The Realisation of the Sydney Technical College and Technological Museum, 1878–92

The surviving nineteenth-century buildings in Sydneys central business districtare important tangible expressions of local identity and experience; culturallysignificant because they embody the aesthetic, scientific and social values of aparticular period in Australian history. Despite this, the heritage value of theSydney Technical College (1891) and Technological Museum (1892) has beennarrowly defined in terms of the architectural style of their polychrome brickfacades: the pair is notable for representing one of the most significant breakswith the classical sandstone traditions that then existed for public buildings.The cultural significance that derives from the social, political and economiccircumstances of their conception and realisation has not been fully explored,particularly aspects relating to their siting and exterior architecture. This paperinvestigates the fourteen-year period from 1878, when the New South WalesGovernment voted 2,000 to establish a Technical or Workingmans College,to 1892, when the Sydney Technical College and Technological Museum werecompleted. In this reading of the social history of their creation, particularreferences are made to the role of the 1879 Sydney International Exhibitionand the changing ethos to which it contributed. It was a time when the urbanbourgeoisie were moving from a value system based upon British tradition andclassicism in education and architecture, to a more utilitarian, technologicaland democratic outlook inspired by a belief in progress. The exhibition hadstimulated debate on the subject of technical education, exposed the peopleof Sydney to some of the best artistic and technologically advanced productsof their age and transmitted aesthetic ideas that encouraged more confidentarchitectural and artistic practice.