Over the hill and down into the hollow
There’s a path we all follow
To this place we still call home
by Ronnie O'Rourke, Plaque erected by Westlake children at 'Westlake', Yarralumla, ACT
Westlake 1922-1965: Population 700
Westlake was planned and built. People were moved in, went to work, built friendships, got married, had children, held funerals. The planned town became a community. When it had served its purpose the houses were sold. The Community dislocated and relocated. Westlake was erased. The Community lives on.
ANTHOLOGY was a site specific theatrical journey through the vanished suburb of Westlake, now known as Stirling Park. The site is Ngunawal land, Guru Bung Dhaura (Stony Ground) a traditional pathway, and from the 1920’s the site of one of the camps created to house the workers building the new city of Canberra. Tents and a hall were erected in The Gap at Westlake followed by 61 temporary cottages, designed by architect HM Rolland and built in 1923, for married tradesmen building the infrastructure for the new Federal Capital of Australia. These families lived at Westlake for 50 years until the 1960’s when the families were relocated, the houses sold and removed. Westlake is now a parkland, nestled between the lake and the Embassies of Yarralumla.
As the audience was guided through Westlake, by a fictional descendant of HM Rolland, the remnants of a community were discovered, fragments of hidden memories glimpsed, shadow spaces inhabited by workers and their families were littered with broken conversations. A forgotten community suspended in time, whispered stories are waiting to be heard.
ANTHOLOGY was factional storytelling from the heart - combining performance, installation, verbatim story, sound, film, live music, dance, song and tea.
ANTHOLOGY visioned the site as a microcosm of our collective experience - of people drawn to Canberra to meet and work. Since the inception of the city its’ main attraction has been transitory work: a city created by workers for workers. It eulogises the lives of the unsung transient workers, past and present, who have built our nations capital. It delves into our unspoken past and remembered present to reveal rich potential in our imagined future.
ANTHOLOGY explored the symbiotic and interconnected nature of our existence in our communities and the legacies we leave.
Pip Buining (Creator and Director) Louise Morris (Creator and Installation Artist) have drawn together a dynamic team of artists to bring ANTHOLOGY to life – including Kimmo Vennonen (Sound), Sarah Kaur (Video), Matt Scott (Technical Artist), Joe Woodward (Performer), Caroline O’Brien (Performer), The GOLD Company, Liz Lea (Choreographer), Canberra Academy of Dramatic Art and The Cashews.
MAKE YOUR OWN WESTLAKE COTTAGE
HM Rolland O.B.E. (Order of the British Empire) F.R.A.I.A (Fellow of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects) was the Resident Architect of Canberra 1912 and Director of Works 1921, Chief Architect 1925. In 1923 he designed and had built the 61 portable Cottages for Westlake.
He received his O.B.E from His Royal Highness, the Duke of York when he officially opened Parliament House on May 9, 1927 – it was signed by George V, countersigned by the Prince of Wales (later George VIII). He was the first captain of the Royal Canberra Golf Club and he won the first championship in 1926. He painted watercolours, in 1947 the Government acquired a collection of his work and they are at the National Library. In 1926 he built the first permanent church in Canberra in Braddon.
Derek Nicholson kindly volunteered to create for us a model of one of the Westlake Cottages from Rolland’s original plans.
The plans are available here for you to create your own Westlake Cottage. Enjoy!
HM Rolland O.B.E. (Order of the British Empire) F.R.A.I.A (Fellow of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects) was the Resident Architect of Canberra 1912 and Director of Works 1921, Chief Architect 1925. In 1923 he designed and had built the 61 portable Cottages for Westlake.
He received his O.B.E from His Royal Highness, the Duke of York when he officially opened Parliament House on May 9, 1927 – it was signed by George V, countersigned by the Prince of Wales (later George VIII). He was the first captain of the Royal Canberra Golf Club and he won the first championship in 1926. He painted watercolours, in 1947 the Government acquired a collection of his work and they are at the National Library. In 1926 he built the first permanent church in Canberra in Braddon.
Derek Nicholson kindly volunteered to create for us a model of one of the Westlake Cottages from Rolland’s original plans.
The plans are available here for you to create your own Westlake Cottage. Enjoy!
| 01westlake_cottage_notes_sheet_1.pdf |
| 02westlake_cottage_sheet_2.pdf |
| 03westlake_cottage_ground_plan_sheet_3.pdf |
Ernest Albert Corey Research by Penny Edwell
Ernest Albert Corey, distinguished Australian soldier, was born on 20 December 1892 near Cooma, the eighth child of selector Thomas Corey and his wife Ellen. In January 1916, Corey left his job as a blacksmith’s striker in Cooma to join the ‘Men From Snowy River’ recruitment march, aimed at boosting enlistments for the Australian Imperial Force during WWI. The march began in Delegate and ended in Goulburn having recruited 144 local men, Corey among them.
On finishing his training at Goulburn, Corey left Australia in September 1916 onboard the troopship Port Sydney as a member of the 55th Infantry Battalion. After undergoing further training in England, he traveled to France in December to join his unit in the field, just as the European winter was taking hold in the trenches of the Somme.
