Part Two – post 1920s - Newcastle City Council

18 1940s plans for a civic square and cultural centre
In 1938, after many years of negotiation, several district municipalities were joined
together to form the Greater Newcastle Council. To commemorate the event, the
mayor and all new aldermen resolved that the ‘Town Hall shall be known in future as
the City Hall’. 51
Proposals for a cultural centre for Newcastle in the vicinity of the Town Hall and
Civic Theatre progressed in the late 1930s and revived after the war. The
accompanying plan for a civic centre was prepared in 1945 by the city architect Mr
Parkinson. It was a long-range view of possible development and was presented for
discussion to a public meeting. In this plan, Wheeler Place has been extended to
make Civic Park a true square with a war memorial as centrepiece.
Several sites for a cultural centre were under consideration at the time. Parkinson’s
scheme suggests the site between Wheeler Place extended and Darby Street and future
public buildings to house a variety of government offices were suggested along
Laman Street.
The council preferred the elevated Laman Street site for the cultural centre.
Government buildings, or any other large buildings west of Darby Street were
rejected in favour of preserving extensive views to and from the cultural centre.
Figure 32: Parkinson’s
1945 plan as reproduced
in the Newcastle Morning
Herald 20 October 1945
By 1947 the Northumberland County Council, set up by the State government to
provide planning expertise for post-war renewal, made public its plans for the future
development of Newcastle. One of the county council plans for the civic area is
shown below (Figure 33). In this plan elimination of the Burwood coal railway has
allowed resumption of part of Dawson Street. Auckland Street has been extended
south. The Baptist Tabernacle is moved to another site in Auckland Street. King and
Darby Streets are widened as tree-lined ‘boulevards’. The land bounded by Burwood,
Darby and King Street is a green wedge that links and opens up the civic centre area
to the harbour and allows replanning of the road traffic system. A large roundabout
was proposed for the space taken today by the Taxation Offices. Civic Park occupies
the whole land section except for St Andrew’s Church, forming a fine civic square. A
51 Newcastle Morning Herald 25 March 1938
Newcastle Civic and Cultural Precinct History ~ Cynthia Hunter ~ January 2003 page 38