The ways that the past impacts the Australian city in the present, sparking the historical consciousness of its residents and rulers alike, has its own social history. No doubt this history is tied to nineteenth-century Britain, the National Trusts and other voluntary organisations, and the farsighted local figures that drew attention to aspects of the...

In May 1920, the Prince of Wales attended a history pageant on Petone Beach. The highlight of the performance was a re-enactment of the arrival of New Zealand Company settlers at the same place 80 years earlier. For the occasion, a 6,000 seat amphitheatre and model Maori village were constructed at the intersection of Buick...

Enthusiasts in Launceston, the second biggest city in Tasmania, had pushed the virtues of town planning between 1915 and 1945 without much success because of a lack of effective legislation and of town planning expertise. The advent of the Town Planning Act 1944 and of the advice given by successive Town and County Planning Commissioners...

Trust and understanding in the community engagement process are considered by many an essential part of a successful urban planning process. Yet these issues have proved problematic for the stakeholders in one New South Wales local government area.

Reformist ideals underpinned South Australia as a colonial endeavour and manifested from foundation in an enduring nexus between Adelaide’s urban plan and its social identity. During the first half of the nineteenth century Adelaide strove to stand out from a cohort of colonial cities established during a wave of Imperial expansion. It competed with cities...