“I've been to Tullamore, Seymour, Lismore, Mooloolaba, Nambour, Maroochydore, Kilmore, Murwillumbah, Birdsville, Emmaville, Wallaville, Cunnamulla, Condamine, Strathpine, Proserpine, Ulladulla, Darwin, Gin Gin, Deniliquin, Muckadilla, Wallumbilla, Boggabilla, Kumbarilla, I’m a killer.

I’ve been to Moree, Taree, Jerilderie, Bambaroo, Toowoomba, Gunnedah, Caringbah, Woolloomooloo, Dalveen, Tamborine, Engadine, Jindabyne, Lithgow, Casino, Brigalow and Narromine, Megalong, Wyong, Tuggerwong, Wangarella, Morella, Augathella, Brindabella, I’m the fella.

I’ve been to Wollongong, Geelong, Kurrajong, Mullumbimby, Mittagong, Molong, Grong Grong, Goondiwindi, Yarra Yarra, Bouindarra, Wallangarra, Turramurra, Boggabri, Gundagai, Narrabri, Tibooburra, Gulgong, Adelong, Billabong, Cabramatta, Parramatta, Wangaratta, Coolangatta, what’s it matter?

I’ve been to Ettalong, Dandenong, Woodenbong, Ballarat, Canberra, Milperra, Unanderra, Captains Flat, Cloncurry, River Murray, Kurri Kurri, Girraween, Terrigal, Fingal, Stockinbingal, Collaroy and Narrabeen, Bendigo, Dorrigo, Bangalow, Indooroopilly, Kirribilli, Yeerongpilly, Wollondilly, don’t be silly.”

I’ve been everywhere. Written by Geoff Mack 1959, sung by Lucky Starr 1962.

Our regions have been in the news a lot recently, and not for good reasons. Ravaged by drought, then fire, then flood, they've seen sea-changers and tree-changers increase dramatically during COVID.

After years of stasis, regional cities and towns are under increasing pressure, which will require creative design solutions, which they are wholly ill-equipped to address.

Politics ignores design

For decades the regions have been represented by the dull end of the political spectrum: the National Party in its various guises. Originally, as the Country Party they supported farmers, before more recently becoming the cheer squad for mining. Their competitors, the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers, are broadly indistinguishable; the one constant has been their deep, right-wing, conservative ideology.

None of them have shown the slightest interest in the urbanity of the regional cities and towns. This has almost always come from a few remarkably good independents. Federally it includes Peter Andren in Calare NSW (97-06), Tony Windsor in New England (01-13) and Rob Oakeshott in Lyne NSW (08-13), and in the states: John Hatton in South Coast NSW (73-95), Ali Cupper in Mildura VIC (current), Suzanna Sheed in Shepparton VIC (current), Chris Foley in Maryborough QLD (03-12) and John Bowler in Kalgoolie WA (08-13).

A tradition that continues in Indi VIC, firstly with the election of Cathy McGowan (13-19) and the current member Helen Haines. Given the dreadful inanity of the current federal LNP, Haines has had to concentrate more on national issues (an integrity commission and climate change) than on the local issues of Wodonga.

But that will change as more regional independents are currently standing, and eventually Barnaby Joyce, his blather and his ignorance of planning and design, will disappear.

Climate change vulnerabilities

Years of laissez-faire planning neglect by local Councils have exposed the regions to the dangers of climate change far more than the cities. Building in the bush was aesthetically attractive and cheap but it puts owners, and critically fire-fighting volunteers, in highly dangerous situations.

Likewise, being on the edges and at the mouths of slow-moving rivers was economically desirable in the 19^th C, only to see the towns repeatedly flooded in this century, with SES volunteers rescuing stranded residents in borrowed ‘tinnies’.

Seaside towns, built for holidays, are under attack from massive seas, with volunteer lifesavers called out in their ‘rubber duckies’.

Sadly, it’s an Australian tradition to corporatise the profits, but to rely on volunteers and charities when things go wrong. If your tax-to-GDP ratio is as low as ours, the government cannot supply proper emergency services, and it will always fall to philanthropy, in various forms.

