Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 6 : Debate on New Art Gallery and Cultural Centre 1963-1970

..COURIER MAIL" Bris.Nne , Q. • By ARTHUR RICHARDS · AFTIR the quiet years, Brisbane . hat moved again into one of its periodic buildin9 hooms. This one should provide the biggest and most exciting transformation ln·the city's 140 years of history. Twe•tY. major new example ot London and , , New York, whel"e mllllona of bulldinp, In round fig- ctt;r. passengers are carried ur~, ·lave been started daily by w1derground and or plailm.ed and they wlll 1urface lines. a&aaid high above the Brlabane architect . and famWar cfty uylJ.ne _ 10 planner E. J . A. Weller, past 111 20 24 and even a recora president of the Royal Aua- 281 atore,a" ror the proposed trallan Institute of Archl– HIUIUD,rso,n aroup sky- tecta, puts forwar~ aome ICra.pel'. on the ·river's edge Ideas on railway use.- at ma,le Street "I feel that the city would . • ,' be best served," he aays, Prom Br11bane I point of "by permitting fu ture com– vtew It ,a- .. 10,den a1e of merclal developmen t Jn the ~ t' Spring Hill area. New .ca'bltal is pouring ln "If you look at the map to p~cre more. jobs and you will aee that Spring . put drt money into ctrcu- Hlll lies between t11•0 sub– laUon. The l)eW bulldin~ urban rallwa.v lines, one wW ltrenlthen the city II running from Roma Street admtlllltraflft and commer- through Central to Bruna.: cW 1 •• tm tnachlnff' 1 WY and add to wick Street, and · the other .., I! ~c ency from Roma Street around the Gregory Terrace aide of Spring Hlll t-0 the Exhibition Ground. Optimistic The apanalon la helping creat.e a new and more op- ! t=-'~kJrC:1 :i:n~: tblDI , U:fti~ firms are blttQtl of pounds · ~ faith ln Brlabane'11 ture 11owth • • • RoW to maintain that lP'C!wthL and guide lt Into dealrab.111 ~ela In the future, are problems that are now concerning plan– ners ln State Oovemment. Clty Council. and prlvatf' praotlae. Trattlcr for example:– Eai:Jl of the major nev. akyacrapera wm have its own daytJme population, and the biggest of . them during .working hours will house u many people aa a good-sized country town. These people will have to be moved into the city and out of. It again each day– and many of them will want to use private cars. "It would be comparatively simple to put a loop between these lines and thua make them Into an Inner Clt:v Circle, · "It would serve the ahop– ptng dlatrlcta a11 now. and a vast commercial district within the rlng. Thla could be the mechanised office centre, uslnr buatnesa machines. for Australla. "Moving office ·workers and shoppers up to their destinations, from stations on this Inner Circle would be no great problem today, now that we have ~calators and moving footpaths. ·"RaUway transport Is fast. relatively cheap, and re– lieves pressure on the roads. "Making Spring Hill the future commercial centre o! Brlabane would make full use of existing lines." Brtabane'a 1>roR()sed Ci ty Plan, In Mr. Weller's view, 111 a good piece of work "within the brief handed to the planners.'' Restricted One 1u11eat1on has been put forward that the build– ers of new city premises should be forced to provide adequate off-street park- ~':n f~n~hita~ars used by It.I! But the brief he says But, this, In the view 01 restricted the pianners · to traffic ex~rta, would be the political limits of Grea ter no solution, because the cen- Brisbane, and lmpOlled upon t ral It t ta II them acceptance of the Rall- c y 8 ~ee. Lmay we. way Depn. rt'-ent·'s view on prove unable to nandle all •· 111 these extra !!Ara at peak what It cquld )Provide In the hours. . . way o! tran11port. More and more, I have ''You cannot consider a found . expert thinking In city In a vacuum without Brisbane Is coming back to proper reference to lt:.s sur– public transport aa the only rounding count!"Ylllde." Mr. means of coping with r ver·- Weller sa.ys. "And planners increasing crowds need to be allowed to stn te One school of thought Is · o!iel!klnfl to make greater I l ua of suburban and city raUways, pointing to the PART 2 11111111111111 !! I 11111111111 