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RADAR
FEATURES
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| | OBITUARY Ted Farmer led Australian architectural culture throughout the 1960s. Chris Johnson farewells the former NSW Government Architect 1909-2001.
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Ted Farmer, NSW Government Architect
from 1958 to 1973, died at the age of 91
on Sunday, 17 June 2001. Farmer was the
sixteenth government architect in a
continuous line from Francis Greenway to
James Barnet, Walter Liberty Vernon and
Cobden Parkes. At the time he became
government architect (by winning the
position over five more senior officers),
the role had become fairly conservative.
His predecessor, Cobden Parkes, the son
of Sir Henry Parks, had not allowed his
architects to submit for architecture awards
and the postwar era had not led to high
quality architecture.
Farmer was presented with a great
opportunity which he took with great style.
Suddenly winning awards was on the
agenda and Farmer gave support to his
design room under Harry Rembert, with
the young turks of Australian architecture.
At incredibly young ages Ken Woolley,
Peter Hall, Michael Dysaght, Peter Webber,
Andrew Andersons and Lionel Glendening
were given free reign. What followed were
six Sulman Awards, two Blacket Awards
and countless merit awards for excellent
architecture.
The Government Architect’s Branch was
the place to be. A traineeship program that
began in 1948 had only attracted three
applicants yet, at the end of the 1960s at
the height of Farmer’s period, 1,500 school leavers applied for 12 positions in the
Government Architect’s Branch. Across
Australia Ted Farmer and the NSW
Government Architect’s Branch were seen
as leading architectural debate. In 1972
Farmer was awarded the Royal Australian
Institute of Architect’s highest honour, the
Gold Medal.
In an address to his staff in 1972 shortly
before retirement Farmer said, “I flatter
myself that the Branch has achieved an aim
that was always before me, and that is to
lead the profession both in aesthetic and
practical aspects. The public recognition that
we have received both in Australia and
overseas is proof of this. I think our status
was never higher.”
I set out to research the history of this
unique band of people and visited Ted
Farmer a number of times at his home in
Explorer Road, Glenbrook. Ted would spend
hours reminiscing about the good old days.
He was surrounded by his records, diaries,
drawing instruments, photographs and an
old grandfather clock that intriguingly had
the words “Government Architect” across
the face. Ted had a story about a previous
government architect who insisted that there
be no advertising in Government House and
on seeing the clock maker’s name on the
clock face instructed that this be changed to
the words “Government Architect”.
Ted often had a sly smile on his face and this always came out when we discussed
the Opera House dramas over the Utzon
dismissal. “I’ve written it all down,” Ted
would say, “but it won’t become public
until after I die.”
His friends from the GAB days have
heard that Ted has deposited as many as
three books in the Mitchell Library to be
made public after his death. Knowing
Ted’s eye for detail and his incredible
memory I can believe this. But I also know
that Ted was a real gentleman with a fairly
soft side to his nature. He was an
inclusivist. He was passionate. He was
most upset at the demolition of the State
Office Block which he saw as the pinnacle
of achievement during his term.
Photographs taken during construction
show him striding across the site, a tall
superior person with bow tie and an ever
present pipe in his mouth.
Two weeks before his death, Ted’s two
children, Ann and Peter, were back in
Sydney from their overseas locations and
both had the pleasure of reminiscing with
him about the past. Ted’s good friends
also visited him recently to remember the
good old days. Having seen his family and
his friends, Ted Farmer was happy to die
in his sleep on the morning of Sunday,
17 June 2001.
Chris Johnson is the current NSW
Government Architect.
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Copyright © 2010 Architecture Media Pty Ltd
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