Potted biography - ACT Museums and Galleries - ACT Government

Session 1:
5.40 – 6.45pm
1 Annabelle Pegrum AM (Director Pegrum Judd, University Architect for the
University of Canberra and Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Arts and
Design)
Annabelle Pegrum is a Director of Pegrum Judd - strategic policy, planning and design. She
is also the University Architect for the University of Canberra and an Adjunct Professor in
the Faculty of Arts and Design. From 1998-2008 she was the Chief Executive of the
National Capital Authority, the Commonwealth agency responsible for the planning and
development of Canberra as the National Capital. Annabelle was the 1998 Telstra ACT
Business Woman of the Year and was awarded a Centenary Medal in 2001. She is a Life
Fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects and in 2007 was appointed as a Member in
the Order of Australia.
2 Melinda Dodson, BArch Hon, LFRAIA, Hon AIA, Hon MRAIC, Hon FNZIA
(Principal, Melinda Dodson Architects, Past National President Australian
Institute of Architects, UCAN Professional Associate)
Melinda Dodson Architects (MDa) is an emerging design and research practice of architects
and landscape architects undertaking commercial, mixed use, residential and education
projects with a strong focus on sustainable architecture and urban renewal.
Melinda has been practicing as an architect for eighteen years in Canberra and Adelaide,
delivering a number of award-winning projects. Awards she has received include the
Australian Institute of Architects (the Institute) ACT Young Architect Prize in 2005, the
American Institute of Architects President’s Medal in 2009, and the 2010 Instyle Design
Award. Prior to establishing MDa, she was Principal Architect with Daryl Jackson Alastair
Swayn Architects and then Sustainable Urban Renewal Business Leader with international
practice GHD. She is past ACT President and National President of the Australian Institute
of Architects, sits on several boards, advisory panels and lectures part-time in architecture
at the University of Canberra (UCAN).
One of the projects Melinda’s practice recently undertook is the Molonglo Demonstration
Village feasibility study / masterplan for the Land Development Agency featuring the
Compass House. The Compass House project began as a research exercise and series of
conference papers and articles in 2008, and essentially explores design and precinct
planning for medium density courtyard and terrace houses. More recently Melinda
received a research scholarship to further investigate alternate housing typologies
examining a live small, live close, use less thesis and the role of design. Melinda believes
passionately that sustainable cities and architecture is not about “living with a candle in a
cave”, but in fact holds the key to solving many of the frustrations of our cities.
3 Rosemarie Willett, B.Arch. M. B.Env (Conservation architect, Griffin
scholar, and a member of the Walter Burley Griffin Society)
Rosemarie Willett received her first degree in architecture from Melbourne University. She
worked with eminent architectural firms in Melbourne, London and Barcelona and was a
registered architect for 10 years with an eminent firm of architects in Sydney before she
came to Canberra in 1984 to work for Mitchell Giurgola and Thorp on Australia’s
Parliament House. In Canberra she revived a former interest in Walter Burley Griffin’s
Plan, gained a research degree at the UNSW Graduate school of Built Environment with
further study of Griffin, and has been active in the Walter Burley Griffin society. During the

1990s she worked for the Commonwealth Government and since 2002 has worked for the
ACT Government at the ACT Heritage Unit.
4 Gay Williamson (Manager of Strategic City and Design, Environment and
Sustainable Development Directorate)
Gay Williamson, has held senior design positions in Local, State and Commonwealth
Governments and has interspersed these sessions of public service working in private
practise and teaching Landscape and Urban Design at Canberra University. Currently, the
Manager of Strategic City Planning and Design in the Environment and Sustainable
Development Directorate, Gay is heading up a team of architects, landscape architects,
social scientists and environmental planners who are galvanised in the endeavour of
making sustainable places, not more spaces, for the ACT.
With a professional base in Landscape Architecture, Gay is concerned that planning and
design solutions are systemic, concentrating on the relationships between elements,
natural social and cultural processes. The fourth dimension of time and the construct of
inter-generational equity are also critical, Gay is passionate that plans are not set out as
‘blueprints’ but as frameworks that have inherent triggers and ‘feedback loops’.
Gay believes the role of the planning and design professional in public service must be to
drive responsible, sustainable change and innovation. Some of the projects she has
championed are the enhancement of Anzac Parade, including the new street lights,
Commonwealth Place, the Parliamentary Zone Outcomes Plan, City West Master Plan and
the Sustainable Future program which will culminate in the review of the ACT Spatial Plan.
5 Joy Burch MLA (Minister for Women and Minister for the Arts)
Joy is passionate about making life better for our community and draws on a wide range of
professional and personal experiences. Joy is determined to make a real difference to our
community and brings to the Legislative Assembly a life of experience and knowledge. Joy
has worked in a variety of roles spanning from managing community health projects,
running her own childcare centre and working as a fully trained nurse. Since her election
to the Legislative Assembly in 2008 Joy has continued to work hard to progress and deliver
positive outcomes for the Canberra community and its citizens. Joy is proud of the
achievements made by the ordinary and extraordinary women of Canberra who have left
their mark on the development and creation of our great city over time and is proud to
share in their celebration.
Session 2:
7.20 – 8.25pm
6 Dr Susan Mary Withycombe (Historian and author)
Susan Mary Withycombe (née Simpson) was brought up in Sydney and educated at
Ascham School, Darling Point (Class of 1960), Sydney University, the University of NSW and
the Australian National University. She is a teacher, lecturer and writer. Susan Mary has
lived in Canberra for more than 30 years; for 17 of these years she was a teacher at
Canberra Girls’ Grammar School (teaching Latin and Religion). She has written several
books and articles about Canberra’s district and people. In 2008 she successfully
completed a PhD project on the subject, “Building Communities: Women in the Making of
Canberra, 1911-1958.” At present she is a Visitor in the School of History at ANU, working
on several social history projects, having completed a general history of Canberra, which
she hopes will be published in time for the Centenary of Canberra in 2013.

