PM Transcripts

Transcripts from the Prime Ministers of Australia

Gorton, John

Period of Service: 10/01/1968 - 10/03/1971
Release Date:
15/07/1968
Release Type:
Speech
Transcript ID:
1901
Document:
00001901.pdf 2 Page(s)
Released by:
  • Gorton, John Grey
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE PRIME MINISTER, MR JOHN GORTON, OF DESIGN FOR AUSTRALIAN PAVILION AT OSAKA 15 JULY 1968

EXPO 70 L
ANNOUNCEMVEi-4T BY' TEE PRIME MI1NL* STER,
MjR1 N GORTON, OF DESiGN FOR AUSTRALLIN
PAVILION AT OSAKA JULY 1968
Admiral Morrison, Your Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen:
This is an opportunity which I am glad to take to announce
the selection of the design for the Australian pavilion for EXPO 70. You
can see it, and I hope you will agree with me that it is an imaginative and
eye-catching concept and one which I think will do us credit in Osaka.
This design was chosen because it-was considered that it
had those qualities of originality and aesthetic appeal which are most
likely to capture the imaginations of those citizens who go through this
exhibition in Japan. I don't propose to dwell at any length on its interesting
features because these will be described to you later by those who know
them in -much more detail and who are able to give a much better detailed
description both of the building and of the tube in which the exhibition itself
is to be laid out. It is not surprising, but it is worth mentioning that the design
of the building, coming from the Department of Works, was due to the work
of the same architect who designed our building in Montreal a highl y
successful building in that exhibition.
Nor is it surprising that the layout of the exhibition itself,
as distinct from the building, has as its architect I expect that is the
word.... designer, whatever it might the man responsible is again
Robin Boyd who was responsible for the interior layout of the building
designed by Mr Maccormickc for Montreal.
I think the displays and I think you will agree when you hear a bout
, them. to be shown in this building, will be just as exciting as the
building is itself, and will be just as imaginative.
International expositions such as this bring together from all
parts of the world the most adva-aced innovations in design, architectq~ re,
in display of exhibits and in film techniques. To make an impact in this
kind of exposition, we have to be contemporary and we hrne to be imaginative.
I hope that as you learn more about the way in which the design is to be
laid out and as you examine the building, you will agree that we are being
contemporary and we are being imaginative in this instance.
I think all I wish to say in addition to that are some words on
the scale of our participation, as a nation, in this exposition. The
budget for this exhibit will be something of the order of $ 6 million ( Australian).
But we see this as well worth expending at a time when we are having closer
and closer contact with Japan in trade and indeed in many other ways. We
feel that the millions of people in Japan who will, we confidently expect, go
through this building, examine the exhibits and form an impression of our / 2

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nation from which the exhibits came and in which the building was designed,
will go away with. a better understanding of our nation-and will go away with
a feeling, perhaps developed above that high level at which it at present
stands. This, I think, is full justification for us, a growing nation,
and a nation to grow yet more, to take part in this international exposition
on the scale on which we propose and with the building you see before you
and with the exhibits that will be described to you.

1901