Hardy Wilson’s Old Colonial Architecture, 1924–2025EXPIRED

2024 marked the 100th anniversary of Hardy Wilson’s Old Colonial Architecture in NSW and Tasmania. By many measures, it is the foundation of historical scholarship on architecture in Australia and the first major publication dedicated to the conservation of Australian buildings.

A special exhibition hosted by the Fisher Library celebrated the book and Wilson’s role in establishing publication as a significant mode of architectural production in this country. It also reflected on Wilson’s complex legacy. Wilson proclaimed a mix of views about architecture, society, and the environment, which ranged from fascinating and kooky to obnoxious.

In this lecture, Hector Abrahams will preface a tour of the exhibition by presenting a historical slice of intellectual artistic life in Sydney in the years up to 1924 to which Wilson was connected. It will be introduced by Associate Professor Cameron Logan.

About the speakers:

Hector Abrahams has been a leading heritage architect in Sydney since 1986. His experience covers a great range of heritage in NSW and beyond. He is current Deputy President of the National Trust of Australia (NSW). His notable publications have been the major essays on Blacket and Hunt for the Australian Encyclopedia of Architecture and Sydney Christian Church Architecture for the Dictionary of Sydney.

Associate Professor Cameron Logan is an urban and architectural historian and director of the postgraduate program in Heritage Conservation at the University of Sydney’s School of Architecture Design and Planning. He is the author of Historic Capital: Preservation, race and real estate in Washington DC. He has a special interest in health buildings and the buildings of modern Australian universities.