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Click the icon to access resources
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Focus questions
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What do Rose Seidler House and Rookwood Cemetery reveal about the influences on life in Australia after World War II? |
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How do the influences revealed by these places contribute to our understanding of: the effects of urban growth; the spread of new technologies; past and present attitudes of Australians to cultural heritage? |
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What is being preserved in these places; who decided what was important and should be kept; and how is it being done? |
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Click the icon to view maps of these heritage sites
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Rookwood Cemetery and Rose Seidler House provide snapshots of the changes in Australia after World War II. While Rookwood records the cultural and religious diversity of Australian communities since the 19th century, the influx of migrants during the 1950s and 60s lead to greater diversity in funerary customs. Rookwood now caters for eighty different cultural groups – with different cultural sections reflecting the various traditions and customs associated with death. |
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| Click on the icon on the left to hear Peter Watt's talk about Rose Seidler House. |
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Click the icon to view video of these sites
Rose Seidler House is part of the story of urban development and postwar construction in Sydney during the 1950s. The Cumberland Country Plan (1951) lead to a new wave of developers and middle class professionals attracted to Sydney’s bushland settings. Rose Seidler House influenced domestic architecture of 1950s’ New South Wales, but also had an impact on architectural practices in later decades.
In 1948 architect Harry Seidler arrived in Sydney to design and build a house for his parents. Surrounded by vegetable gardens and bushland, Rose Seidler House – whilst atypical in its design – adhered to the conservative building regulations of the period. Urban planning strategies that promoted open space and green belts in neighbourhood development were evident in the 16 acre setting for the house. |
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| Domestic technology introduced into Australia in the 1950s – electric appliances, labour saving devices, materials, fittings and storage systems – featured in the house. Innovative technology of the 50s is still a feature of Rose Seidler House, which is now a "frozen moment in time" under the management of the Historic Houses Trust of NSW. |
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As one of the largest burial grounds in the world, Rookwood Cemetery contains monumental masonry and craftsmanship that reflect attitudes to death and fashions in funerary ornamentation. Burials commenced at the site in 1867. The Haslem’s Creek Necropolis (as it was then known) was located on a railway line; the railway playing a key role in funerary operations until the advent of cars and buses lead to its closure in 1948.
The cemetery provides a habitat for two rare and endangered species; it also supports populations of 19 species of frogs and reptiles and a large number of bird species.
Source: NSW State Heritage Inventory
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