Geoffrey (Geoff) Richard

10/05/1914

Geoff Shedley has been described as ‘one of the six visionaries of Elizabeth’, the post World War Two ‘model town’ created by the South Australian Housing Trust (SAHT) to the north of Adelaide. He joined the Trust in 1947, having already worked on SAHT projects, becoming the Chief Design Architect in 1963 and Project Architect in 1972, a position he held until his retirement in 1974 (Obituary 1981).

Shedley was born 10 May 1914 at Glenelg, son of Richard Gustav Schedlich, warehouseman, and his wife Louie Polmear, née Maddern. Geoffrey was registered under the names Schedlich and Shedley. He used the latter, changing it by deed poll to Shedley on 29 May 1940 (South Australian Births Index 2004; Declaration No. 75). The family continued to live in Glenelg during World War One and afterwards moved to Fullarton (Sands & McDougall 1914-1919, 1929). While attending St Peter’s College from 1924 to 1931, he took art classes on Saturday mornings at the South Australian School of Art and continued to do so until 1934 (Scarlett 1980). Mary Shedley (née Edith Mary Curnow Hackett), Geoff’s wife whom he met through art classes, recollects his mother saying that ‘at the age of three he announced he was going to build houses’ (Shedley, M 1982: 1). Geoff and Mary married on 10 April 1942 in the St Peter's College Chapel, Hackney. Their first child died in infancy in 1944, and Shedley carved the headstone for the baby girl’s grave. When he died on 19 August, 1981, Shedley was survived by Mary and three daughters. He was buried at St Jude’s Brighton (Marsden and McDougall, 2012).

Succeeding Colin Hassell in Hubert Cowell’s office, Shedley commenced his architectural education in 1931 at the age of 17. Mrs Shedley remembered his first wage being 12/6 a week (Shedley, M: 1982). The South Australian School of Mines and Industries Annual Report for 1932 shows he completed a subject on Architectural History. Shedley was joined in the office by his childhood friend John Dowie, the notable sculptor. Shedley wrote, ‘there was a great deal of highjinks … with hindsight I fear that H.H. Cowell had to put up with a great deal what with the “new” architecture seeping through from overseas and the sculpture. We were young and desperately tried to go “modern” … it must be remembered in the ‘30s it was difficult for a firm even to subscribe to an overseas magazine … he allowed us to place small sculptural panels on the few buildings we designed’ (Shedley nd). Jack McConnell noted he was a very good draughtsman, and Jack, Geoff and John Dowie would go sketching on the weekends (McConnell 1982). Shedley developed a reputation for doing perspectives so was asked for by other architects from time to time which helped to broaden his experience (Shedley, M:1982). Sporting a moustache, he took to wearing a bowtie to work, his only concession to appearing artistic (Larwrence to McDougall 2007).

In 1936, whilst working in Cowell’s practice, he prepared designs for a competition run by the SAHT for a pair of attached houses. The competition conditions were strict, the cost of construction could not exceed the set price, so that one entry that came in £50 over budget but considered by peers more aesthetically pleasing was unsuccessful. Shedley’s design won, although minutes from SAHT meetings at the time attribute them to Cowell, as was the usual practice. These double units were part of Premier Tom Playford’s plan to provide low rental accommodation, thus keeping the basic wage low and enabling manufacturing to take place in South Australia at competitive prices (Marsden 1986). Over the years they became widespread and attracted a range of comments from ‘gaunt’ to ‘very good for that time’. Dean Berry felt that Shedley’s subsequent work ‘when he was left to it himself, was so much more sympathetic than these harsh little boxes’. For many tenants who had no hope of achieving home ownership, this accommodation was superior to life under canvas or in substandard dwellings (Berry 1982: 8).

In 1941 Shedley became a Registered Architect (SAAG 1941) and in 1946 was made an associate of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA). Through Cowell’s practice, he continued to do work for the SAHT until the Trust decided to form their own design department. Early attempts to have Geoff Shedley join their team were unsuccessful; however he subsequently accepted the offer in 1947.