7 Pamille Berg AO Hon. FRAIA (Pamille Berg Consulting Pty Ltd – Public Art
Consultant)
Pamille Berg, Director of Pamille Berg Consulting Pty Ltd in Canberra, is one of Australia’s
most experienced public art consultants, having completed the inception and coordination
of major public art programs in Australia and overseas for over thirty years.
The breadth of her background contributes significantly to what she brings to each project,
with a long post-graduate education as an art historian and archaeologist in the USA and
Italy. She also served as one of six Directors of the large architectural firm of MGT
Architects for over 14 years, with major projects in Australia, Asia, and the Pacific Rim.
Pamille’s first major public art program was in serving as the Architect’s Art/Craft Program
Coordinator for the $13 million Parliament House Art Program from 1982 – 1988, with
commissions involving more than 200 artists and craftspeople, most of whom had never
had a public commission prior to that time.
Pamille served as the Chair of the Visual Arts/Craft Board of the Australia Council and a
member of Council from 1991 – 1994. In 2002 she was made an Honorary Fellow of the
Royal Australian Institute of Architects and in 2004 was appointed to the Order of Australia
for her service to public art in Australia, particularly with emerging artists and indigenous
artists in remote communities.
In addition to her various large-scale public art and design projects under way in Australia
and the USA, in recent years Pamille has been engaged by over twenty-five local councils
in Australia to provide advice in the development of public art policy, procedures, public
domain planning, and public art coordination.
8 Dr Dianne Firth (Landscape practice owner, FAILA, Deputy Chair ACT
Heritage Council, Adjunct Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture at
the University of Canberra, and textile artist)
Dianne Firth retired 2 weeks ago. Over her working life she has integrated university
teaching and research, practice as a landscape architect, and advisor to Government with
her creative art making. In turn, her art practice has informed her landscape design and
teaching practice and encouraged other ways of seeing landscape in her clients and
students. Her art quilts are recognised nationally and internationally through juried
exhibitions, publications and gallery acquisitions - notably the Museum of Art and Design
in New York. Retirement is unlikely to change much of this as she will continue to
supervise research students, mentor the next generation of landscape architects, advise
Government on landscape issues and create textile art for upcoming exhibitions.
9 Helen Cooke (PhD Candidate, Australian National University School of
Culture, History and Language, member of the Canberra Archaeological
Society Committee and member of the Council of the National Trust (ACT))
Helen Cooke commenced at the University of New England and graduated with a BAHons
in archaeology and biological anthropology from ANU, working as a research assistant. She
was a cultural heritage consultant and helped to register the Indigenous collections at the
National Museum of Australia. In 1991 she started in the ACT Heritage Unit, overseeing
the cultural heritage surveys in the area to be Gungahlin. After a secondment to the
Australian Heritage Commission Helen went back to SA to look after her elderly parents
and led the Aboriginal Heritage Team there for many years, too successfully for the powers
that be, so her position was made redundant. After some fun in other departments she
returned to ACT and the towers of public policy before retiring last year and becoming a

PhD candidate at ANU. She was President of the Canberra Archaeological Society from
1992 to 1995, then again from 2006 to 2011 and is still on the Committee. Helen has also
been on the Council of the National Trust (ACT) since 2006.
10 Erin Hinton (Design Practice Director, Assistant Professor of
Architecture/Interior Architecture at University of Canberra, Founder of
design collective, Faculty)
Erin Hinton is an engaged and enthusiastic architectural graduate and designer, with a
deep commitment to the design profession across a variety of platforms including
professional practice, education, governance and policy, and volunteer work.
Since starting her own practice in 2009, Erin has worked on a diverse range of
architectural, urban design and planning projects including large scale mixed use
redevelopment projects, retail and hospitality establishments and numerous private
houses.
In addition to her professional practice, Erin currently holds an academic position at the
University of Canberra where she lectures in both the Architecture and Interior
Architecture courses, and is additionally completing her PhD in urban transformation.
Erin is an active member of the Australian Institute of Architects (Education Committee),
the Property Council of Australia (UC Representative), and the Gallery of Australian Design
(Exhibitions and Advisory Group).