PRIME MINISTER
SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON P J KEATING, MP
LAUNCH OF THREE HOUSES. GLENN MURCUTT BY E. M. FARRELLY
SYDNEY 3 NOVEMBER 1993
I am delighted to bc here today to launch this fascinating book by Elizabeth Farrelly
on the work of Glenn Murcutt.-
My delight is all the greater because the launch is taking place here at Tusculum,
which some or you may bc aware is one of my favourite buildings in Sydney.
You may also be aware that its architect, John Verge, is in my view one of the great
Australian architects. As is Glenn Murcutt, of course.
There is a happy convergence between the work of the two, and indeed with the
launch of the book today. For among his many outstanding commissions, Glenn was
responsible for the completion of the one remaining fragment of the John Verge villa
" Engehurst" in Ormond Street, Paddington.
And, as his biographer says, Glenn's solution to completing the fragment later served
as the model for the Rall-Fastaway house, one of the three which are the subject of
the present volume.
The timing of this book is very appropriate. It comes when Australians are concerned
as never before about the role of planning and development in this country. A role on
which Glenn Murcutt has always been most forthright.
I was interested to discover from this book that a perception of Glenn Murcutt as a
peculiarly Australian romantic in his approach to building design has cared him
headlines such as " The Outback Warrior" in the overseas press.
As another Australian with romantic inclinations who also on occasion attracts the
talents of foreign headline writers, I can sympathisc with him about the infinite
capacity of such people to be spectacularly wrong or their ability to go for the
superficial rather than the reasoned analysis.
Such an approach to her subject matter would be unimaginable in Elizabeth Farrelly's
case, and we are all the richer for it.
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While this work will undoubtedly be a major contributor to a debate of continuing
importance for architects. Elizabeth has also provided the rest of us with a volume
which presents scrious issucs in a way which neither patronises or mystifies the lay
reader. And that is particularly important For thc issues which the architecture of Glenn
Murcutt throws up are ones that are ultimately the concern of all Australians.
The houses which are the subject matter of this book. the three iconic houses, as
Elizabeth describes them, are for many Australians, quintessentially Australian
houses. They are. houses which make a statement about thc sort of country we live in. To use
Glienn's own words, houses which arc his response to the genius of the place to a
land of incredible strcngth combined with unimaginable delicacy.
These three houses encourage us to think about where. we have come from and about
where we are going. They challenge us to contemplate the possibility ( if anarchitecture,
and, in wider terms, an approach to urban design, in which aesthetic and
functional considerations live in harmony.
More and more Australians are coming to realise the importance of urban design to
the attainment of the quality of lifc to which we aspire.
We are, I believe, coming to understand that what makes Australia such a privileged
place to live is in danger of being lost through poor planning through the imposition
or an alien schema, as Glenn Murcutt describes it.
And his remedy is spot on " The land appeals for care and we need to become friends
with the landscape and not be threatened by it."
I might add that we need to temper our approach to the development of our landscape
with an eye to the long term future, rather than exploit it as an easy source of
immediate profit. In terms of development, greed is never good.
This prescription is as applicable to the city fringe as it is to the city centre; as
relevant to the planning of development along our coastline as it is to the preservation
of our inland waterways.
Devclopment is not just a problem for the city or the bush, depending on where you
live. Its a matter for consideration wherever it occurs in Australia.
Recognising the dimensions of the issue sometimes appears to be the furthest thing
from the minds of those who should most be aware of it our planners and
developers. And even when they see a problem, at times we justifiably despair that
they will ever come close to finding an appropriate solution.
It is no secret that developers and planners are Glenn Murcutt's least favourite people.
Local authoritics, he says, are " so often stupid, absolutely stupid and unreasonable.
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Our building regulations inventorise mediocrity and our councils administer and
police such conservatism."
To quote Elizabeth. " he laments the wholesale slaughter of our city by developers, but
sees this process as complete, describing Sydney city centre as a gagglc of rubbish..
junk and rubbish." He sees the countryside in terms of the " destruction of the flora
and the displacement of the fauna with the blessing, if not active collusion of our
subdivision regulations."
This is a dccply pessimistic picture. But one hard not to share at times.
While Glenn has generally chosen to respond to this situation by withdrawal from
working in the city and by refusal to participate in the design of large scale works
( although I'm delighted that this did not prevent him from working to redesign the
Customs H-ouse) this is not an option which I bclieve is availablc to the
Commonwealth Government.
