Abstract
What were the American influences upon the introduction and design of the building type of the regional shopping centre in Australia in the 1950s and 1960s? Architectural historians have tended to direct their attention to public buildings or domestic architecture rather than commercial buildings. This paper attempts to consider the American influences upon retail development and practice in post-war Australia in a brief survey that is more comprehensive than has been previously attempted in Australian architectural history. It is also a study of cultural interaction between the United States and Australia, including the dissemination of American books and journals, the fact-finding missions by Australian retailers to the United States and the engagement of American consultants and Australian architects. In particular it recognises the role of Myer Emporium in Melbourne and other developers elsewhere in Australia to introduce the new type. By 1973 Australia was to be third on the list of all nations with shopping centres, and several of these were significant regional shopping centres, based on American models of ownership and management with architectural designs reconfigured to local conditions.
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