In early 1917, the 55th Battalion joined an advance that followed the retreating German forces to the Hindenburg Line. In the early hours of 15 May and following heavy losses around Queant, the Commanding Officer of the 55th Battalion called for volunteers with knowledge of first aid to assist the stretcher bearers. Corey was one of 30 men who responded, venturing into no-man’s land and carrying the wounded back about a mile and a half to the dressing station. For 17 hours Corey worked under fire and without rest, showing ‘great courage and devotion to duty’. For this action he was awarded the Military Medal, presented to him by King George V.
From this point on Corey became a regular stretcher bearer, and was awarded three bars to his Military Medal for his work in aiding wounded soldiers. Remarkably, Corey achieved his four bravery awards within the space of only 18 months and remains the only person to have been awarded the Military Medal four times.
In late September 1918 Corey, now a corporal, was in charge of the battalion’s stretcher bearers during a fierce attack on the Hindenburg Line near Bellicourt. Once again Corey worked tirelessly and ‘with the utmost skill and bravery’, attending and removing wounded men from the front line. For his work during this time he was awarded his third bar to his Military Medal (only three weeks after receiving his second bar), however he was also badly wounded, effectively ending his WWI military service. After a period of recuperation in England, Corey returned Australian in April 1919.
During the inter-war years Corey moved to Canberra where he held a variety of jobs including rabbiter, caretaker, office cleaner and leading hand at the Canberra incinerator. In 1924 he married Sarah Fisher at St Gregory’s Catholic Church, Queanbeyan and the couple had one daughter before the marriage ended in 1935. During WWII he reenlisted and served with the 2nd Garrison Battalion.
On 25 August 1972, and at the age of 80, Ernest Albert Corey died at Queanbeyan Private Nursing Home and was buried with full military honours in Canberra cemetery. In an interview conducted the year before his death, Corey stated with pride that each of his four wartime bravery awards had been awarded for saving lives – not taking them.
http://www.monaropioneers.com/corey-ea.htm
http://www.memorial.act.gov.au/person.php?id=936
http://anzacsonline.net.au/2011/11/corey-ernest-albert-mm-3-bars/
Ernest Albert Corey, distinguished Australian soldier, was born on 20 December 1892 near Cooma, the eighth child of selector Thomas Corey and his wife Ellen. In January 1916, Corey left his job as a blacksmith’s striker in Cooma to join the ‘Men From Snowy River’ recruitment march, aimed at boosting enlistments for the Australian Imperial Force during WWI. The march began in Delegate and ended in Goulburn having recruited 144 local men, Corey among them.
On finishing his training at Goulburn, Corey left Australia in September 1916 onboard the troopship Port Sydney as a member of the 55th Infantry Battalion. After undergoing further training in England, he traveled to France in December to join his unit in the field, just as the European winter was taking hold in the trenches of the Somme.
In early 1917, the 55th Battalion joined an advance that followed the retreating German forces to the Hindenburg Line. In the early hours of 15 May and following heavy losses around Queant, the Commanding Officer of the 55th Battalion called for volunteers with knowledge of first aid to assist the stretcher bearers. Corey was one of 30 men who responded, venturing into no-man’s land and carrying the wounded back about a mile and a half to the dressing station. For 17 hours Corey worked under fire and without rest, showing ‘great courage and devotion to duty’. For this action he was awarded the Military Medal, presented to him by King George V.
From this point on Corey became a regular stretcher bearer, and was awarded three bars to his Military Medal for his work in aiding wounded soldiers. Remarkably, Corey achieved his four bravery awards within the space of only 18 months and remains the only person to have been awarded the Military Medal four times.
In late September 1918 Corey, now a corporal, was in charge of the battalion’s stretcher bearers during a fierce attack on the Hindenburg Line near Bellicourt. Once again Corey worked tirelessly and ‘with the utmost skill and bravery’, attending and removing wounded men from the front line. For his work during this time he was awarded his third bar to his Military Medal (only three weeks after receiving his second bar), however he was also badly wounded, effectively ending his WWI military service. After a period of recuperation in England, Corey returned Australian in April 1919.
During the inter-war years Corey moved to Canberra where he held a variety of jobs including rabbiter, caretaker, office cleaner and leading hand at the Canberra incinerator. In 1924 he married Sarah Fisher at St Gregory’s Catholic Church, Queanbeyan and the couple had one daughter before the marriage ended in 1935. During WWII he reenlisted and served with the 2nd Garrison Battalion.
On 25 August 1972, and at the age of 80, Ernest Albert Corey died at Queanbeyan Private Nursing Home and was buried with full military honours in Canberra cemetery. In an interview conducted the year before his death, Corey stated with pride that each of his four wartime bravery awards had been awarded for saving lives – not taking them.
http://www.monaropioneers.com/corey-ea.htm
http://www.memorial.act.gov.au/person.php?id=936
http://anzacsonline.net.au/2011/11/corey-ernest-albert-mm-3-bars/
“And strangely but truly there are people living here,
living quite ordinary lives…
and they are living and loving
and laughing and quarrelling
and dying and singing
and cursing and betting
and eating and sleeping…
just like people anywhere else.”
living quite ordinary lives…
and they are living and loving
and laughing and quarrelling
and dying and singing
and cursing and betting
and eating and sleeping…
just like people anywhere else.”
- Warren Denning