H. Ervin Gallery on Observatory Hill, Sydney’s highest natural point. Observatory Hill is closely related to nearby Millers Point and the Rocks both areas of intense scrutiny by architects, archaeologists, social historians and tourists. It is unlikely that any other urban area in Australia has been the subject of such close examination. Millers Point is also the site of both Australia’s first major urban renewal project and first conservation campaigns and although Observatory Hill overlooks some of Australia’s oldest structures it also overlooks such contemporary transformations as the redevelopment or ‘adaptive reuse’ of the Walsh Bay wharves.

The Strangers guide to Sydney in 1861 stated ‘the view here is so magnificent that we shall attempt no description of it. The Lighthouse is here visible, and the Heads. A fine view of the harbour is also obtained, and more of the town can be seen than from any other point.’ (quoted in Pickett and Lomb, Observer and Observed, Powerhouse Publishing 2001, p28). A fine view of Sydney, its city, harbour and suburbs is still to be had from its grassy slopes.

It is inevitable that much of the discussion and many of the papers will deal with Sydney, without doubt a ‘suburban city’, however papers will also be presented which look at issues from urban sprawl in regional NSW (Suburbia on Steroids), national and international trends in the do-it-yourself market (Home Improvement: Suburban works in progress) to an examination of local authority tenants in England (On the Council).

Other issues are the changing demographics in Canterbury (Streetscape in Suburbia), the rich cultural diversity of Fairfield (From Cobra Grubs to Dragons) , the legacy of the builder (Builders and Barbecues), model suburbs (The Healthy Suburb), the role of the Pacific Highway on a section of Sydney (Urban Space in Suburbs), planning policies (Urban Consolidation: Sound Policy or Fad) and a look at community gardening in three Pacific Rim cities (Plotting Eden). The conference will be supported by tours of four suburban areas of Sydney on the preceding weekend (23-24 February 2002). The proposed areas are Fairfield and Canterbury as well as Ryde and North Sydney.

We hope that debate about what we value as a community will be engendered by the conference and that further seminars, lectures and discussion will follow. Other papers submitted but not chosen for presentation on 25 February have been selected for inclusion in a publication to accompany the conference and will be presented as part of the National Trust of Australia (NSW) Wyatt Conservation series for 2002 if their authors are willing.

Date and Venue

Suburbia will be held at the National Trust Centre and S. H. Ervin Gallery at Observatory Hill in Sydney on Monday 25 February 2002 with tours of suburban areas of Sydney on the Saturday and Sunday 23 and 24 February 2002. The conference will be followed by a dinner cruise on the HMAV Bounty.

Click here to see Preliminary Conference Program

Click here to see Conference Contributors

Click here for information on weekend tours

Click here for information on Photographic Exhibition