16 June 2005

State Circle Cutting a heritage site?

| johnboy
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An odd one from 06-JUN-05, the Federal Minister for the Environment, Senator Ian Campbell, has put out a media release informing us that two sites in Canberra have been placed on the National Heritage List.

CANBERRA’S ANCIENT AND MODERN HERITAGE

Two of Canberra’s heritage places, an ancient geological site dating back more than 450 million years and a 20th century office building, will be included on the Commonwealth Heritage List.

Senator Campbell said the State Circle Cutting and the Edmund Barton Building represented two very different faces of Canberra’s heritage.

“The State Circle Cutting is a geological snapshot in time, showing us how the Canberra region has formed and changed over hundreds of millions of years,” Senator Campbell said.

“The area was originally covered by sea and the rocks of the State Circle Shale were folded by powerful tectonic forces, lifting them above sea level. Over millions of years erosion gradually wore down the land and shaped its surface.

“The land was then once again covered by a shallow sea, and the Camp Hill sediments were deposited on top of the older land surface, creating the geological features known as an ‘unconformity’, that makes the site so significant.

“Excavation of the site in the early 1970s led to a major re-assessment of how geological events impacted on the Canberra region. Today it is an important teaching site, providing evidence of ancient geological landscapes and habitats of now extinct fauna.”

Senator Campbell said the Edmund Barton Offices on Kings Avenue, representing far more recent history, were an acclaimed example of modern Australian architecture and the largest example of the late 20th century international style in the ACT.

“The design is the work of Harry Seidler, one Australia’s leading architects of the modern architectural movement, and is renowned for its innovative aesthetic, technical and design features,” he said.

A cutting is a site of National Heritage significance? A good geologist and a digging crew should be able to knock out any number of them you care for!

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maybe the EB building is being preserved because its so controversial

it’s a good cutting i will concede

but an odd choice with the majority of australia’s world heritage sites unlisted.

But if Canberra wasn’t located in Canberra wouldn’t it still be a sheep paddock ?

Spectacular rock layers at my last guess didn’t impress sheep that much, so it must be some trumped up local greenie group getting ants in their pants about the lack of anything of heritage value in the area and putting pressure on the Ministry to rectify that…

Hence silly heritage sites…

I can’t see anything wrong with telling people that since Canberra is a sattelite city and still extremely young there’s nothing here worth a heritage listing, so go away.

So just how do you protect a wall of rock ?

If it’s going to collapse will they have to prop it back up ?

Can we polish it so it’s shiny ?

Can we take bits away for souvineers ?

Even better can we carve an effigy of our great Prime Minister Sir Peter Costello in it ? (by the time it’s carved he’ll be PM)

F***

M*

A**

What a waste of skin this Cambell fella is.

As you whip past it at 80km/h, it’s easy to miss, but the cutting on the northern side does have some particularly spectacular layering and such of the rocks. Maybe not everyone’s idea of a site of national significance, but I’d just as soon see it preserved.

Could also be that the ‘geology’ gene is inherited though.

I understand the one in Paris is called the Bastille.

So that’s why we’re not allowed to pin up anything on the walls inside EBB. 🙁

Not the coolest building around…

Apparently there is building in Paris that looks very much like the Edmund Barton Building. Another fine example of Aussies getting their inspiration from overseas.

I worked in that building for nearly five years. It’s fucking awful.

Onya, Senator! At least you recognise that if the inhabitants of Edmund Barton are a protected species, then why not the edifice that houses them during their daily grind?

Well that too.

you have to wonder that they haven’t got anything better to protect.

I’ve never seen a worse building than the Edmund Barton in my entire life. Its always been a disgrace and should be demolished for the concrete piece of crap that it is.

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