r¡ls lor HERITAGE POLITICS IN ADELAIDE DURING THE BANNON DECADE Sharon Ann Mosler Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in HistorY School of History and Politics University of Adelaide December 2006 il TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 111 ABSTRACT 1V DECLARATION vl ACKNOV/LEDGEMENTS vll LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .. vlll CHRONOLOGY... .X 1 INTRODUCTION ..1 2 TH.E AUSTRALIAN L^Boy'r.PARTY DURING THE BANNON DECADE t3a 3 rHE tr*Ëft{t{#""cRAcY ¡qÀ 4 THE ROLE OF THE ADELAIDE CITY COUNCIL 75 5 TOV/NSCAPE PROTECTION TO LOCAL HERITAGE .."............. ... 108 6 THE INTEREST GROUPS ... 135 7 CASE STUDIES IN HERITAGE POLITICS: MAJOR PROJECTS 178 8 CASE STUDIES IN HERITAGE POLITICS: SMALL PROJECTS 210 9 CONCLUSION 232 APPENDICES ... 244 BIBLIOGRAPHY 254 111 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS City of Adelaide Map xiv Bertram House, Grenfell Street 88 Edmund'Wright House, King William Street 153 Aurora Hotel, Hindmarsh Square 159 Commonwealth Bank, Currie Street 165 REMM-Myer project, North Terrace 194 East End Market, East Terrace 198 'Working'Women's Creche, Gouger Street 205 Kingsmead and Belmont House, Brougham Place, North Adelaide 2tt St Paul's Church, Pulteney Street 2t7 Somerset Hotel, Pulteney Street 220 'House of Chow' building, Hutt Street 223 Gawler Chambers, North Terrace 227 tv ABSTRACT This thesis argues that during the decade 1983-93 South Australia's heritage legislation was not effective in protecting Adelaide's traditional built character. The Bannon government was committed to growth through major developments during an economic recession, and many of those developments entailed at least the partial demolition of heritage-listed buildings. The Adelaide City Council was dominated by the city's business interests for most of the decade, and its members increasingly disregarded principles of the City of Adelaide (Development Controt) Act (1976) in approving high-rise buildings which transformed the city's character. Possibly the spirit of SA's heritage legislation was more violated by those intended to implement it than any other legislation in the 1980s. The Hawke government's deregulation of the financial system in 1983-84 fueled investment in property development, particularly after the 1987 downturn in the stock market. Superannuation funds and insurance companies joined large development companies in property investment, and an influx of overseas banks exacerbated competition for credit customers. Lack of controls on reserves and lending created a culture of unrestrained growth and speculative investment in property by bank managers unprepared and untrained for the consequences during a nationwide building boom. The boom ended by 1991 as office vacancies in South Australia rose to 20pet cent., leaving developers unable to repay their loans. Financial institutions collapsed, bringing down three state premiers with them, including John Bannon. The economic policies intended to correct a recession had proved devastating for the state's economy and built heritage, which was lost on an unprecedented scale' The history of the Bannon government has shown that economic imperatives tend to override heritage principles and that the effectiveness of heritage legislation depends upon the political will of federal, state and local governments to enforce it. v The thesis includes case studies of several major and smaller developments which describe in detail the heritage political processes and why heritage legislation failed to protect Adelaide's traditional character during the Bannon decade. This contemporary topic relied heavily on oral history, newspaper andjournal accounts ofissues and events, as well as official documents such as Hansard and state government and council minutes and reports. It adds to the work of South Australian historians and heritage historians, particularly Graeme Davison and Chris McConville in Victoria, Robert Freestone and Peter Spearritt in Sydney and Jenny Gregory and Roy Jones in Perth. vll ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am extremely grateful to my supervisor, Professor Wilfrid Prest, for his guidance, advice and support during his long supervision of this thesis. I also wish to thank my second ,up..ui*., Dr Peter Bell, whose knowledge of South Australian heritage and its administration is unsurpassed. Other staff in the School of History and Politics contributed ideas and support during the course of writing, notably Dr Rob Foster, Dr André Lambelet and Dr Felix Patrikeeff, and I am pleased to take this opportunity to thank them for their contributions. I also acknowledge the important contributions made to this thesis of those I interviewed, whose names are listed in the bibliography. Without their contributions, this thesis could not have been