‘a striking Melbourne Landmark.’
Designs for something iconic like the Eiffel Tower or the Empire State Building was what the organisers were hoping to receive. Maybe the government was hoping for something even better than the Opera House in Sydney, which is undoubtedly Australia’s most famous man-made structure.
Entries came flooding in from all over the world but unfortunately, from over 2,000 entries, not a single one was chosen, and this exhibition called Missing the Mark: the Melbourne Landmark Ideas Competition 1978 shows you why.
Ideas included a crystalline M-shaped building, a Yarra crocodile, one hundred giant kangaroos, a Greek column taller than the Eureka building, a giant cricket wicket and most disturbingly ‘Melbourne’s Monumental Mammaries.’
Patrick McCaughey, who was to become the director of the NGV (National Gallery of Victoria), actually refused to be part of the selection panel, because the entries were so bad. The other judges agreed and the competition was abandoned.
Although most entries, although odd, are beautifully hand drawn and some entrants have used poster printing techniques from the time to realise their vision.
People from suburbs such as nearby Epping have been making the short trip to Melbourne to visit the exhibition since it opened in August.
The exhibition is at the Old Treasury Building, 20 Spring Street, Melbourne and closes on 27 February 2012.