Abstract
Extract:
When on September 16, 1975, Papua New Guinea gained independence and became the newest island-nation-state in the Pacific region, processes of decolonisation were already underway.
Amongst the issues facing the new nation-state was an acute and persistent housing shortage, a crisis that had been described in detail by Balwant Singh Saini in a 1973 report commissioned by Michael Somare, the Chief Minister of Papua and New Guinea, titled “Urban Housing in Papua New Guinea.” In response to the report, the mandate of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea Housing Commission (TPNG HC), formed in 1968 to provide housing for public servants and their families, was broadened.
At Independence the rebadged National Housing Commission (NHC) was tasked with strategies for housing all Papua New Guinean migrant workers. But because attention in the lead-up to Independence was focused on urgent governance issues (the drafting of a new constitution, the floating of a new currency), the NHC, unhitched from the Commonwealth and
with limited interdepartmental exchange or oversight, sustained a culture that supported architectural experimentation: an island of innovative practice in a sea of bureaucratic uncertainty.
When on September 16, 1975, Papua New Guinea gained independence and became the newest island-nation-state in the Pacific region, processes of decolonisation were already underway.
Amongst the issues facing the new nation-state was an acute and persistent housing shortage, a crisis that had been described in detail by Balwant Singh Saini in a 1973 report commissioned by Michael Somare, the Chief Minister of Papua and New Guinea, titled “Urban Housing in Papua New Guinea.” In response to the report, the mandate of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea Housing Commission (TPNG HC), formed in 1968 to provide housing for public servants and their families, was broadened.
At Independence the rebadged National Housing Commission (NHC) was tasked with strategies for housing all Papua New Guinean migrant workers. But because attention in the lead-up to Independence was focused on urgent governance issues (the drafting of a new constitution, the floating of a new currency), the NHC, unhitched from the Commonwealth and
with limited interdepartmental exchange or oversight, sustained a culture that supported architectural experimentation: an island of innovative practice in a sea of bureaucratic uncertainty.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Proceedings of the 40th Annual Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand |
| Subtitle of host publication | Islands |
| Place of Publication | Brisbane, Australia |
| Publisher | SAHANZ |
| Pages | 69-70 |
| Number of pages | 2 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9781763877207 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 2025 |
| Event | Society of Historians of Australia and New Zealand Conference: Islands - Univeristy of Queensland and QUT, Brisbane , Australia Duration: 2 Dec 2024 → 4 Dec 2024 Conference number: 40 https://www.sahanz.net/events/type/conferences/ |
Conference
| Conference | Society of Historians of Australia and New Zealand Conference |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | Australia |
| City | Brisbane |
| Period | 2/12/24 → 4/12/24 |
| Other | From spaces of isolation and independence, to archipelagos of connection and knowledge exchange, islands occupy a complex and evocative place in our terrestrial and imaginary worlds. At once utopian and dystopian—places of refuge and exile, extravagance and exploitation, paradises and prisons—islands contain contradictions and contested spatial histories. They provide distance from which to look back and reflect on one’s place in the world and the journeys that have brought us there. At the same time, they connote severance from the world as places of ostracization: petri dishes of extremism, claustrophobia, paranoia and self-isolation. More than physical spaces of geographic separation, islands also suggest those contrasts and positions that play out across political, social and cultural spheres. In architecture, such differences produce islands of practice—siloes of discourse and debate—historically visible in certain schools of practice and the work of independent practitioners and scholars. Islands are also shaped by architectural practices, from indigenous and colonial to modern and contemporary, from vernacular and regional to global and digital. Islands, therefore, emerge as both sites and subjects of critical historical research, and a lens or position through which to examine the past. On the occasion of the 40th Annual SAHANZ Conference, the theme of islands also encourages delegates to challenge and critique the often-siloed nature of architectural history itself, and how the discipline might speak to a wider audience. Topics may include, but are not limited to: The antipodean island-ness of Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand: Interrogations of physical and cultural distance, centre-periphery histories Historical studies of the island architecture and building cultures of Oceania—Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia—as well as the greater Asia-Pacific region Islands of containment: Histories of immigration islands and detention facilities, island quarantine and isolation. COVID bubbles, and the biodomes of self-sustaining environments. The Eden Project, and Buckminster Fuller’s Dome over Manhattan Islands and inclusion and exclusion: Histories of defensive islands and island fortresses Political islands: Architectures of sovereignty and independence, colonisation and control. Strategic islands for military outposts and regional interference. Excised islands. Spaces of exile, self-isolation, and the architecture of Brexit Islands of practice: Histories of regional schools and vernacular architectures, as well as solo and independent practitioners. Architecture and individualism, the lone auteur Girt by sea: Islands and water, riparian histories. Climate change and island heritage. The architecture and urbanism of floating markets, villages in Southeast Asia Terrestrial islands: sites and buildings for refuge, commune and retreat Island cities: Histories of urban islands. Manhattan. Venice (and Ruskin). Singapore. Dubai’s artificial islands. The city within the city – toward the archipelago Fictional islands and island imaginaries: Atlantis, Lilliput, Neverland, and Azkaban Islands and indulgence: Sanctuaries and retreats, Coney Island, and Japan’s ‘Art Islands’ Paradise Island: Studies of island resort architecture. The Gold Coast’s canal islands (Chevron, Hope, Paradise); Bali and the work of Peter Muller. The island resorts of Christine Vadasz Treasure Island: Developers and their islands (Keith Williams at Hamilton and Daydream Islands; Alan Bond and Cockatoo Island; Christopher Skase and the island of Majorca) Desert island: Spaces of separation, solitude and remoteness |
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