If you want to embrace the past so also need to include the massive windfall the arrival of the British was to the people who were struggling to survive on a continent that kept their life expectancy low and infant mortality high. The arrival of the British took the land from a place high mortality to something worth fighting for. It’s a bit like someone stands in a fishing spot for ages and can hardly catch anything, the next person comes along and, using their knowledge catches lots of fish and the first person goes, hey, I was standing there first so they are all my fish. Not everything in the past was ideal or right as that is what happens when two very different cultures collide. It is however, not the fault of the people 200 years later. Let’s not forget that one of the cultures is on one hand blaming the other because there’s a gap and on the other wanting to be recognised as being different, while, having no intention of going back to the life they had before the cultures clashed. The Australia day protestors was like watching a bunch of people dressed in blue complaining they hate the colour blue. A mass group of people advertising all the advantages of colonisation. I wonder how many of them have a coffee in the morning, opened the fridge, used their phones, turned a tap on, put clothes on, ate preserved food etc etc etc.

Human remains have been found in Java 1.5 million years old and for much of the intervening time this continent was connected to PNG. There’s every chance humans have wandered this land for 1 million years and the people here 60,000 years ago are a different group to those here 1000 years ago. Many groups probably wandered here and died out. Let’s not be selective about what part of history we want to use. Also, lets not play the game of, you have no proof. This is a continent that has much of its history currently based on word of mouth that no-one is allowed to question.

Thanks for your passing reference: “The only reminder of Griffin’s Capitol is the flagpole on Parliament House that traces its lofty outline.”

However, there are two other reminders of that proposed Capitol Building at Parliament House: one on public view and the second is regrettably not. The original foundation stone for that Capitol Building was laid in 1920 and is on display in the courtyard outside the Queen’s Terrace Café.

However, there is also another reminder hidden away, being a rare example of Walter Burley Griffin’s work in Canberra. A wooden casket and mallet were designed by Walter for presentation to HRH the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) on the occasion of the laying of that foundation stone of of the proposed Capitol Building on 21 June 1920. Although Griffin’s role as Federal Capital Director was terminated on 31 December 1920, the casket and mallet serve as a reminder of his association with the development of Canberra, a record of his achievements as a designer and as an indication of his knowledge and regard for Australian flora, an interest he shared with his wife Marion.

Both the mallet and casket are made entirely of Australian timbers. The mallet is of blackwood carved with a design of Banksia integrifolia and the casket of ‘pink myrtle beech’ (now Nothofagus cunninghamii) with the base and lid of blackbean. The six panels on the sides of the casket represent the states and each is veneered with 21 thin strips of different timbers indigenous to each state. These are in turn decorated with gold, seven-pointed star studs – seven on each state panel. The central panel to the front of the casket is carved with the Australian coat of arms.

Following his visit to Australia the Prince of Wales returned to London with the casket and mallet. Many years later it was discovered in a cupboard at St James’s Palace and was presented to the Australian government in 1949. They are now held in the Parliament House Art Collection.

Unfortunately, these are not on public display and there are no plans to do so. Their importance was extensively reviewed in 1997 by Dr Anne Watson: “Walter Burley Griffin’s ‘Other’ Canberra Legacy” (Australiana, V.19 (4), pp 99-102, 110). Significantly, Dr Watson noted: “Griffin’s presentation casket and mallet are thus of considerable heritage significance as a legacy of his peripatetic involvement in the genesis of the new capital, of his, and Marion’s, extensive knowledge of indigenous flora and of their concern for the preservation of the natural environment”.

The wooden casket and mallet are direct connections between the prize-winning architects of Canberra and their legacy. Indeed, this has been noted by the Parliamentary Education Office (https://peo.gov.au/understand-our-parliament/parliament-house/australias-parliament-house): “In Griffin’s original plan for Canberra, Parliament House was to be built on Camp Hill, just below where it is now located. Griffin reserved the Capital Hill site for a ceremonial public building called the Capitol, which would celebrate the achievements of the Australian people. Its elevated position above Parliament House symbolised Parliament’s accountability to the people, who ‘oversee’ their representatives.”

As the PEO noted: “In Walter Burley Griffin’s plan for Australia’s national capital, this hill was the most prominent location”. The significance of the casket and mallet merits a permanent display site within Parliament House. What would it require for this to occur ?

Peter Graves
Chair, Canberra Chapter
Walter Burley Griffin Society