AustLit
Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'On 23 May 1912, American Walter Burley Griffin was announced to the world as the winner of the international design competition for the new Australian capital to be built on a sheep paddock they called Canberra. Almost a century later, Griffin's design - but most of all its implementation - is still hotly debated. Who was this man and what was his vision? How did he come to Canberra, what happened once the Australian establishment tore him to shreds, and what was the role of his wife, helpmate, fellow architect and equal creative partner, Marion Mahony Griffin?
'In this definitive new biography of Griffin husband and wife, Alasdair McGregor delineates the role each played in the production of their greatest works - Canberra, Castlecrag, Newman College and the rest - and charts their lives, from their childhoods and meeting in Chicago in the employ of the larger than life Frank Lloyd Wright, to their battles in Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney, and their swansong in India.
'This is a tale of many parts. It traces the lives of two individuals of great talent and vision and their fight against mediocrity. It is the story of the birth of Canberra, one that tells us as much about the Griffins as it does about ourselves and the troubled birth of the Australian national identity. It is a portrait of a pioneering woman who achieved extraordinary things but was rarely credited with that achievement. And it is an examination of the nature of fame in a young country uncertain of its position in the world.
'The Griffins' story resonates through the years, and their fight to see their idealistic vision realised is one that goes on in Australia today.' (From the publisher's website.)
Notes
-
Dedication: For David Headon, Scholar and Friend
-
Epigraph:
Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood ... Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing asserting itself with ever growing insistence ... Let your warchword be order and your beacon bearty.
Daniel Hudson Burnham, 1907
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Burley Griffin Bio Wins Prize
2011
single work
column
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 17 May 2011; (p. 5) -
Briefing Books
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 3-4 October 2009; (p. 22)
— Review of Grand Obsessions : The Life and Work of Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin 2009 single work biography -
Walter and Marion, True to the Creative Vocation
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 3 October 2009; (p. 17)
— Review of Grand Obsessions : The Life and Work of Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin 2009 single work biography -
Review of the Week
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 27 September 2009; (p. 20)
— Review of Grand Obsessions : The Life and Work of Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin 2009 single work biography -
Books
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 26 September 2009; (p. 20)
— Review of Grand Obsessions : The Life and Work of Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin 2009 single work biography
-
Books
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 26 September 2009; (p. 20)
— Review of Grand Obsessions : The Life and Work of Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin 2009 single work biography -
Review of the Week
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 27 September 2009; (p. 20)
— Review of Grand Obsessions : The Life and Work of Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin 2009 single work biography -
Walter and Marion, True to the Creative Vocation
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 3 October 2009; (p. 17)
— Review of Grand Obsessions : The Life and Work of Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin 2009 single work biography -
Briefing Books
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 3-4 October 2009; (p. 22)
— Review of Grand Obsessions : The Life and Work of Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin 2009 single work biography -
Burley Griffin Bio Wins Prize
2011
single work
column
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 17 May 2011; (p. 5)
Awards
- 2011 winner National Biography Award
- 2010 shortlisted Queensland Premier's Literary Awards — Best Non-Fiction Book
- 2009 shortlisted Western Australian Premier's Book Awards — Non-Fiction
- 2009 winner The Fellowship of Australian Writers Victoria Inc. National Literary Awards — Barbara Ramsden Award Jointly awarded to the author Alasdair McGregor and the publisher's editor Nicola Young.
- Canberra, Australian Capital Territory,
- Melbourne, Victoria,
- Sydney, New South Wales,
-
cUnited States of America (USA),cAmericas,
-
cIndia,cSouth Asia, South and East Asia, Asia,