Fatally, it is magnified in the regions, where the community tradition of volunteering is strong, but that has masked poor planning for a century.

Local politics and planning

For too long regional councils have had a steady-as-she-goes, businesses as usual approach to planning, being reactive rather than active. Climate change has made it abundantly clear that local councils in the regional areas lack the expertise of good town planners to plan for these increasing threats.

Australia generally has few planners who are adept at strategic thinking, or at least persuasive enough to get big plans adopted by their political masters. In planning we are a small-minded nation.

Which is only exacerbated in the regions where there hasn't been the invitation to transform regional cities and towns into resilient excellence. In NSW there is a Minister for Cities and Infrastructure (i.e., design transformation) but not one for the regions, where it is more desperately needed.

Sustainability possibilities

Amid this doom and gloom there is some design hope. At its core sustainability is about devolution and decentralisation. Wind solar and hydro infrastructure is by its nature dispersed, making it readily available without massive transmission wires, and putting an end to the coal mines and power stations and towers that blight many regions.

And the pressure at the edges of big cities, creating suburban sprawl, too far from services, can be far better designed at the edges of regional towns, where the original ideas of Ebeneezer Howard’s ‘Garden City’ can still be realised, particularly regarding food production.

A walkable country mile, past climate-appropriate bungalows, could be so much more enjoyable than a trudge through kilometres of our current McMansions.

Here’s two green shoots that can give optimism about design in, and for, the regions.

NEAD design

Among those leaving the cities for the regions eight years ago were Zvonko Orsanic and Kathi Clark-Orsanic who founded NEAD, North East Architecture + Design, in Euroa, Ned Kelly country halfway between Melbourne and Wodonga in Victoria. For fourteen years Orsanic was the O in DKO, a hugely successful corporate firm in Melbourne (now in other cities), built in the back of smart marketing and Zvonko’s exquisite drawings.

The move by Zvonko and Kathi, trained as an architect and horticulturist, was part lifestyle and part belief in being closer to a community that you serve, which ultimately is essential in contributing towards sustainability. You can read a little of their work here and their street-front office is in the title image.

RAA: The Regional Architects Association

Another reason for hope is the formation of RAA, the Regional Architects Association in NSW. Recently formed it already has 100 members, and a huge amount of energy and enthusiasm for architecture outside the big three (Newcastle, Sydney, Wollongong) - a seething linear city of over 6 million. That leaves over 2 million people in regional NSW that don’t enjoy ready access to architecture and design.

Unfortunately, its genesis owes in part to failures by the RAIA NSW Chapter to address the needs of regional architects. For many years there was a ‘Country Division’ based in Newcastle, with a staff of three. The Country Division was downsized and relocated to Sydney with one staff member as part of the downsizing rationale that occurred after the Institute’s near-death experience (never explained – Archicentre, Architext and other services just disappeared).

But the members of the Country Division, now in RAA, have extraordinary vibrancy. I’ve often said that the best architectural conference I ever attended was run by the Country Division in Bathurst in September 2015.

Most of the talks were by them, about them, their localities and creativity. Truly inspiring, and one key reason I know some of the quality and diversity of great architectural work that happens in the regions, even if it is often ‘below the radar’.

You can experience this energy at RAA’s first seminar and CPD event at the end of this month at Bundanon south of Sydney. The keynote address will be by Kerstin Thompson, architect of the revised masterplan and newly constructed additions to the original Glen Murcutt ‘campus’ for the Arthur Boyd Foundation. You can read about the RAA conference, with the opportunity to stay at Bundanon, here.

I have no doubt that many of the issues facing regional architects, on both sides of the counter, will be aired at this seminar. And I look forward their contribution to improving the possibilities for regional architects and architecture.

Tone Wheeler is principal architect at Environa Studio, Adjunct Professor at UNSW and is President of the Australian Architecture Association. The views expressed here are solely those of the author and are not held or endorsed by A+D, the AAA or UNSW. Tone does not read Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or Linked In. Sanity is preserved by reading and replying only to comments addressed to toneontuesday@gmail.com

Tone Wheeler

Tone-on-Tuesday-119-Regional-Regeneration-1732064668.png

Let’s connect!