HYDE PARK BARRACKS MUSEUM CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT PLAN SECTION 2: HISTORY OF THE PLACE Date Event Figure 2.35 and Figure 2.36: William Hardy Wilson’s drawing of the western façade of HPB (left) is included in his ground-breaking book of 1924, Old Colonial Architecture in N.S.W. and Tasmania, which helped ignite public interest in early Australian architecture. His drawing of the southern façade facing Hyde Park (right) is less well known, although held in the National Library of Australia. Wilson considers in 1924: “With the barest means and economy in execution, [Greenway] produced architecture which never has been excelled in this land . to the simplest structures he gave a monumental scale, beautiful proportions and delightfully textured walls. His bigness of scale, rarest excellence in his art, is nowhere better expressed than in the HPB.”263 (Source: Wilson 1924 Old Colonial Architecture; National Library of Australia, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-153523723, copyright held by his estate) Figure 2.38: 1936 pencil, ink and watercolour sketch entitled “HPB” by Sydney Ure Smith. This depiction Figure 2.37: 1916 etching entitled “Old Convict Barracks” by artist/ was completed 20 years later and at the same time publisher Sydney Ure Smith (1887-1949). (Source: Powerhouse he was organising a petition with 8000 names to Museum) save HPB. (Source: Powerhouse Museum) 263 Wilson 1924, Old colonial architecture, p.8 Hyde Park Barracks Museum — Conservation Management Plan Volume 1 Final Report Issue C October 2016 1-67 HYDE PARK BARRACKS MUSEUM CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT PLAN SECTION 2: HISTORY OF THE PLACE Date Event Architects such as B.J. Waterhouse (1876-1965) and R. Keith Harris leap to the defence of the building, for example, developing an adaptive re-use option for it as an A.I.F. Memorial.264 K.H. McConnell (1896-1976) writes to the editor to explain that its association with St James Church makes it “the only example in Sydney of two buildings designed to make a formal pair.” On the technical side he points out it is well “capable and worthy of restoration.”265 A letter from Walter Burley Griffin (1876-1937) to the Sydney Morning Herald argues that “in a century of subsequent efforts the same degree of dignity and simplicity has not yet been accomplished with anything like such limited means and materials.”266 By the mid-1930s the artist/ publisher Sydney Ure Smith (1887- 1949) has organised a petition to save it with 8000 signatures.267 He has also has made several fine drawings depicting the place (Figures 2.37 and 2.38). The proposed demolition is delayed. The issue is raised again in the 1940s as part of the post-war reconstruction discussions and plans for Macquarie Street. A report prepared by representatives of the Public Buildings Advisory Committee and the Municipal Council of Sydney is submitted to the Premier W. J. McKell (1891-1985), seeking resolution of “the question of the retention or removal of the Barracks." In August 1947, another committee states: “Generally its permanent retention is clearly not a matter of choice, its demolition is practically inevitable." In March 1947, the Sydney City Council states it has resolved that HPB should be preserved in any remodelling scheme for Macquarie Street. Figure 2.39 (above): Lionel Lindsay’s 1936 etching of HPB, although executed five years after Cossington-Smith’s sketch, harks back to the early days of the century when horse and buggies were common in Sydney. (Source: HPB collection, SLM) Figure 2.40 (left): Grace Cossington Smith’s 1931 coloured pencil sketch of Queens Square depicts the view of HPB from the spire of St James church, emphasising the roads and car movements around it. (Source: Bar association of NSW, courtesy SLM) 264 “The Architects,” Sydney Morning Herald 14/2/1923, p.12, courtesy Noni Boyd of the Australian Institute of Architects. 265 Sydney Morning Herald 5/2/1937, p. 10 266 21/6/1935, quoted in Freestone 1999, “Early historic preservation in Australia,” p. 85. 267 Freestone 1999, “Early historic preservation in Australia,” p. 80. Hyde Park Barracks Museum — Conservation Management Plan Volume 1 Final Report Issue C October 2016 1-68 HYDE PARK BARRACKS MUSEUM CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT PLAN SECTION 2: HISTORY OF THE PLACE Date Event 1935 First proposal for a museum An editorial in the Sydney Morning Herald 19/6/1935 raises the earliest documented suggestion that HPB should be converted into a museum: “A practical suggestion linking sentiment and utility is that the old building should be restored and used as a historical museum, whilst it could be very fittingly used in a design for a future square, since it is the only relic of Governor Macquarie's attempts at town planning.” 268 Figure 2.41: Detail from 1943 aerial photograph of HPB. (Source: NSW Land & Property Information) 1944 The Dobell court case In October 1944 an infamous court case is held in the District Court (in Court No. 1 in the northern range, Building D). The Archibald Prize-winning portrait of artist Joshua Smith by William Dobell (1899-1970) is formally challenged by other artists in the competition as “a degrading caricature rather than a traditional portrait.” The heated debate over this artwork is reported widely and seen as confrontation between traditional approaches to art versus modernism.269 1947- Heritage recognition present 1947: “In March 1947, it is stated in a letter by the Sydney City Council that it had been resolved that HPB should be preserved in any remodelling scheme for Macquarie Street.”270 1948: RAIA meeting of the New South Wales Chapter council resolves that The Mint and HPB “should be retained unless it can be proved that in their present position they will interfere with the material development of the city. In the case of the Barracks building that it should be preserved at almost any cost.”271 268 “Macquarie Street”, Sydney Morning Herald, p. 12. 269 Bevan 2014 “The William Dobell portrait that broke a friendship and divided a nation”, Sydney Morning Herald The Good Weekend, 18 October 2014, “Art scandal 70 years ago today”, online at: http://sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/2014/10/24/art- scandal-70-years-ago-today; McQueen, H. 1979, Black Swan of Trespass; Clive Lucas Stapleton & Partners 1996, “Conservation plan for perimeter structures,” p.43. 270 State Planning Authority of New South Wales 1965, Hyde Park Barracks. 271 AIA archives, minutes of meeting held 27 January 1948 Hyde Park Barracks Museum — Conservation Management Plan Volume 1 Final Report Issue C October 2016 1-69 HYDE PARK BARRACKS MUSEUM CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT PLAN SECTION 2: HISTORY OF THE PLACE Date Event 1949: HPB appears on an unpublished “List of properties and sites for Preservation” compiled by the recently formed National Trust of Australia (New South Wales). It is one of 19 buildings in New South Wales given the highest designation, recommended for “Acquisition and control.” HPB also appears as the first building in a list of “Places worthy of preservation” published in the National Trust’s Bulletin.272 1962: HPB is one of 19 buildings included on the “Register A” list of historic buildings compiled by the Cumberland County Council, a short-term regional planning body (defunct by 1963).273 Although considered worthy of preservation, it is not “proclaimed” under Clause 38 of the County of Cumberland Planning Scheme Ordinance. Instead, as with other places owned by the State Government, “assurances are received from the Premier that he had requested the appropriate Ministers not to permit any alterations which would injuriously affect their historic value in any way.”274 1964: Plans to relocate the incumbent District Courts are proposed and serious attempts made to canvass learned societies for suggestions regarding the future uses of the buildings. Architectural and heritage organisations vie to use HPB as headquarters or office space.275 1978: HPB is listed on the Register of the National Estate by the Australian Heritage Commission.276 1981: A Permanent Conservation Order under the New South Wales Heritage Act 1977 is made on HPB, together with the adjacent Mint building.277 Following amendments to the legislation, the Permanent Conservation Order on HPB is transformed into a State Heritage Register (SHR) listing for the place. The listing is still in association with The Mint, adjacent, sharing its curtilage and listing number, No. 190. 1989: HPB is listed as a local heritage item by the City of Sydney. The LEP listing as described in 2012 “includes grounds, former District Courts and offices and archaeology.”278 1995: An Australian Heritage Commission-commissioned report recommends that eight convict sites, including HPB, be developed as a serial nomination for World Heritage listing.279 2007: HPB is listed on the National Heritage List (no. 105935) under the EPBC Act 1999. This listing is part of the administration necessary for the World Heritage nomination being undertaken at that time. 2008: HPB is one of 11 sites across Australia by the Australian Government for World 272 No.5, September 1949, n.p. 273 Baskerville 2000, Heritage Listing in New South Wales, a Brief History. 274 State Planning Authority of New South Wales 1965 Hyde Park Barracks, pp. 5, 42 cited in Proudfoot 1990, “Brief history of the fabric.” 275 Betteridge 1981, “The Royal Mint and Hyde Park Barracks: Museum project,” p. 2. 276 See record of heritage listings in Heritage Council of New South Wales 1981, updated 1997, State Heritage Register listing entry for “Hyde Park Barracks.” 277 Heritage Council of