Wilfred Thomas

02/02/1895

Described as a ‘remarkable man’ and a ‘great administrative architect’ by the leading South Australian architect, Jack Cheesman, Wilfred Haslam was the Commonwealth Director of Works for South Australia from 1945 to 1960. He supervised the construction of some of Australia’s largest defence projects for that time and was extensively involved in his professional organisation at state, national and international levels (Cheesman 1984; ‘Man of many works’ 1960).

Haslam was born at Invermay, Launceston, Tasmania, on 2 February 1895, to Thomas and Alice (née Parting) Haslam. Thomas was a plumber and coppersmith. They had three other children, Harry (b.1887), Grace (b.1890) and Geoffrey (b.1899). He transferred to the Launceston Church of England Grammar School (LCGS) in 1908, apparently from Scotch College, Hobart. In 1908 the family was living in Trevallyn, another inner suburb of Launceston. He spent two years at the LCGS, winning the language prize in 1909 (Scotch Oakburn College Archives; D.V. Gunn Archive; ‘Death of former Works Director’ 1964). Haslam trained as an engineer and architect in Launceston under Harold Masters who has two listings in the RAIA 20th Century Buildings for the National Estate – Tasmania: The Examiner & Express Building, Launceston (1911) and the Grandstand at Mowbray Racecourse, Mowbray (1914). He then continued in Sydney with Joseland & Gilling, who, having formed in 1919, became a noted architectural firm (Freeland 1971; Chisholm 1983).

During World War One, Haslam served with the 9th Field Engineers in France and was badly wounded. (Freeland 1971; Page 1986) He married Barn and had two daughters, Vivienne and Denise, and at the time of his death on 23 January 1964 was living on Cross Road, Myrtle Bank (Advertiser 1964).

Jack Cheesman, who acted as his assistant in Adelaide and Darwin from 1940 to 1945, described Haslam as ‘a retiring man, an avid reader and extremely self-disciplined’. In addition to his extensive involvement with his professional organisation, Haslam was an Associate Member of the Institute of Structural Engineers and a charter member of the Lions Club of South Australia (Cheesman 1984; ‘Mr W.T. Haslam’ 1983; Freeland 1971).

In 1920 Haslam joined the public service in a temporary capacity (‘Man of many works’ 1960: 2). He became an architect with the Naval Works Branch of the Commonwealth Department of Works and Railways, later transferring to the Department of the Interior of which he was Architect-in-Charge from 1930 to1936. Haslam was made the Superintending Architect following that department’s reorganisation. From 1932 to 1935 he oversaw reconstruction of the Commonwealth Bank, King William Street, Adelaide (replaced 1980). Because of the Depression, the Adelaide office was not staffed sufficiently to manage a major project, so Haslam engaged temporary staff for the production of documents, and lived with his family in Adelaide for an 18 month period (Cheesman 1984). Some city councillors were critical of the outcome, whilst some architects defended the approach with Walter Bagot pointing out ‘that the design…was compatible with the modern treatment of monolithic ideas’ (Page 1986:176).

In 1937, as World War Two loomed, Haslam was appointed a member of the Darwin Development Committee. This entailed bringing forward a new plan of Darwin and selecting new sites for defence installations including Darwin aerodrome. In 1939 he was put in charge of the Liaison Section within the Department of the Interior to coordinate the work of that department and the Department of Defence. 1941 to 1943 saw his return to South Australia, this time as Superintending Architect of the Salisbury, Cheltenham and Finsbury Munitions Works (‘Man of many works’ 1960; Freeland 1971). In order to have sufficient manpower before men enlisted for war service, Haslam ensured there was immediate action on the site. According to Cheesman, ‘he coordinated State Government departments to immediately move in with road making, railway lines, sewerage, electricity and so on. He managed to obtain Ministerial approval to form a cooperative of Master Builders, who were prepared to start construction work without any knowledge of what payments they would receive … When completed the buildings were measured by quantity surveyors, and priced at agreed unit rates – a masterly stroke on the part of Haslam’ (Cheesman 1984). In July 1942, Haslam addressed the Master Builders Association, ‘saying that he: … could not recall ever having been received into and accepted by an Association of building contractors as he had on this occasion. The initial program had been completed in one year, an astounding feat. 1439 buildings had been erected in the area at the cost of £3,000,400’ (West 1984: 59).

