Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00620:body:0:p20
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00620
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 54013–56901

to the left
Source: National Library of Australia, nla.obj-232839573
As the new permanent Administration Building could not be completed before the first session of Parliament a 'Secretariat Scheme' was put forward as an alternative.  This would see a nucleus of each Department temporarily relocated to Canberra to assist with Parliamentary work.[30]  Although it was recognised that this arrangement may cause some additional administrative burden for the departments, it was considered the best way to balance the requirement for space and the conflicting views about permanence of new buildings.[31]
This scheme was approved by the Minister and the recommendations made by the PWC in 1923 were ultimately implemented – although the buildings as completed were primarily of three levels, not two.

2.4.1               Design and construction
As noted, the Parliament House Secretariat group is comprised of: the provisional Parliament House, East Block and West Block.  Each was designed by the Public Works Department under the leadership of Commonwealth Architect John Smith Murdoch and built between 1922 and 1928 (see Section 2.4.2).  They were the first buildings completed in the Parliamentary Triangle.
The decision to construct a provisional Parliament House on the Land Axis below (to the north of) Camp Hill, leaving Camp Hill itself for a permanent Parliament building, had a bearing on the height and massing of the temporary structure; views along the Land Axis were to be unimpeded by the temporary building.  It also influenced the character and massing of East and West blocks.
In 1924, Murdoch described the Secretariat buildings to the Parliamentary Standing Committee for Public Works:
The two buildings will remain a symmetrical balance with the Provisional Parliament House.  While being architecturally sympathetic with the Provisional Parliament House their size will be subordinated to the larger structure.  The style is Modern Renaissance, to which the British and Americans are now working.  It is a style which depends on proportions and lines rather than details.[32]
Additional information about the design approach was provided by Colonel P T Owen, Director General of Works and Railways in evidence to the Standing Committee:
The general idea is to avoid the domestic in favour of the Official style so far as may be compatible with reasonable expenditure …. A tiled roof for an official building would be regarded as 'fussy' although it would be quite correct for hotels and residences … I believe the flat roofs of the Secretariat buildings can be made very beautiful in this way.[33]
Of the two, the building now known as East Block, was completed first, in 1927.  'Secretariat No. 1' provided 2,579 square metres (27,760 square feet) of floor space and accommodated a telephone exchange, post office and space for 150 staff.  It was anticipated that