Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2021L01306:reg:41:p1
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2021L01306
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 41 (pt 1/2)
Character Range: 82298–85018

41   'Notes taken at the first meeting of the Committee of Public Taste in Sydney', 1928, CRS A6269, item E1/30/51; minute, Butters to Minister for Home and Territories, 'Australian Institute of Anatomy', 14 September 1928, pp. 1-2, CRS A431, item 59/450.

Figure 6: Australian Institute of Anatomy by W. Heyward Morris, 1929 (National Library of Australia 2018)

  All now seemed set fair for work at last to commence on the project. But when, in early September 1928, the agreed-upon plans were presented to the Public Works Committee for its formal endorsement, the committee failed to consider the matter; it then broke up for the year and was not scheduled to re-convene until the following February or March. The first that Butters or apparently MacKenzie heard of this was when they read about it in the newspapers. Infuriated, MacKenzie promptly contacted Butters and warned him darkly that, because of the long delay with the project, he was seriously re-considering his position. Butters, deeply embarrassed by the incident, composed a long memorandum to his Minister, setting out the project's history and requesting him to bypass the Public Works Committee by moving a motion as soon as possible in Parliament to the effect that the project proceed according to the latest revised set of plans.

  The Minister did not oblige. Butters, MacKenzie and Morris thus had to cool their heels until the Public Works Committee met again early the following year. MacKenzie, for his part, may not have been inclined to press the issue any further at this time. Major events in his life were in prospect. The first occurred on 22 December 1928 when, at the age of 51, he married Dr Winifred Smith in Melbourne. The second was that the possibility of a knighthood was in the wind for him; the honour was duly conferred on him in June 1929.42

  The plans for the Institute were eventually considered by the Public Works Committee in March 1929 and approved with some minor changes. Confident of the outcome, the FCC had already called for tenders for the construction work, a move of which the Committee took a very dim view. The budget for the building program was set at £96,306. Additional sums had previously been allocated: of £14,080 for development of the

  zoological reserve; and £7,000 for construction of the Director's residence and a residence each at the zoological reserve for the curator and caretaker. The contract for building the Institute was won by the Canberra firm of Simmie and Company. Building work commenced on 8 April 1929, with a scheduled date of completion of mid-April 1930. The executive architect for the project was Robert Casboulte. Along with the Black Mountain laboratories for