In 1960 I designed this park bench for ANU and John Overall, Commissioner of the National Capital Development Commission invited me to submit designs that might be suitable for use around Canberra.
That stimulated a sort of partnership with Henry Satrapa at Sunset P/L in Hinksman St., Queanbeyan who was mainly set up as a stonemason but was venturing out into fibreglass moulding and precast concrete which was ideal for street furniture and we worked together quite successfully over several years.
The bench seat had exposed aggregate precast concrete supports and shaped wooden slats. It was quite an elegant design and was installed all over Canberra. Although I specified galvanised reinforcing several batches were made in plain steel which of course expanded when they became rusty and broke the concrete – a false economy.
A wide variety of street furniture items were designed….. seats, tables, rubbish bins, large planter boxes, picnic groupings etc – shown on following pages.