Beyond the claptrap and cliche: Tim Ross' top architectural treasures
There's plenty of claptrap in the cliche about the Australian dream, says self-described architecture nerd and comedian Tim Ross.
The idealised version is a three-bedroom home on a quarter-acre block in the suburbs with a Hills Hoist, a Holden in the driveway and a lawnmower defining a kingdom of neat grass.
But that cliche has never been the whole story, Ross said. A new exhibition opening at the State Library of NSW on Saturday, curated by Ross and specialist librarian Anna Dearnley, debunks the myth with stories of people and buildings that have shaped our homes.
For many Australians, the sound and smells of suburbia relates to freshly mown lawns.
But the inventor of the Victa motorised petrol mower, Mervyn Victor Richardson, escaped suburbia for Palm Beach once he made his fortune.
Ross said Richardson commissioned and built a mid-century modern home by architect Peter Muller on a rocky bushy block at Palm Beach that didn't look like any of the project homes going up across Sydney. 'He built this house that was virtually 'lawn-less',' Ross said.
Richardson's story showed how rapidly Australians took to the suburbs, and how deeply entrenched the backyard was in the Australian dream. As project homes went up across Australia, Victa sales rocketed from 1070 petrol-powered mowers in 1950 to 230,721 a decade later. It is estimated that the now overseas-owned company sold nearly 7 million mowers by 2002.
Ross said the photographs by famous photographer Max Dupain of Richardson give Muller and his home a 'part Bond villain, part Thunderbird look'. The pool had a swim-up bar which opened on to the living room and Richardson would commute via seaplane.
'It's a strange success story. If anything, the role [of the photo of the house] in the exhibition is to be that sort of knockout moment of architecture porn,' he said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News AU
an hour ago
- Sky News AU
Albanese should find a seat at the everyday Aussie kitchen table where the bills are piling up, instead of looking for a place next to Trump
While Australians again struggled to afford fuel and basic groceries this week, the Prime Minister had in his sights another overseas trip to enhance foreign optics instead of fixing problems at home. Mr Albanese has now ditched a last-minute appearance at next week's NATO summit in The Hague, some 16,000 kms away, in the hope it would produce a face-to-face with US President Donald Trump. The decision to instead send his deputy Richard Marles follows the PM's scheduled G7 encounter with Mr Trump in Canada which was scuttled by President's early exit to address the Iran-Israel conflict. What we are now also witnessing in the aftermath of that snub is a diplomatic dance which underscores just how far Mr Albanese is willing to go to secure a seat at the grown ups' table. At home, Australians are hurting and the cost of living remains the number one issue in this country. It has been for three years, probably more. The PM needs to stop eyeing a meeting with Trump overseas and start restoring confidence in his government's ability to manage both domestic and foreign affairs in a strategic and strong fashion. Sure, the US President's brush-off was a diplomatic embarrassment especially as it lacked a private heads-up to Mr Albanese before publicly pulling the plug on their meeting. But it's time to move on. The real questions are these: when was the last time this government delivered a serious and immediate policy to cut household energy bills? When was the last time this government offered tangible relief to small businesses buckling under the weight of supply chain blowouts and relentless interest rate pressure? This week it was announced that a productivity roundtable in Canberra was in the works to 'shape our government's growth and productivity agenda'. But already this is being picked apart as a consensus talkfest if cutting net immigration and net zero targets are not seriously considered. I don't think we are dealing with an abstract economic trend here because for nine million Australians it has nearly reached the point of financial collapse. New research from comparison site Finder paints a grim picture. Nearly half the country is the cost of a cracked windscreen or dentist's bill away from the edge. The average savings for this group? A paltry $215 which in NSW I would argue doesn't even cover a week's groceries. I saw a 1kg bag of ordinary coffee beans at the supermarket this week for $80. Dishwasher tablets, 82 of them, for $78. There was plenty of room to move in the fruit and vegetable aisle, with the least expensive thing to buy some apple varieties I'd never heard of and likely tasteless and cold-storaged for months. You're trying your luck if you fancy 350g of multi-coloured mini tomatoes for under $6.50, punished for your caviar-style tastes. The frozen food aisle with the cheaper dinners like fish fingers and bulk meat pies was doing brisk business, however. Local Facebook group chat is dominated by members asking for money saving tips including what time of day do local supermarket staff appear in store with a yellow