The Australian Natives Association Building, Melbourne

The Australian Natives Association building is located at 28-32 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne. It was built in 1939 as an office building for the Australian Natives Association, and is still used today primarily as offices. The architect was March & Michaelson, who designed the building in the Stripped Classical style. Like many other Art Deco period buildings in Melbourne, terracotta was utilised.

The Australian Natives Association (ANA) has played a major role in the formation of Australia since its establishment. The connotation of 'Australian Native' today implies that the association was created by Indigenous Australians, however this is not the case as the association was set up by the first generations of white Australians of European decent in 1871. Membership until the 1960s was exclusively for white men who were born in Australia and of European decent. These individuals viewed themselves as being 'native born', as opposed to those who emigrated and settled in Australia from the United Kingdom.

They had different views from the older generation of white Australians who were born in Europe, about the future of Australia and the direction the country should go in. Their overall desire was to be more independent from Britain. The influence of this Association was galvanised as it was the first time white individuals who were born in Australia outnumbered those who were born in Europe, and therefore their influence in politics and social policy began to dominate during this period.

The ANA was heavily involved in politics. They championed the idea of federation, and through these efforts also helped to form the Federal Constitution. After the Federation was formed they became vocal supporters of the White Australia Policy. Although a popular policy for many decades, this is now viewed by many Australians today as a shameful part of our political history. The details and full extent of this policy and the impact it had on Australia and Australians who come from a varying number of cultures is still often not fully acknowledged in the history books and the consciousness of the nation.

The Australian Natives Association championed other causes such as the need for national defence, railway expansion, conservation of natural resources and water. They involved themselves in social causes too, such as personal sponsorships for individuals who were financially disadvantaged as well as general welfare for the disadvantaged, maternal and infant welfare, and indigenous welfare. They even provided sickness, medical and funeral cover for its members. The ANA helped to establish the annual Australia Day celebrations, and even more importantly to many footy-mad Melbournians, they supported the development of Australian Rules Football.

In more recent decades they became heavily involved in supporting Australian manufactures by creating the 'Buy Australian Made' campaign. This included television adverts and a logo which was featured on products manufactured in Australia.

Most importantly to this blog, the Australian Natives Association had a beautiful building built for their Melbourne office. Facade details feature native animals including a kangaroo, emu and koalas. The rising sun, the Victorian coat of arms and rams heads are also features. These images send an unambiguous message that the Australian Natives Association is proudly and unapologetically 'Australian'. Despite the definition of what is is to be Australian has changed throughout the years, the message projected by the designs featured on the facade remains constant. This is what I would call timeless design.

My favourite features are the blue and green accents which in my mind are colours reflected in many native Australian plants, the two koalas in profile, and the elongating effects of the continuous vertical lines and columnades which give the whole building a strength and towering presence without being stout and heavy.

Love
Mosey x


PS. If you're interested this is a link to the Museum Victoria website which includes pictures of a number of Australian Natives Association artefacts within their collection.

That's One Cool Cat

This smiling cat was viewed out of a sixth floor window in the Myer Bourke Street building. It came as an unexpected and pleasant surprise. I did some research and found out that it was originally an advertisement for Mazda light globes and lamps, and that the other half of the ad was painted over during renovations on the Beehive Building (92-94 Elizabeth Street). I couldn't find a date for it, but judging from the colour pallet I would guess it was painted in the 1940s or 1950s. Here is a link to a picture of what the ad looked like before it was painted over.

Love
Mosey x

Art Deco in the city

Recently I visited the National Gallery of Victoria and saw the Edward Steichen and Art Deco Fashion exhibition. It is a wonderful exhibition and I would definitely recommend seeing it. Although it was a photography and fashion exhibition, it highlighted the connection between creative disciplines and social values. The relationship between architecture and interior design and decorating is an obvious one, but what many don't realise or forget is that other creative disciplines, are both influencing as well as being influenced by each other in a sort of continuous cycle of ideas and creativity; all of which is a reflection of the social atmosphere and sentiment of the time.

A fantastic example of this can be seen in a number of the beaded and sequinned dresses displayed. The patterns and compositions formed from the beads and sequins resembled or were influenced by the sky scraper. The Art Deco period was a proud, self assured period and one of great prosperity and creative output. The sky scraper was a symbol of this, and also a symbol of modernity and new technological advancements.

There are many beautiful examples of Art Deco architecture in Melbourne. My favourite building in Melbourne is the Manchester Unity Building, corner Collins Street and Swanston Street. I was very excited to see it was included in this exhibition. 

Here are a few photos I've taken of Art Deco architecture in Melbourne.

Manchester Unity 1932

Lyric House 1930, 250 Collins Street

Hardy Brothers Building 1933, 338 Collins Street

Beehive Building 1935, 92-94 Elizabeth Street

Love
Mosey x

Newman's Jewellers

Alstons Corner Building (1913), Collins and Elizabeth Street, Melbourne

I found another painted sign while walking around the city. When I took the photo I was unsure of the actual date, but the colour pallet and fading of the paint as well as the typesetting of the sign to me indicated it had some age to it. With a little bit of research I uncovered part of the story of the Newman's Jewellers sign.

Hand painted Newman's Jewellers sign, side of Alstons Corner

If you look really closely you can see there are two layers to the Newman's Jewellers sign. The link to this black and white photo shows you the original sign, which proudly reads Newman's Jewellers. Unfortunately I could not find a date for this photo but I assume it was taken not long after the sign was painted. If you look closely at the photo I took you can see the original type in red paint, and then a second layer on top which is indicating that they have relocated. Something like this is so easily missed or forgotten about, which in many ways is sad as Newman's Jewellers was a significant business during it's time.

Newman's Jewellers was founded in 1852. To put this into a historical perspective, this is one year after the beginning of the Victorian Gold Rush. It highlights how the city of Melbourne was built on the proceeds of gold, and that people flocked to the city to set up businesses and take advantage of this new found wealth. Obviously Newman's Jewellers was a solid business and was well regarded and trusted in the community as it was around for a long time. They moved from their location at Elizabeth street, where the sign is, to a location in Collins Street some time in 1930.

If you are interested here is a link to a digitised newspaper article from the 27th of June 1931, which makes reference to the Newman's business and explains it's standing and important place as a jewellery company in Melbourne.

It would be curious to see if any academic research has been done on this sign. Conservation research could uncover interesting things like the type of paint that was used and how many times it was repainted. But isn't it incredible that something of this age which has been exposed to the elements and left unprotected is still with us today?!?!

Love
Mosey x