Part Two – post 1920s - Newcastle City Council

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uilding were the Conservatorium of Music and the Faculty of Law. ‘University House’ is today an appropriate name for the building. The block of land in Laman Street was next to the Conservatorium of Music building and ideal for future expansion of that institution as well as car parking for students in the short term. In 1997 the conservatorium occupied ‘Northumberland House’ on the north west corner of King and Auckland Streets, the former headquarters of the Northumberland County Council and Department of Environment and Planning. In 2002, over 2,000 students were enrolled and over 150 concerts performed each year. The conservatorium is closely associated with many drama and musical groups both locally and afar and plays an important role in education and enrichment of cultural life in Newcastle and the Hunter Region. 20.2 Art Gallery Proposals for Newcastle Council to establish a Newcastle Art Gallery can be traced back to the 1920s when the director of the National Art Gallery suggested that a special space be provided in the proposed new Town Hall scheme for that purpose. Then, the director assured the council, art works would be made available for exhibition from the national collection and from the Sydney Art Gallery. Apparently the National Gallery had already loaned paintings for exhibition in the Technological Museum in Hunter Street. 54 Here the Technical College conducted an Art School. The town clerk foreshadowed that a sum of money could be voted to purchase art works and also for annual prizes in order to encourage local talent and built up a city collection. The council agreed. ‘It takes something more than business and industry to make a city really great’ said the Newcastle Morning Herald editor on the following day. 55 Apparently no action eventuated from this proposal for about ten years until the movement for a cultural centre for Newcastle became topical. The Town Hall had made articulate the civic aspirations of the people it was said. Now their cultural aspirations needed similar expression. A ‘Cultural Centre Advisory Committee’ joined forces with the ‘Free Library Movement’, (which was part of the agenda of the ‘Greater Newcastle Council’) to forward this initiative. There was no money for this purpose. Funding for any cultural centre depended on selling for redevelopment the Newcastle School of Arts building, whose function was now ‘out of fashion’. If this were done, additional funds might be obtained from the government and the Department of Education. 56 The Trustees of the School of Arts were not favourable to the idea. Their own library was available to members and the Technical College had a good reference library, they said. Advocates of the Free Library Movement (that is a library for all citizens paid for out of municipal rates) wanted a diverse collection of books that were a practical balance between fiction and reference books. The Free Library was an essential community facility, not necessarily because the people wanted access to 54 Newcastle Morning Herald 1 November 1921 55 Newcastle Morning Herald 2 November 1921 56 Newcastle Morning Herald 2 June 1938 Newcastle Civic and Cultural Precinct History ~ Cynthia Hunter ~ January 2003 page 44
ooks but because they should have them and the council should show leadership by providing them. The council was presented with two options. The Cultural Centre Advisory Committee’s option was to establish a cultural centre to provide modern library facilities and opportunities for other cultural expression. The former would be a ‘good central library with a well-serviced reference section, a children’s library, a lending library, a reading room well stocked with newspapers and periodicals and a stack room that would serve as the centre for a regional library service’. ‘Other cultural expression’ was an art gallery with hall suitable for lectures, amateur theatricals, musical recitals and accommodation for meetings of cultural and scientific societies. The second option, from the School of Arts Trustees, was to lease the upper level of their building for a library and other cultural activities. This proposal was economical, limited, temporary and makeshift and met with little enthusiasm. Apparently in 1938 two collections of paintings were on loan to the city. One – a fine collection of bird studies by Neville Cayley – ‘hangs in obscure neglect on the walls of the Longworth Institute’. The other was ‘distributed round the passageways of the Town Hall’. Newcastle urgently needed an appropriate hall to exhibit these works and others that were available. 57 The committee stressed that their plan allowed for cultural activities to be closely associated with the civic centre already growing up around the Town Hall. Apparently no decision was made although agitation for a cultural centre, especially the library component, continued. Two years later ‘Newcastle Art Society’, apprehensive of being left out of the plan, promoted a central exhibition space in the city for pictures. The society wanted to improve art appreciation in the community by making good works accessible. The society asked the Minister for Education to make available the museum room at the old Technical College in Hunter Street for an art gallery. 58 Other unused halls were suggested but nothing appears to have been achieved. Some writers claim that World War Two intervened and prevented the cultural centre and art gallery from materialising. A Newcastle Art Gallery took a step closer to realisation when Dr Roland Pope (1864-1952) offered the city his collection of 3,000 books and many paintings and drawings. The offer came not from any personal association with the city but because Newcastle was the most populous of provincial cities then lacking the advantages of cultural institutions. The gift was conditional on providing a suitable building - a public library and gallery – to house them. Further awareness of Dr Roland Pope, his collection policies and his vision is desirable for anyone seeking to know the story of Newcastle’s cultural centre. After War’s end the cultural centre movement was rekindled. A public meeting in 1945 led to the formation of a committee to advance the cause. Choosing a site involved the community in many debates. Despite opposition by many people (including local residents and later, the planner of the Northumberland County Council) the Newcastle Council decided upon the Laman Street site in August 1946. 57 Newcastle Morning Herald 31 October 1938 58 Newcastle Morning Herald 19 April 1940 Newcastle Civic and Cultural Precinct History ~ Cynthia Hunter ~ January 2003 page 45
Page 1 and 2: We are building a civic monument se
Page 3 and 4: In the 1980s it became apparent tha
Page 5 and 6: 14 Civic Park - acquiring the land
Page 7 and 8: the Electric Supply Department. Chr
Page 9 and 10: 17 Civic precinct development in th
Page 11 and 12: walkway and flight of stairs links
Page 13 and 14: Figure 36: 1960s aerial view of the
Page 15: After 1957, the Cultural Centre Wom
Page 19 and 20: on purchases by the director. Visit
Page 21 and 22: occasions. Just two years after the
Page 23 and 24: Reaction from the community was var
Page 25 and 26: In 1909, two of Frederick Ash’s s
Page 27 and 28: in opposing light in a lengthy deba
Page 29 and 30: financier and lessee. Many jobs wou
Page 31 and 32: Stage Two was planned to be the hot
Page 33 and 34: (Part of the civic site is about 20
Page 35 and 36: 30 1992 Civic Prospectus In June 19
Page 37 and 38: complex was completed. A solicitor,
Page 39 and 40: 33 Acknowledgment of Sources Books:
Page 41 and 42: Black Diamond Hotel (right). Part o
Page 43: 1986 Figure 44 Illustration of the

Part Two – post 1920s - Newcastle City Council

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