sticker gun to discount products. According to Finder, 43 per cent in the cohort referenced have less than $1,000 in a bank account. More than half live pay transfer to pay transfer and 47 per cent are banking on a tax refund to plug holes in the dam. And a $12 coffee? Don't laugh, it's coming to a cafe near you. When inflation is combined with supermarket gouging, international trade instability and policy gridlock, prices only go in one direction. In cafes, once the beating heart of urban Australia, small business owners continue to be crushed. Wages, energy, rent, beans, you name it. Roasters say stress on the international coffee bean market means the only solution is to jack up prices. This isn't indulgence anymore. It's economics at gunpoint. Meanwhile, those brewing at home are finding supermarket shelves are no longer a refuge. Instant coffee is probably booming but that's less about convenience and more about budget. And then there's fuel. If you're still planning on driving to work, brace yourself. Petrol is tipped to hit $2.20 per litre with Middle East tensions sending the global oil markets into panic mode and we're all meant to just accept it like it's the weather. Australia may not import oil from Iran but that's no comfort at the bowser. Our prices are still shackled to global markets which drives up costs at the pump while hammering fuel-reliant industries nationwide. Australia used to have several oil refineries and now we have just two - Queensland's Lytton Refinery operated by Ampol and Victoria's Geelong Refinery, operated by Viva Energy. We can blame globalisation and "market efficiency" for that and we now import most of our refined fuel. With petrol spiking, inflation stays high too so consider that in terms of the Reserve Bank delaying any long-awaited interest rate cuts. And let's not forget the cherry on top: fuel excise and GST. What's the domestic agenda? Because from where most Australians stand at the petrol pump, in the supermarket aisle or checking their empty bank apps, it doesn't feel like there is one. We don't need a seat at NATO next week. Mr Albanese has had months to build a relationship with the Trump administration and should now plan to see him in Washington. We need a seat at the kitchen table where bills are piling up and no one from Canberra seems to be listening. Louise Roberts is a journalist and editor who has worked as a TV and radio commentator in Australia, the UK and the US. Louise is a winner of the Peter Ruehl Award for Outstanding Columnist in the NRMA Kennedy Awards for Excellence in Journalism and has been shortlisted in other awards for her opinion work
Sydney Morning Herald
an hour ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Most Australians aren't ‘good with money'. It's time that changed
Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, Mexico, Japan and South Africa, women's literacy on all things money isn't just as good as the gents, it's better. But what was easily the most concerning finding was that among those aged 15 to 24, the score out of five was just 2.9. That, my friends, is a seriously mediocre C-grade. Perhaps 50 years ago, when the choices were between a couple of basic bank products and a superannuation account, these numbers wouldn't have been so concerning. But in a world of countless different types of specialised bank loans, HECS debt, credit cards, buy now pay later schemes, online gambling, cryptocurrency, ETFs, salary negotiations, bonus structures, stock options, and self-managed versus industry or corporate super funds, it's never been more important to ensure that everyone, especially young people, is literate when it comes to money. Though the Australian curriculum does include financial literacy content, the way in which it is being taught and the detail within that vary greatly, leaving much room for improvement. One country leading the way in this field is, believe it or not, the United States. According to the US' Council for Economic Education, as of 2024, 35 of the country's 50 states now require high school students to attend personal finance classes before they graduate. Loading That's more than two-thirds of teenagers across America having a basic understanding of money and finance before they leave home and enter the world of adulthood and employment. The trend is also taking off at American universities, where a growing number of public and private institutions are offering personal finance courses for students as electives. These courses teach the basics, but some go further and cover the principles of investing, taxes, how to understand job offers and salary packages, as well as the psychology of why people make certain financial decisions. As much fun as those 101 literature or psychology electives can be, this seems like a much more useful course to be aiming for an easy A in. Aside from the fact that we live in much more financially complicated times, there are other reasons we need to care about making sure our kids understand money. For starters, research consistently shows that the better financially educated someone is, the more likely they are to make good decisions and better judgements about their money. We also