PLANNING, ANXIETY AND IMPERIAL IDENTITY IN EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY SYDNEY

Abstract

Imperial identity in Australia in the first half of this century was a complex affair, with ties to Britain intersecting nationalist sentiments. It was also strongly marked by class concerns. This paper examines certain imperial sentiments as expressed through the ideals of the early proponents of town planning in Sydney. Planning was seen as an adjunct to the strengthening of Empire through its concern with producing fitter and healthier urban inhabitants. How planning advocates proposed to go about this, and to what specific ends, reveals much about their ideals, their anxieties and their embrace of planning as an ideological reflex.