[UA] A strange occurance

[David M Jacobs]

At 04:29 PM 19/03/02 +1100, Timothy Ferguson wrote:

>Are you aware that Canberra was laid out according to Feng Shui principles?
>It's true - the earliest blueprints were drawn on silk.  That's why the
>Parliament house is a hobbit burrow with a big ariel on top.  Walter
>Burleigh Griffin's wife, whose name I can't recall, was really a co-designer
>and they were both heavily into eastern geomancy.

Her name was Marion Mahony.  She was the first woman in the world to be 
licensed as a practicing architect, and is generally regarded as the 
greatest architectural draftsperson of her time.  She collaborated with 
Burley Griffin on the project, and it's suspected that much of his success 
is in fact attributable to her.

>(For foreign people wondering about the hobbit burrow - Australia's
>parliament house is buried in a hill, and has a lawn over the top of it, so
>that the people can walk and picnic above the heads of their representative.
>The hill is in the radial centre of the capital, and above it soars a
>massive iron girder flagpole.)

According to Burley Griffin's original design, IIRC, the building on 
Kurrajong (now known as Capital Hill) was supposed to be a gathering place 
for the people; Parliament House, though near the apex of the Parliamentary 
Triangle, was supposed to be lower on the hill and hence subordinate to 
this structure.  Parliament literally usurped the people's place on the hill.

>Now, here's the important point for your post - one of the nexi of power
>which is focused onto the Parliament House has a Telstra transmission tower
>on the top of it.  Telstra's CDMA network channels directly and deliberately
>into the Canberra's geomantic network.
>
>I had a lot of fun with that and Nephilim.  See if everything focuses on the
>House and then is projected up through the big flagpole, the flag on the end
>of the pole is a filter.

I always wondered why the place is so devoid of spiritual vibe; now I 
know.  #%o)

>So the debate about changing the flag suddenly becomes really important.

I love it, especially having grown up in Canberra.  Actually, you've given 
me a few ideas for a backstory.

Both Mahony and Burley Griffin worked for Frank Lloyd Wright.  Whilst 
Wright adored Mahony, he was none too fond of Burley Griffin; when the 
couple married and formed their own practice, Wright refused to speak with 
Burley Griffin ever again.  Unrequited love, perhaps?  Or maybe Wright knew 
of Mahony's quest on the path of the Flying Woman, and only saw ruin for 
her in her relationship with an untalented, exploitative Burley Griffin?

When Mahony and Burley Griffin won the design competition for the new 
Australian capital, they moved their practice to Melbourne.  Their design 
was based around a "series of coincidences... determined by the most 
important natural features of the site".  It focused on simple geometries 
and symbolic blessings upon the nascent nation. The as-yet-unnamed city was 
to be a masterwork of geomancy, ensuring eternal peace, prosperity and 
ascendancy.

However, as is wont to happen with major public works in Australia, a 
dispute between Burley Griffin and the government of the day led to his 
sacking as overseer of the project.  The realities of Canberra's 
construction began to deviate wildly from Burley Griffin's (actually 
Mahony's) ideal.  In short, the ley energies were either diverted or 
deliberately retasked by later construction.

Meanwhile, Mahony and Burley Griffin were contracted to design 50 houses in 
the north shore Sydney suburb of Castlecrag.  These were again designed to 
form a minor nexus, but only 16 were built.  Thereafter, the couple moved 
to India to work on projects there; when Burley Griffin died of 
peritonitis, Mahony moved back to Castlecrag for a year, and finally to 
Chicago, where she died in 1961.

In 1988, the new Parliament House was built on Capital Hill, where a public 
gathering place had been planned.  Thereby, the power that was intended 
purely for the people in the original design now flowed directly to the state.

Meanwhile, the Friends of Marion Mahony arose in Sydney and Canberra.  The 
Friends are a cabal of female architects; most are iconomancers, although a 
couple of cliomancers and urbanomancers fill out their ranks.  They have 
begun to buy up property in Castlecrag, hoping to complete Mahony's 
geomantic vision for the suburb.  They have funded restoration of the 
existing houses, and are looking to redevelop other sites from Mahony's 
original plans.

And then they will look to Canberra...

Now all I need is a plot to slot it into.  And exactly who is responsible 
for perverting Canberra's development for all these years?



David M Jacobs
dmjacobs at zipworld.com.au
http://www.zipworld.com.au/~dmjacobs/
ICQ UIN: 17027598

"'Kevin,' David interrupted, 'what the Germans should have done
was show the Russians a dead cat and ask them to explain it.'

"'That would have stopped the Soviet offensive right there,' I said.
"Zhukov would still be trying to account for the cat's death.'"

— from Valis, by Philip K Dick


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