SYDNEY BRIEFING March 2005

News this month

The governor's warning

The good times may be ending for Australia's economy. Appearing before a parliamentary committee on February 18th, Ian Macfarlane, the governor of Australia's central bank, warned Australians to prepare for higher interest rates. He then criticised the government for policies that have invested too much in unproductive areas, such as housing. Instead, the government needs to encourage investment in infrastructure, such as ports and rail, he suggested. Mr Macfarlane added that Australia’s economic boom, after 14 years of uninterrupted growth, was starting to produce strains of the sort that have caused trouble in the past.

Some economists believe the central bank will announce a small interest-rate rise, to dampen demand, in March, with possibly more rises later in the year. “I think we will have to get used to seeing GDP growth rates starting with the numbers two or three rather than three or four for a time,” said the governor.

Father and son

Tony Abbott, Australia’s health minister, who represents the wealthy Warringah electorate on Sydney’s north shore, was the talk of the town in February. He revealed he had recently met his illegitimate son, Daniel O’Connor, for the first time in 27 years. It had long been public knowledge that Mr Abbott fathered a child while a 19-year-old law student at the University of Sydney, before giving him up for adoption. (A point the opposition Labor party has regularly painted as at odds with his religious conservativism and pro-family views.) Mr O’Connor recently tracked down his biological mother, who told him who his father was.

Remarkably, Mr Abbott and his son had worked in the same building, Parliament House in Canberra, for three years. Mr O’Connor is a sound recordist for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC): he had even fitted Mr Abbott’s lapel and ear with sound equipment during interviews. Mr Abbott later married and fathered three daughters.

A new icon

An “iconic building” to match the Sydney Opera House is planned for a new park along the eastern shore of Darling Harbour in central Sydney. Bob Carr, the premier of New South Wales, announced on February 2nd that the 22-hectare historic dockland zone will be turned into a “people’s park of city workers and residents” next year, after the stevedoring company in residence moves out. At least 12 office and apartment towers will be built nearby to pay for the conversion of half the area into parkland.

Mr Carr said the iconic building is planned for the northern tip of the site at Dawes Point, across the harbour from the opera house. Exactly what it will be remains a mystery, and it will remain so for some time: according to the premier, it may not be completed for 100 years. The design will be selected from an international competition, although hopefully without the strife and controversy that surrounded the selection of the opera house.

Saving the White house

The National Trust of New South Wales, the state's heritage conservation body, has launched a campaign to save the Sydney home of Patrick White, Australia’s only Nobel Laureate for Literature. Mr White lived in this two-storey house at 20 Martin Road, Centennial Park, for 25 years with Manoly Lascaris, his life-long partner, until his death in 1990. He wrote many of his novels and plays there, including “The Eye of the Storm”, which won him the Nobel Prize in 1973.

Following Mr Lascaris’s death in 2003, the executors of Mr White’s estate planned to sell the house in late 2004. But the Trust, which hopes the home can become a national writers' centre, persuaded Mr White’s four principal beneficiaries, including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, to suspend the sale at the last minute. The Trust is now organising a delegation, including Thomas Keneally, a leading Australian novelist, to persuade the Australian federal and New South Wales state governments, and Sydney City Council, to spend the A$4m ($3.2m) needed to buy the property.

Mighty tree falls

Australia’s film industry has been shaken by the sudden collapse of “Eucalyptus”, a film that was to star Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman, days before shooting was due to start near Bellingen, a town north of Sydney. Adapted from an award-winning novel by Murray Bail, an Australian writer, the film had been years in the planning. Both stars had already returned to the country where they started their careers, and more than 80 people had been hired for the film crew. Many hoped the project would revive Australia’s stagnant feature-film industry.

But in a brief statement on February 11th, Miss Kidman, Mr Crowe, Uberto Pasolini, the producer, and Jocelyn Moorhouse, the writer-director, announced that the film was being “postponed”. No date for a rescheduled shoot has been given. Fox Searchlight, the production company, gave no reason for this move, but press reports have pointed to a clash over the screenplay between Miss Moorhouse and Mr Crowe, who was also executive producer. Mr Crowe was spotted inspecting the set a few days later, fuelling speculation that he may wish to take over as director himself.

Catch if you can

March 2005

The Studio of Jørn Utzon: Creating the Sydney Opera House

Until May 1st 2005

The Sydney Opera House is constantly the subject of exhibitions, due to both its icon status and its stormy construction history. This show, a collaboration between the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales and the Sydney Opera House Trust, assembles original designs, notes and drawings that inspired Jørn Utzon, the opera house’s Danish architect.

They include Mr Utzon’s home movies of other great buildings, such as mosques in Iran and Mayan temples in Mexico. Ideas from these visits were eventually transformed into the opera house’s soaring roof sails. Now in his 80s, Mr Utzon is collaborating with his architect son, Jan, and Richard Johnson, an Australian architect, on modifications to the building’s western podium that will open it up to Sydney Harbour. The building is just a short stroll down Phillip Street from this exhibition.

Listen to an audio interview about the opera house's refurbishment.

Museum of Sydney, Bridge and Phillip Sts, Sydney. Tel: +61 (02) 9251 5988. Open daily 9am-5pm. Admission: A$7. See the exhibition website.