Event @ SLQ - A changing profession : Queensland architects 1900-1950

Church at Mareeba built by Marcus and William Brims, ca. 1904

The 2012-13 John Oxley Library Fellowship was awarded to architect and historian Don Watson to research a second volume to the biographical dictionary Queensland Architects of the Nineteenth Century, which he co-authored with Judith McKay in 1994. The proposed volume will cover the first half of the twentieth century. By 1950, building professions had changed. In earlier times, architects generally provided all the skills necessary for complex building projects; but by 1950 structural, mechanical, electrical and hydraulic engineers, as well as quantity surveyors, were often engaged as consultants to architects. Town planning also became a recognised field and landscape architecture was emerging. These specialties had existed earlier but were not easily identifiable as individuals or firms. Should representatives of these allied skills be included alongside architects in the new volume? Are there other claimants for inclusion?

In his talk on February 7, A changing profession: Queensland architects, 1900-1950, Don will discuss these issues using examples of particular people and their work.

View of the stockyards and shearing shed on Isis Downs Station, 1915

Interior view of the Isis Downs Station wool shed, ca. 1925

Store under construction, 1943. Taken from The Commonwealth Engineer, 1 April 1943