Background
North Arm Cove (NAC) village of around 450 people lies 200kms north of Sydney on the northern shore of Port Stephens in the Mid North Coast area of NSW. In 1899 NSW Royal Commission included North Arm Cove as the 16th of 40 potential sites for the nation's capital. Although losing out to Canberra for the prestige of being the national capital, the site was selected by Walter Burley Griffin as most suitable place for a new major city and seaport – ‘the New York of Australia’ – visionary approach to planning of the continent as a whole, including its interior.
While still working on the Canberra design project, Walter Burley Griffin was commissioned by Austin Chapman’s company ‘Land Limited’ to prepare the masterplan for this site. The plan was approved by a resolution passed at a regular meeting of Stroud Shire Council held on 6th May 1918 (see Figure 1). The new future urban settlement was given the name ‘Port Stephens City’.
Marion Mahony Griffin credited her husband with the identification of the locality as one of only two ‘natural seaports’ in Australia. She wrote that,
" The master plan to this unique site was Griffin’s vision of an ideal city/town in 1918. It was the time of great city plans all over the world. In Australia the 1910s was a decade of extraordinary activity in establishing town planning as a vital social concern and issue for public policy. Planned private sector subdivisions of estates were popular for land sales in the 1920s, the planning era of the first draft bills to introduce town planning legislation. "
Griffin’s plan for Port Stephens City has never been realised. In 1921, Walter and Marion started building their bohemian-flavoured community in Castlecrag, Sydney’s lower north shore. The suburb, with similar topography as North Arm Cove, was dubbed ‘Paradise on Earth’.
Current exhibition titled ‘Paradise on Earth’ at the Museum of Sydney explores Marion’s collaboration with Walter Burley Griffin and key projects in Australia including Canberra, with a special focus on the life and community of Castlecrag. The exhibition is opened until 18 April 2021.
