Investigating Heritage

How and why did Australian society and culture change during the 1920s and 1930s? How and why was Australia affected by the Great Depression? How did governments respond to the problems caused by the Great Depression?

The Ritz Theatre and Walter Burley Griffin Incinerator are linked to investigations focusing on social change in Australia between World War 1 and World War II.

• Examine the images and text information relating to the Ritz Theatre and Walter Burley Griffin Incinerator. What can these buildings tell us about the past? Look for evidence of leisure and technology.
• Now look at the other materials provided. What attitudes and values come through in these materials?
• Investigate the innovative approaches of architects and designers, A.M. Bolot and Walter Burley Griffin. What were the main influences on their work? What do the materials tell us about 1930s innovation and responses to architectural change in Australian communities?
  History M5.14
  
• Gather information about a cinema that operated in your local area between the wars. Does the cinema still occupy the site? If not, what factors contributed to its demolition? How has the removal of the cinema affected your community?
  History M5.8
  
• Look at Art Deco web-sites (links) for evidence of the international influences that were at play in Australia during the 1930s.
• Reflect on the buildings and structures from this period that remain and the elements of the past preserved in these places? How do we identify what is worth preserving?

Investigating Heritage and Citizenship

• Identify two sites in your locality — one a place for recreation, and the other dealing with water supply, sewerage treatment or waste disposal.
• Photograph or video the way members of your community interact with these places — for example, occupy, enter, exit, use them.
• Identify features of the places that you consider good design, for example, planning that takes ecological concerns into account.
• Walk around your community noting the age of older buildings. How do these buildings fit into the overall plan of early streets and main access routes into the community?
• Photograph the buildings and other features — for example, trees, fences, monuments etc — in your community that date from the 1930s or earlier.
• Find out the purposes served by early buildings during World War 1 and World War II — and in the period between the wars. You can access local community archives, council records and older community residents for information. What can you say about the way the community has viewed and used these places over time? How would you describe early responses to the buildings — enthusiastic, positive, cautious, concerned, negative?
• Look at early photographs of the buildings and note any changes in their physical structure and surrounds. What factors might have contributed to the changes you observe? How has the community been affected by these changes?
• Create a visual corridor — utilising the images taken in the local area — of features in the natural and built environment dating from the 1930s or earlier.
• Develop a booklet detailing a walk in your area that takes in early 20^th century features. You could include the comments of residents on the value of the items included in the book.
• Brainstorm some ideas for future initiatives in your locality — either a new development or the preservation of an existing site. What factors do you need to take into account in developing a plan or proposal?
  Values and Attitudes — [Develops an appreciation of environments and a sense of responsibility for their future]
  
• Reflect on the tensions between development and preservation. Why is some of the past lost and some preserved?