know that the cost of being totally financially illiterate or having a poor understanding of money can have devastating long-term effects. People who are 'bad with money' are consistently shown to have a lower standard of living, and we see the wealth gap widening between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots'. So easily, one high-interest credit card or personal loan can follow someone around for decades and impact their credit scores, their ability to make career or relationship choices, create extra stress, and make it harder to meet their basic needs. And yet, we see it happen every day, often affecting people you'd least expect. Having a solid grasp on finances isn't just about us as individuals, either. Ensuring everyone knows the basics, especially those who are the least financially literate, is actually great for the economy broadly. That's because it allows people to carry less debt, improves their job opportunities and earning potential, and creates new jobs in the process. To quote former assistant RBA governor Keith Hall all the way back in 2008: 'Money spent on financial education would be money very well spent.' And while it's not as if we're doing nothing, we certainly need to be doing so much more. Because the more people who can hold their head high and say they're 'good with money', the better. Victoria Devine is an award-winning retired financial adviser, bestselling author and host of Australia's No.1 finance podcast, She's on the Money. She is also founder and director of Zella Money.
The Age
an hour ago
- The Age
The Libs have been handed a golden opportunity. Now, watch them stuff it up
One of the great entertainments of political commentary in Australia over the past decade-and-a-bit has been speculating on what new and inventive way the Liberal Party will find to comprehensively bugger itself up. I can't help thinking this must have crossed Treasurer Jim Chalmers' mind as he fronted the National Press Club this week to announce that he will undertake a process to develop a new productivity agenda. Chalmers' speech was solid, but then so it should be after so many have said the same things so often to so little avail. His words and aspirations have been written for him many times over, sometimes with hope, other times with emotions ranging from dull rage to despair. Sometimes even by the Coalition. We need productivity reform, politicians all know we need it, the media all know they know we need it, yet no-one ever does it. There's a simple reason for that: it's hard. The treasurer dwelt in his speech on why it's hard. Reforming an economic system requires trade-offs. Some choices will cost some people. They may or may not be recompensed in the rejig. Chalmers doesn't want the media to simplify economic reform by explaining it in terms of 'winners and losers', as they do after each budget, but there will be winners and losers in the short, medium, or long term as a result of any new tax system. And, naturally, the opposition will do what the name says on the tin. It will oppose. Given the last years of Liberal shenanigans, the real question is how it chooses to do that. In one scenario, Sussan Ley leads a team which analyses and criticises the government's productivity proposals to ensure the best outcome for Australia and Australians. Should they choose this version of their own adventure, there will be plenty of material to tackle. The prime minister has already shown that he has no instinct for making business more efficient or even any understanding that a healthy economy relies on the private sector, creating new wealth instead of just shifting existing money around. In the first term of the Albanese government, the size of the public sector grew relative to the size of the private sector, so now each private employee is supporting more public sector salaries. Loading Then-employment minister Tony Burke passed through an industrial relations bill which makes it harder for businesses to scale up without locking themselves into costly arrangements. Meanwhile, the 'Future Made in Australia' slush fund has been 'picking winners' (code for government making decisions on industries it poorly understands) by investing in bringing in an overseas quantum technology firm rather than backing existing quantum technology firms – ahem – made in Australia. Labor is even trashing its own legacy by changing the rules on the superannuation system it forced people to contribute to, undermining trust that the money you lock away for retirement is really yours for later. It's hard to see how a government which made policies of this sort a priority and prefers the public to the private sector will back a productivity agenda which turns Australia around. But one of the great paradoxes of politics is that sometimes you need the party which is seen to be the touchy-feely side to deliver hard-nosed decisions. Think Labour prime minister Tony Blair in the UK, Democrat president Bill Clinton in the USA, or chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in Germany, all of whom delivered welfare reform in the face of their countries' badly designed benefits systems, which were creating disincentives to work.
