LECTURE: Miles Lewis discusses Portable Buildings : Port Adelaide to Darwin at UniSA

Note: This event is in Adelaide Central Standard Time (ACST).

Presented by University of South Australia's Creative Research, this lecture, by Emeritus Professor Miles Lewis discusses his longstanding research on Portable Buildings.

In the nineteenth century more ‘portable’ or prefabricated buildings came to Australia than to anywhere else in the world, and more of them survive here today. There are over a hundred, in all states, and they are full of technical and historical interest. South Australia had some of the first corrugated iron buildings in the world, though these do not survive.

What do survive are the buildings of Henry Manning, a number of iron lighthouses, the Palm House in the Botanic Gardens, and in Darwin the former Wesleyan Church, which was fabricated in Adelaide. This lecture will review these, as well as some of the more remarkable examples from other states.

Professor Miles Lewis AM FAHA is an architectural historian who has specialised in prefabrication, and is a member the Portable Buildings World Heritage Nomination Task Force. This body is seeking UNESCO World Heritage listing of all the surviving Australian examples.