Tall Stories

The competition for a design for the new Town Hall generated the first of many allegations of impropriety concerning its construction. The first competition announced by the Council in 1867 called for a design costing £25,000. There were 17 entries, none of which could be built for this amount. So a second competition was held by the Council, this time with designs not to exceed £35,0000. The Council selected 3 finalists, two of which J. H. Willson had submitted. Allegations of bribery of 2 aldermen followed, and the prizes were withdrawn. The City Engineer Edward Bell was asked to modify one of Willson’s designs, but at the same time Willson was invited by the Mayor to act as an architectural adviser. Confusion over who was responsible for designing the Town Hall continued for many years. Sydney Punch satirised the Council’s shenanigans in its cartoon “Re-awarding the Prizes; or Municipal Tiddle-e-winking”. It also published in the same edition a poem reflecting on the events called “Corporation Corruption”, which went in part,

Said the Mayor, “This I find is a task rather queer
To select three designs when all first-class appear;
But I think I’ve a dodge which will save us from that –
Let’s pick the first three by a shake in the hat!”

In vain was his speech, for most present confest
The first prize was was gain by design “Treu und Fest”,
That “City” was second they also concurred,
And the Mayor’s casting vote gave to “Bunyip” the third.

But then uprose Hurley, who cried “Here’s a go!
There’s swindling in this, for I happen to know
One Ryan, who said for my vote – as I live –
A hundred pounds down on the nail he would give!”

Cried Alderman Butler, “That’s true, I declare,
For he made the same offer to me, I will swear;
And my private opinion, which public I’ll make,
Is that some here have managed his money to take!”

(image: Sydney Punch, 3 October 1868. Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales)

The Badridge brothers – Thomas, the City Surveyor, and Edward, the City Building Surveyor – designed the main clock tower. By late 1872 doubts were being expressed about the stability of this tower, with Horbury Hunt, one of the colony’s leading architects, making a public statement implying that the Council was being irresponsible in not appointing a professional architect. Hunt, of course, was pleading in favour of a profession only just then gaining some public recognition, and most men in the city who styled themselves architects had, in fact, been trained as surveyors or builders, gaining their architectural knowledge through practical experience and not through formal academic or professional training. The relevant Council officers made reports to Council assuring aldermen of the tower’s stability and of their own competence, but it had to be admitted that earlier that year the contractors had agreed to increasing the stability through additional buttressing.

(image: City of Sydney Archives, SRC Photographic Files)

David McBeath was appointed City Architect in 1878, after the resignation of Albert Bond, the city’s first architect. McBeath had a hand in completing the vestibule and in drawing up plans for the main hall. But he acquired infamy in what came to be known as ‘the foundation scandal’. Following growing fears that the foundations were not as solid as they should be, the Council commissioned architects Mansfield, Blacket & Blackman to investigate. After extensive excavations they concluded that the foundations were of defective quality such that the long-term safety of the building was in doubt. According to the newspapers, this scandal shocked the whole of Sydney. This photograph shows the foundations and commencement of building the Main Hall.

(image: City of Sydney Archives, CRS 54/442)

David McBeath, the architect who was implicated in the foundation scandal, resigned on the grounds of ill health in November 1880, rather than waiting for the results of an investigation which would have led to his sacking. A legal case against him was settled in the Council’s favour on undisclosed terms, and a separate case against the contractors, Evers & Kennedy, was settled out of court.

The woes of the Council amused many observers. In this rendition of ‘Macbeath’, the three witches are, from left to right, Aldermen John Harris, John McElhone and J. D. Young. According to the accompanying parody of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, they concoct a brew from municipal articles such as ‘foul asphaltum’ and ‘harbour slush’ mixed with Sydney favourites like ‘H’s dropped by ‘Henry Parkes’, ‘Tooth’s colonial beer’ and a ‘plate of wondrous Irish stew from Coffee Palace No 2’.

(image: Sydney Punch, 7 May 1881. Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales)

George McRae was appointed to oversee the final stages of construction. McRae’s inexperience may have contributed to the slow progress on the building, which was not finally completed for another three years. Detailed drawings of the roof were apparently slow to reach the contractors, while the main girders in the roof were found to be defective, and were replaced by imported material which did not arrive from Britain until early 1889.

(image: Building and Engineering Journal, 27 October 1888. Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales)