The National Museum, Canberra, and its Garden of Australian Dreams

Abstract

The Commonwealth of ‘Australia’ is almost a century old and it is frantically planning its birthday. Exacerbated by Republicanism, Millennialism and the Sydney Olympic Games, the production and contention of symbolism appropriate to the occasion are rife. Consequendy, several high-profile public projects have been presented as open design competitions. More than just commemorative tides or disinterested markers in time and space, projects such as Federation Square in Melbourne, Federation Garden in Sydney, and The National Museum of Australia in Canberra are focused moments that not only extend the internal intrigues of design discourse, but also apprise the nation's future as an historical project and which expect to cast such thinking into public space. The projects must, at some level, engage with aspects of national identity and national edification, even if only to negate aspects of nationalism and parochialism. Such projects present ideological and aesthetic risks. Meanings are at stake. Such projects must trade on all levels, they are popular spectacles, educational narratives, tourist attractions and academic texts. They are also, of course, built for posterity.