The Australian Federal Capital Competition.

Progress, Volume VII, Issue 4, 1 February 1912, Page 999

The Australian Federal Capital Competition.

We reprint the following from the “Building News” of No 7 10th 1911 - “ivr Q n it- i \°T- 1 p h , Members and Licentiates of the Royal Institute of British Arehitoet« ™ Quested not to take part in the Australian quested not to take part in the Australian Federal Capital Competition. We are sure this request will be loyally re-

up-to-date professional men who will comP ete - They have reputations to make, Australia is a continent, sunny and cheerT an ? ? Clty Wlll probably be better Jf men with continental ideas than b y those reared in a circumscribed atmosphere isolated fmm dtpU Prm +i dimospnere, isolated trom great conti- ” ental boriZ(ms - We are a growmg nation, and we will get our best designs from men of ermtinental iniel leetuaT outlook ’' tC rectuai outlook.

to regard the character of the soil, rather than the level of the subsoil water and to build, if possible, on the black alluvium in not upon “made” earth compacted by time, or, as in ancient Egypt, probably by ramming and watering ■ ii -n- . . . . The original building material in Egypt was without doubt mud brick. This material is still used to a very large « „ui i r very large extent, “d although for mportant S it hu been replaced by stone and burnt brick,

sponded to, and we trust the architects of the civilised world will follow suit. The lamentable ignorance of the Australian Minister Home Affairs of the first guarantees for the advantage of the public in any such competition as he is mismanaging, must bear the responsibility for the balderdash we quote below. We shall be surprised if among the “hundreds of young professional men with Continental ideas” there are fools enough to waste time and labour in a contest in which every principle of fair treatment is ignored and derided by the self-elected umpire. The following excerpt from Mr. King O’Mally letter is responsible for the action of the R.1.8.A.: “Town planning comprises three professions, engineering, surveying and archiand we laid it down that the Australian institutes in these professions should nominate the advisory board. I deeply regret that the British Institute should take this attitude, but I cannot depart from the conditions sent out to the world, and while the aristocracy of the profession may not send designs, there are hundreds of young, progressive, and