Colleagues saw him as an ‘ideas man’ although practical, with design as his forte, and certainly committed to his work. Alan Phillips, former draughtsman and then Principal Architect with the SAHT, remembered in 1981, ‘we worked not just long hours, we worked over the Christmas break, in Geoff’s studio up at Burnside’ (Phillips 1981: 7). Dale Mitchell stated that ‘he was never satisfied until he’d got the best he could get’ (Mitchell 1982: 23-24). He brought ‘a fresh outlook’ to the Housing Trust, (Lawrence to McDougall 2006) and added an exciting artistic element, designing brilliant floats for the Adelaide Festival of Arts in 1960 and 1962 (Trustalk, March and April 1962) and wonderful golden banners, screen printed with lions rampant, to decorate the Trust’s office building for the visit of the Queen in 1954 (Lawrence to McDougall 2006). The Board Room of the SAHT featured Shedley’s mural, ‘The Moods of Man’ (Marsden 1986). He became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, making purchases for the Art Gallery of South Australia during overseas trips (Page 1986).

From 1954 Geoff Shedley undertook several overseas study and recruitment tours. He examined British New Town concepts and American civic areas and was particularly impressed with the Lijnbaum, an historical shopping street in Amsterdam. He also admired Frank Lloyd Wright ‘tremendously’ (Mitchell 1982; Shedley, M: 6).

Shedley spent most of his professional career in the development of Elizabeth. The Town Centre, with its mall, was the first shopping and civic complex of its kind in South Australia. The Windsor Building, housing the council chambers, with a clock tower, was fronted by a civic plaza known as Windsor Green. Queen Elizabeth II was to open the complex in 1963, although the first stage had been launched in 1960. It was felt the Queen needed to have ‘something to open’, so Geoff Shedley’s other talents as a sculptor and artist came to the fore. He designed the gardens and a fountain for the plaza, which were duly opened by the Queen and sculpted works for the council chambers including faces such as Premier Tom Playford’s on the push plates for the doors and the Elizabeth Coat of Arms (SRG 660). In 1965 he created another sculpture, ‘The Rainmakers’, a commission from Eugen Lohmann, the governing director of the company, Wender & Duerholt, which supplied imported houses to the SAHT in the 1950s. It is still at Lohmann Park, Christies Beach (Marsden 1986; ‘The Rainmakers turn 40’: 8).

Two theatres, which came to be known as the Shedley and the Octagon, were built in nearby Salisbury, although they ‘were hampered by too tight a budget’ (Mitchell 1982: 8). The painted sound board at the rear of the Shedley Theatre proved so successful that musicians found they could not fudge their notes (Lawrence to McDougall 2007). Shedley was also involved in the design of the Lyell McEwin Hospital. It would have normally been out of the domain of the SAHT, but it was felt by government that the Trust could provide a more cost effective facility. The result was a pavilion design. Dale Mitchell recalled (1982: 24), ‘my point there was always, right, is this what the hospital and the doctors want? Geoff’s wasn’t as pure as that. He’d be a bit inclined to say, well, does it look right as well?’.

Among other briefs, Geoff Shedley designed the Road Safety Instruction Centre at Oaklands Park which won a Civic Trust Award in 1974 (Warburton 1986). He designed and built his own home in the Adelaide foothills. Adelaide architect, Bob Dickson, when writing of building his own home, remembered 'the external vertical boarding covering the walls was a major decision for me ... I could find no precedent in Adelaide except for architect Shedley's own house which had one wall only so clad. But that wall lining was western red cedar especially imported from America, a material not seen in Adelaide in those days' (Dickson 2010:26). Shedley took more than 25 years to finish his home as he was always helping to build and design homes for others and following his other interests, such as playing the clarinet, pickling, growing bonsai and bottling wine. Private homes for friends and family came after retirement (Lawrence to McDougall 2007).

Over the years some of the major works in Shedley’s opus have undergone changes in either form or function. Despite moves to demolish both theatres in the early 1990s, the Shedley theatre is still in use but surrounded by the Playford civic building which now houses the council chambers. This has left the Windsor Building and clock tower intact but under utilised. Windsor Green is now a car park and the fountain was removed in 2004 and put into storage with the SAHT. Many of the original double units are being renovated and enjoyed by a new generation, this time as home owners rather than renters.

Alison McDougall

Citation details
McDougall, Alison, 'Shedley, Geoffrey Richard’, Architecture Museum, University of South Australia, 2016, Architects of South Australia: [http://www.architectsdatabase.unisa.edu.au/arch_full.asp?Arch_ID=38]