Thursday, June 14, 2012

National Archives discovery

An exciting recent discovery means the National Archives now has all of the original documents accompanying the Griffins’ winning entry in the 1911 Federal Capital Design Competition for the design of Canberra.
The Griffins’ ‘Original Report’, an intriguing 29-page typed booklet, complete with original hand-drawn diagrams of the underlying concept for Canberra, was handed over to the National Archives of Australia at Parliament House on 23 May after being discovered among other files at the Planning Institute of Australia.
It explains and describes the 16 competition drawings submitted by Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin as part of their ‘Entry 29’, shedding further light on their vision for Canberra.
The report is currently on display for a short time at Parliament House in Canberra. Afterwards it will be digitised for online access.
A copy of the report is available online.