Edmund Wright House heritage campaign puts heat on National Trust of South Australia soft line; changed in 1980s
The National Trust of South Australia's criticised role in the defining heritage campaign to the save what became Edmund Wright House, in King William Street, Adelaide, in 1971, reflected its conservative unwillingness to get involved in disputes, adopted from its start in 1955.
The National Trust of South Australia was split in 1971 by the proposal to demolish the 1878 Bank of South Australia/ANZ Bank building (later Edmund Wright House) in King William Street, Adelaide city, when trust president (1966-70) Dean Berry was an architect for the 19-storey office block to replace it.
Berry also had been a chairman of trust’s early buildings committee set up in 1955. As South Australia’s major non-government heritage body, the trust had no legal power to protect historical buildings. Also, until 1987, presidents of the South Australia trust branch, formed in by Adelaide’s social establishment, were reluctant to lead the organisation into public disputes. It was primarily concerned with maintaining its museums and other properties and commenting on policy matters such as tax incentives for heritage conservation.
The trust’s early buildings committee took on the big task of classifying South Australian buildings of architectural or historic interest built before 1886. Prominent architect Walter Bagot, a trust sponsor, was influential by providing two lists he’d prepared for a book on South Australia’s historic buildings, including the ANZ bank building, Those “in danger of interference”, Bagot marked “P” or ”PP” for priority. The trust committee released its first list in 1961 of buildings classified A as architecturally important, H as historically interesting, B on Walter Bagot’s list, I as interesting or P for photographic records only should be kept. By 1964, the committee had only 22 of 250 buildings in category A.
Dean Berry led the committee lobbying the state government directly to preserve Adelaide’s destitute asylum and mounted police barracks. But Berry and other committee members believed it was impossible to preserve many buildings and suggested some might be preserved in a special set-aside area.
The National Trust of South Australia was strongly criticised in 1971 for failing to join the campaign to save the A-classified ANZ Bank building (Edmund Wright House) Taking over from Berry, the trust’s acting president, C. Warren Bonython, tried to negotiate with the state government and the building’s owner to buy it but couldn’t meet the developer’s terms. Barbara Best in her 1973 book Preserving Our Heritage criticised the failed negotiations by Bonython and the trust’s unwillingness to risk failure.
The trust’s quarterly newsletters reflected an inward-looking organisation through to the early 1980s. In 1983, director Bryan Hodson expressed regret that the trust had failed to inspire young people. In 1987, the trust’s new director (Kenneth) Tim McDonald, formerly an Australian diplomat in Washington, began to change its profile in the state. He made public statements on building projects, particularly proposals for the East End Market site, and worked with Aurora Heritage Action on several issues.
Phillippa Menses replaced McDonald in 1990 and continued his high-profile political style. Through Menses, the trust was actively involved in the East End Market project and against demolishing heritage-listed Tram Barn A at Hackney bus depot site in 1993. The trust expressed its first public commitment to local heritage, or townscape, conservation in its April 1889 newsletter, after it organised a seminar on the subject with speakers historian Norman Etherington, Rob Fowler of Adelaide University law school, Nigel Leavis of Melbourne’s urban conservation areas and two local planners.
The trust’s vice-president David Gilbert, an architect, later supported conservation areas for Adelaide city rather than the townscape initiative but added: ‘I don’t think there would be a large number of conservation zones in Adelaide. One would have to consider the south east corner, East End Market, three of the six squares, the parklands and large parts of North Adelaide”.
