Please find the original blog post with additional information at http://www.katelundy.com.au/2009/09/25/creating-a-new-nations-capital-the-griffins-vision-for-canberra/ Introduction by Anne Lyons, Assist Director General at the National Archives of Australia Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the National Archives of Australia. My name is Anne Lyons and I'm the Assistant Director General here at the National Archives. Firstly I'd like to acknowledge the Ngunnawal people the traditional custodians of the land we meet on today. It's my pleasure to welcome Kate Lundy, Senator for the Australian Capital Territory and member of the National Archives Advisory Council to deliver today's Speaker's Corner "Creating a new Nation's Capital". Senator Lundy has represented the Australian Capital Territory in the Australian Federal Parliament as a member of the Australian Labor Party since 1996. She's held many portfolios in opposition, including Information Technology, Manufacturing, Consumer Affairs, Local Government, Sport and Health Promotion. Elected for the 5th time as part of the Rudd Labor Government, Senator Lundy is currently the chair of the Joint Standing Committee for the National Capital and External Territories, and is a long standing active member of the Senate Environment, Communications and Arts Committee. Senator Lundy's passion for Canberra is reflected in her interest in the National Capital plan's origins, and it's ongoing relevance to a vibrant 21st century national capital for all Australian's to share and enjoy. Being an enthusiastic rower, Senator Lundy has the opportunity to regularly enjoy Lake Burley Griffin and the surrounding inspiring landscape design, and the remarkable geometry that makes - by virtue of the Griffin Plan - Canberra itself a work of art. Today we're delighted that Senator Lundy's presenting a personal perspective on Canberra's design. She'll focus on the creation of the nation's capital, with reference to Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahoney Griffin: their background and influences, their roots in Chicago, and the implications of these international links. To complement this lecture we're delighted to have on display a selection of the Griffin's original renderings. The items are a treasured part of the National Archives collection, and we're especially thrilled to be able to present a rare viewing of the largest of these plans. The triptych of the view from Mount Ainslie. I encourage you to view them after the presentation if you haven't already done so, and after the presentation we'll direct you down to where those drawings are. So without any further words from me, I'd like to introduce Senator Kate Lundy. Transcript of Senator Lundy's speech Creating a New Nation’s Capital Musings on Canberra’s design origins Senator Kate Lundy 20 September 2009 I want to begin my presentation today … in New York, 2009. The Guggenheim Museum has, for many months, been host to a remarkable retrospective exhibition in honour of the architect: Frank Lloyd Wright. I had the privilege to view this exhibition whilst on a family holiday early in the northern hemisphere summer and it inspired me to explore further the relationship between the famous, if not notorious, American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, and his contemporary, the renowned, certainly in this city the renowned, Walter Burley Griffin. What I saw at this exhibition were vast renderings of future cities envisaged but never built– and they all impacted with a real feeling of familiarity, of recognition of century-old, lofty ideals expressed through these imposing works of art and their accompanying interpretations. Why? Because there, in the middle of the museum mile in New York City, I was seeing and hearing a version, an interpretation of the ideas that sit at the heart of Canberra. The forces which inspired the Griffins to produce their visionary design of Canberra were also an inspiration for Frank Lloyd Wright, with his ‘living city’, or so-called ‘broadacre city’: Wright’s city in the landscape. This wonderful New York moment got me thinking, speculating on the nature of the relationship between Frank Lloyd Wright, Walter Burley Griffin and his life partner, Marion Mahony-- and how it was that we were living the vision, seemingly expressed by Frank Lloyd Wright later in his career, right here in our national capital in Australia. But in this room, we all know that the Griffin design came WELL BEFORE the Wright designs I was looking at in the Guggenheim. Indeed, the Griffins produced their masterwork heaps before the world knew anything much at all about Wright. So my journey was one of delving into the source of this inspiration that, by circumstance and serendipity, meant that I found myself gazing at stylish renderings of Wright’s vision for an organic Baghdad at one with the landscape – his “broadacre city” – but I felt I was seeing a blood relation of Canberra! Cl