IIIIIHIIIIIIIIIIII I i 0 1 I • •• problems 1 1 I .. ., : • ,• = lie aheail..l u11111,11111111111111111111111,1111111111111,1111i11111,,,,,11111,,11,,111,,, ••••,.,,,1111111111,111111111111111uul 'their transport require• ment.s. "The future city would benefit from express com– muter railway services serv• Ing towns such as Beaudes– ert and Nambour. from which a work force could be drawn." .What can be done to maintain and hasten the growth of Brisbane? "For one thing," says Mr. Weller, "people ot_ten over– look the extent to which Oovemment ltaelf hM be– come really bli buabiea. "Just look at Canberra, where a city of '10,000 people hll8 been built up almost entirely on the buslneaa ol Government. We could be tblnldng In terms of slmlla.r develc,p,:nent In Brisbane." 'Govt. area' Mr. Weller would favour a new complex of Govern– ment. buildings at the Bot– anic , Gardens end of the city, along Alice, Margaret. and Mary streets, between Oeorge Street and Edward Street. "This would give an Im• presalve and e!flclent gov– ernment area adjacent lo the Gardens,'' he says, "and It would put to proper use an area that has not de• veloped as It mle;ht haVP done. "In fact this area ls nrJ longer needed for corn· merce." Such a plan, he believes, would eventually free some existing Government bulld– lnltS for other public pur– poses, and leave room for gardens filtering through the Government complex. "I would like to see the lovely old Treasury Build– Ing ·at the head of Queen Street:--used as the new Ar~ Gent.re. It Is conv.enl.ent t'o puhllc trnnsport. and woulcfJ not need a whole lot" or work to convert It. Mnny mag– nl!lclent nrt museums In Eu rone have been created by similar reorganisations ol treasury buildings." As to stimulating fu ture growth of the city, Mr Weller urges bold th ink ing "We need to extend stand– arct gauge rallwnv li nes from · ... Munvlllumbah and Wallan- brought together ·for the garra to Brisbane; right to information of the coQI• the ship's side. munlty_ . "This would mean that Sucli a place la a M111eum Brisbane would become the of Technol01Y. It would natural port and commer- provide. in effect, ,. eollec– cl!ll centre for the New tlve technological brain for England Tableland and the Queensland. Indu11tr1allatl Northem Rivers of New students, researchers, ,com; South Wales. It would make merclal people could use, 11. vast dlf!erence to the this in11tltutlon -to t~p clt;v themselvts abreaat of de- . And who Is to sa:v that velopments In their own It cannot be done? flelda. "The Federal Governme1\t such a museum, together at tbls moment Is behind wtth an expanding publlCi the . construcUon of new ··library, could provide the: standard gauge railways In starting point tor 11ew •dev– South Austral!!\ and west• .I elopment of old onea. . _,,, ern Australia. "These lines to BrlsbMe are needed Just as much from the national viewpoint. , There Is ju t one standard rail link bet,vecn Brisbane and the other States of Australla. and what would happen If that were put out of action In wartime? "I believe that n stronit case could a.nd should be presented to Canberra for these new lines. When they are built you will rnally,,see Brisbane go ahead '!\fr. Weller agreed with other architects wit h whom t ha ve spoken In the last two week,s that among the city's most urgent Imme– diate needs are a far bigger and more comprehensive publli! library, and two new museums - a Museum of Technology, and a Museum or Natural History. • And the mphasls was eieced on the Museum of rechnology_ The arguments run some– thing like this : Vast army Of all the scientists who ever worked since the be– ginning of recorded history, 90 per cent nre llvlnit and oractlslng nt this moment. Throughout the world , ·they form a 1 1 ast army of ta lent and energy, and ~ products of their work ar~ coming so fMt from labora– tories and fRctorlrs that no !Ingle human mind could ever hope to keep track of them all - let alone undcr– utand th tim. What ls needed In ci ties su h a:s Brisbane are cen– trnl oil t:tlng places where, thc/;e things, and lnfor– r11n !Inn nho11 t. t,hr m. rn n bP