written. Several staff of various government organisations must be mentioned for their kind assistance. Among these are David Conlon and Hamish Angas of the State Heritage Branch, Michael Farrow and Robert Thornton of the City of Adelaide Archives, Simon pook of the Adelaide City Council staff, Gloria Holland-Booker, formerly of the Development Assessment Commission, and Margaret Hosking of the Barr-Smith Library. Former alderman Michael Harrison and city manager Michael Llewellyn-Smith were among several acquaintances and friends who read parts of my thesis and contributed valuable comments. Finally and most importantly, I thank my husband David Mosler for his unwavering ,.rppoit, advice and patience during the writing of this thesis, and I thank all of the other members of Aurora Heritage Action, Inc. for their inspiration. v111 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ABCWF Australian Building Construction'Workers Federation AC Archives Adelaide City Archives ACC Adelaide City Council AFPE Adelaide Fruit and Produce Exchange (East End Market) AHA Aurora Heritage Action, Inc. ASER Adelaide Station and Environs Redevelopment project ATO Australi an Taxation Office BFC Beneficial Finance Corporation Ltd BLF Builders Labourers Federation BOMA Building Owners and Managers Association BPR Bonus plot ratio Branch State Heritage Branch CAPAT City of Adelaide Planning Appeals Tribunal CAPC City of Adelaide Planning Commission CBD Central Business District CCSA Conservation Council of South Australia CMEU Construction, Mining and Energy Union CMFEWU Construction, Mining, Forestry and Energy Workers Union COAHAC City of Adelaide Heritage Advisory Committee, 1991-92 DAC Development Asses sment Committee DEP Department of Environment and Planning DFC Desired future character - of precincts in the City of Adelaide Plan DMS Consultants Peter Donovan, Susan Marsden and Paul Stark LHRC Local Heritage Review Committee, 1993-94 LOHMAC Lord Mayor's Heritage Advisory Committee 1982-83 MATS Metropolitan Adelaide Transportation System MEP Minister for Environment and Planning NEAR North East Adelaide Redevelopment Pty. Ltd. NGO Non- government organis ation PAC Planning Approvals Committee of Adelaide City Council to 1986 PAR Plan Amendment Report amending a Development Plan of the Development Act 1993 Plan City of Adelaide Plan PEC Planning and Environment Committee of the Adelaide City Council 1986 - 1993 (formerly the Planning Approvals Committee) RAIA Royal Australian Institute of Architecture SA Chapter REMM Real Estate Marketing & Management RNE Register of the National Estate SAFA South Australian Financing Authority SASFIT South Australian Superannuation Fund Investment Trust SAHC South Australian Heritage Committe SAPC South Australian Planning Commission SBSA State Bank of South Australia SGIC State Government Insurance Commission lx SPU Special Projects unit of the Department of the Premier and cabinet TAGs Townscape Advisory Groups TFA Transferable Floor Area USC Urban Systems Corporation X CHRONOLOGY 1963 Construction begun on 7-storey Hotel Australia, Brougham Place, North Adelaide t967 Hackney Redevelopment Project approved; abandoned after public protest 1968 Metropolitan Adelaide Transport System (MATS) Plan approved; abandoned t97l 1969 Successful campaign to save Carclew in North Adelaide 1970 Formation of the North Adelaide Society t97l Successful campaign to save ANZ Bank lEdmund Wright House], King William St Demolition of the South Australian Hotel, North Terrace Green bans Builders Laborers Federation begun in New South Wales t912 UNESCO Convention for the Protection of the V/orld Cultural and Natural Heritage t973 Unsuccessful campaign to save Education Building in Flinders Street t974 Australian Heritage Commis sion Act Victorian Historic Buildings Act (1974) Formation of the Adelaide Residents' Association t976 City of Adelaide (Development Contol) Act (1976) 1977 City of Adelaide Planning Commission constituted First City of Adelaide Plan gazetted as a schedule to City of Adelaide (Development Control) Act (1976) New SouthWales Heritage Act (1977) lg78 South Australian Heritage Act (1978): establishment of State Heritage Committee 1979 Charter for the Conservation of Places of Cultural Significance (Burra Charter) adopted by ICOMOS 1979-82 First listings on Register of State Heritage Items 1980 Successful campaign to stop development in Dimora grounds, East Terrace, Adelaide 1981 Unsuccessful campaign to save the Majestic Theatre and Hotel in King William Street XI lg82 First Bannon government elected in November with promise of new ASER project City of Adelaide Heritage Study completed Lord Mayor's Heritage Advisory Committee (LOMHAC) commenced consideration of buildings for entry on the City of Adelaide Heritage Register 1983 Formarion of the South Australian