Town Planning and Private Enterprise in Early Twentieth Century Australia

Abstract

Sydney real estate agent-surveyor Henry F Halloran was an unusual town planning advocate in the interwar years. Not only did he turn his schemes for new communities, which used the rhetoric and features of the early planning movement, into actual land developments, he also concentrated considerable effort on regional Australia. Halloran was particularly fond of coastlines, estuaries and shorelines. Many of his development projects have been subsumed into later holiday-making and sea-change localities. He promoted his planned developments near Wollongong, Newcastle and Jervis Bay in New South Wales both for their lifestyle and as investment opportunities based on future economic development. Distinctive stonework structures on his estates attempted to link the new planned landscapes with regional memory. Few of Halloran’s projects appear to have thrived in his lifetime although their legacy is inscribed in distinctive geometric road layouts in line with early progressive practice. This paper examines the methods and environmental legacy of Halloran’s many and varied projects along the New South Wales coastline, including the grandiose schemes for Pacific City and Port Stephens City. Using reports, local history, news media and site visits, the paper examines the government, community and historical responses to Halloran’s coastal estates.This article has been peer-reviewed.