From 1943 to 1945 he was Deputy Director-General of the Allied Works Council, Darwin. This position saw him in charge of a £20 million defence works program and in control of nearly 8,000 personnel. Major projects included the north-south Stuart Highway, the Tennant Creek-Mount Isa road and numerous airstrips and runways (‘Man of many works’ 1960). Cheesman recollects that Haslam ‘handled critical situations without being disturbed, and in this he was a master of diplomacy’ (Cheesman 1984). He was awarded the Imperial Service Order for his wartime work (Freeland 1971).

On being appointed the Commonwealth Director of Works for South Australia in 1945, Haslam oversaw a department which grew over the next 15 years from under 100 staff to nearly 500 plus some 2000 contractors. The major undertaking of his tenure was the Long Range Weapons project at Woomera and Salisbury. The Executive Works Panel, established ‘in order to ensure the complete co-ordination of matters affecting the execution of works’ (Evetts to Chairman Executive Works Panel 1948), was chaired by Haslam until it outgrew its function and was disbanded in October 1948 (Minutes of meeting of Main Works Committee 1948). Haslam again called on the Master Builders Association who agreed to work as they had during the war, with the addition of a company, Contractors Consolidated Limited, which ‘entered into contracts for any building construction or civil engineering works’ and provided ‘a single direct channel of communication and administration between the Government and the contractors’ (West 1984: 68). Millions of pounds were channelled through this company and many positions and commissions were provided for local architects: ‘a splendid opportunity for a young architect to gain accelerated experience [in Woomera]’, with a senior architect in Adelaide earning up to £1442 per annum (Page 1986; South Australian Institute of Architects (SAIA) Bulletin April-June 1953, July-September 1953: 15).

Elected an Associate of the SAIA in 1945, a Fellow in 1946 and council member in 1949, Haslam gave many years of service on a wide variety of committees, ending with the Finance Committee in 1961(SAIA Bulletin 1945-1961). He became Vice President in 1950 and at that year’s Annual General Meeting gave ‘a most instructive talk’ on ‘Cost Plus’ and ‘Cost Plus Fixed Fee’ contracts (SAIA Bulletin January-April 1950: 5). The Bulletin of July 1950 (5) noted that the Commonwealth authorities were indicating that South Australia needed to increase the annual target of house building from 6000 to 9000 ‘to satisfy present demand and future needs of the 20,000 British migrants which South Australia is planning to absorb per annum’. In 1952, as Vice President, Haslam co-signed a letter to the Premier with K.M. Yelland, President, expressing reservations on the siting of a new town near Salisbury and the expansion of Gawler and recommending an enquiry by a qualified Planner with knowledge of similar projects in Britain (SAIA Bulletin July 1951-June 1952: 5).

From 1952 to 1959 he was an SAIA councillor with the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA), whilst serving as State President from 1952 to 1954. At this time he was also on the Board of Architectural Education and later, from 1960 to 1963, a member of the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning at the University of Adelaide. In 1952, following Dr John Ely Burchard of Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s ‘frank and constructive criticism’ of Australia’s general architectural taste being ‘lower-middle-class British suburban’, Haslam chaired an SAIA sub-committee which aimed to educate the public on ‘the fundamentals of good design’, and wrote articles of encouragement in which he hopes ‘there will be a renaissance of architectural spirit and design, and that in Australia a National Architecture will be born’. He considered Architecture to be ‘one of the Arts of Peace’ (SAIA Bulletin July-September 1952: 4; January-March 1953: 5; April-June 1953: 3; July-September 1953: 3; The University of Adelaide Archives Series 150).

1955 saw Haslam as Deputy Chair of the Sixth Australian Architectural Convention organising committee, with L.G. Bruer as Chair. There were roles for many, with Mrs Haslam and Mrs Bruer mirroring their husband’s positions on the Ladies Committee (SAIA Bulletin January-March 1955).

In 1956 Haslam became Vice President of the RAIA and then Federal President from 1957 to 1959 (Freeland 1971). His term included liaison with the Institute of Engineers over the impact of the Consulting Engineers Code and the chairing of meetings with the Royal Institute of British Architects, of which he was a Fellow, to discuss Architectural Education and the Devolution Scheme. He had many overseas connections and was made an Honorary Fellow of the Philippines Institute of Architects on the occasion of its silver anniversary in 1958. In 1960 the first Commonwealth Conference of Architects was held in London with a view to removing impediments between its members. Haslam represented the RAIA and was elected Deputy Chairman (Freeland 1971; SAIA Bulletin December 1963; ‘Man of many works’ 1960).

Alison McDougall

Citation details
McDougall, Alison, 'Haslam, Wilfred Thomas’, Architecture Museum, University of South Australia, 2008, Architects of South Australia: [http://www.architectsdatabase.unisa.edu.au/arch_full.asp?Arch_ID=54]