The Future of Canberra

Abstract

town planning history of the Australian Federal Capital is one of the most unusual of all among the new towns of the twentieth century. It is not that its growth has been no more rapid than the growth of Washington i^o years ago, when it might have been expected to be at least three times as fast. It is rather that a plan won in competition in 191 1 is still, with some amendments, the official plan of Canberra, and is still shown on present-day maps and guide books almost as if it had been carried out. For over 40 years this plan has been suspended. Criticism has rumbled over it like thunder all that time, from Patrick Abercrombie's report in this Review (Volume III, 191 2) up to the Senate Committee under Senator McCallum in i9££. Soon after the Senate Committee had reported, the decision was taken to move a further contingent of defence personnel into the Capital. It was thought that before the necessary housing and offices were put in hand Griffin's original town plan should be reviewed. It was at this juncture that the Minister for the Interior, the Hon. Allen Fairhall, asked me to visit Canberra again and carry out this review on the spot. This I did in June 19^7. All the evidence was made available including, of course, the McCallum Report; and I also had the advantage of the Prime Minister's views during Mr. Menzies' visit to England later in the year. In January 19^8 I submitted my Observations on the Future Development of Canberra. They were subsequently published for the Government by the Commonwealth Government Printer (as F. 2089/^8) and tabled in Parliament. With the Minister's permission the text is reproduced here, with only minor omissions. A postscript, on the subsequent history of this report is added at the end of this article.