On the contrary. I believe it is imperative that we become a lot more involved in these
issues, which have hitherto been the almost exclusive preserve of the other levels of
Government. This is why I am announcing today that I have established a Task Force on Urban
Design. In reviewing the quality of urban design in Australia, the Task Force will focus on
ways in which the day to day working, residential and recreational environment of
most Australians might be enhanced by more thoughtful attention to design.
Its not just a Matter of building new and impressive structures to amaze and delight
us, although there will be a place for that where and when appropriate. Who, for
example, could now imagine Sydney without the Opera House. whose anniversary we
are currently celebrating?
And its certainly not a matter of confecting facades, as Glenn describes it.
Nor is it just a matter of preserving our built heritage buildings such as Tusculum
important though that is.
Rather it's a matter of focussing on the total picture. Of looking at towns, suburbs,
regions even, and dctcrmining how they might work better, while at the samne time
preserving those unique characteristics with which their communities identify.
It's about developing on the community scale what for Glenn Murcutt has always
been crucial in his design of houses a scnsc of place.
It's about better relating whcre people work to where they live. It's about getting the
children to schools which they look forward to going to. It's about being able to go to
the shops without having a car or waiting for hours for public transport which may or
may not arrive. It's ahout having the right housing mix for the location, and proper
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health and recreational facilities. And allowing our elderly citizens to enjoy their
retirement. It's about making better use of existing infrastuceture, rather than a process of endless
urban sprawl.
We will probably see the usual knee jerk rection to this task force.
Don't bc, surprised if you hear talk about a new ) U RD. It will be a typical example
of the usc of misinformation by those who benefit from the status quo those who
feel that their immediate intere. sts are threatened
And don't be surprised if you hear us accused of making people conform to a boring
bureaucratic standard.
Nothing of course is further from our minds.
What we want to do is to put a bit of poetry into the souls of our town clerks-and shireengineers
to get our planners and architects to come up with ideas with a sense of
the miraculous, to focus on the wider questions of urban form rather than restricting
themselves to narrow interpretation of land use regulations.
Nor arc wc looking for a stultifying conformity of planning correctncss. As Elizabeth
points out in her book, for Glenn Murcutt there is no contradiction between
disparateness and harmony in his approach to designing houses " harmony is about
disparate sounds which when put together make a pleasing whole not monotony,
not sameness."
But there is a different point, not sameness or monotony but uniformity.
I have long held the view that grandeur of form most commonly or obviously
emerges from uniformity perhaps a variegated uniformity but a consistency.
It seems that these days this is the one thing we arc supposed to most forthrightly
eschew. Any sense of this other meaning of sameness, a sameness which involves
variations on a theme.
These days the inculcation is that individuality is everything that no whim or fancy
should be subjugated to a commnon purpose or even the greater glory of a greater
whole. The grandeur which emerges from a mountain view is-generally a commentary on its
uniformity or scale. As is say a coastal view with the juxtaposition of the sea with
its consistent mass meshing with the. uniformity of the beach or even a forest.
The same is true of architecture whether it is the massing on the canals of St
Petersburg, or the variegated uniformity of Bath or the disparate harmonies of the
pia7as of Venice, or the egg carton classicism of thc Greek Islands or even Paddo
and Carlton.
In each case thc architect's whims and fancies have been played out lie the shadows
on a mountain rather than the re-definition of an excavation.
Architects too can profit spiritually in signing up to schemes greater than most are
individually capable of devising.
Working within an environment should be regarded as the done thing more often than
not-The Task Force, I am pleased to say. is composed of people with a bit of magic in
their makeup, and I thank them for donating their time to this task. Thecy are all busy
professionals in their varied fields. What brings them together is thcir common
interest in seeing uis do things better, and their conviction that we ought to be able to
do so through a process of education rather than by spending money.
I want in particailar to thank the Convenor or tihe Task Force, John Mant. who is
unstinting in his scrvice.
The Task Force should have a report ready for us early in the New Year, and-both
Brian H-owe, who has a crucial role in this matter, and I look rorward to recciving it.
in 1962, just after Glenn Murcutt graduated, one of the doyens of Australian
architccture, Robin Boyd, wrote that, in relation to architecture, the Australian public
appears ready to encourage new ideas for the first time In short, Australian
building may have grown up."
Since then, Glenn Murcutt has done Australia proud. His many awards both
domestically and internationally attest to his success. It is crucial that we learn from
him. That is why the book which is being launched today is so important.
Especially when it is written by a person who is such an eminent architectural
commentator, and an elected public official with such a strong commitment to the
betterment of our built environment.
Fspecially when it is written with such insight and clarity.
It gives me much pleasure to welcome the publication of Three Houses Glenn
Murcutt by Elizabeth Farrelly. I urge you all to read it.
Thank you..
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