No. 2 The Cummings concrete bus shelter, Canberra 100
Canberra 100
In 2020 Capital history here is exploring Canberra’s history by identifying objects that can connect us with Canberra’s past. The aim is to tell the story of Canberra by examining 100 objects that have shaped the city. The first object examined was the Canberra Red brick, the second is the Cummings concrete bus shelter.
The Cummings concrete bus shelter
For almost 50 years Canberra bus commuters have held a deep appreciation for the Cummings concrete bus shelters that dot the suburbs of Canberra. Providing seating and shelter from whatever Canberra weather may arrive and a porthole to see approaching buses they are a design classic. In 2018-19 their iconic status was celebrated by Trevor Dickinson’s beautiful bus shelters of Canberra exhibition at the Canberra Museum and Gallery.
Canberra buses
Canberra’s first public bus service was started by the Federal Capital commission in 1926. Initially, four buses provided a service between Eastlake (now Kingston) and Ainslie. During the early 1950s, bus services were expanded to Narrabundah, Yarralumla and O'Connor. These routes were extended further in the late 1950s with the development of Dickson and Campbell. The first Woden Valley service was introduced in 1963 and Canberra's first bus interchange at Woden Town Centre opened in December 1972. It was one of the first purpose-built suburban bus terminals in Australia.
On 14 February 1977, a new system was launched, the ACT Internal Omnibus Network (ACTION), in association with a major program to upgrade the service. This included the purchase of new vehicles, a new range of pre-purchased tickets, passenger facilities such as shelters, and a new bus colour scheme.
A new bus shelter
As part of a program to improve Canberra’s public transport, but before the 1977 launch of ACTION, Cummings concrete bus shelters were first installed into the Canberra urban landscape 44 years ago, in May 1975. Initially 95 of the Cummings Series 1 design bus shelters were installed around the city, at a cost of $2,300 per shelter. Broken down over 44 years the daily cost per shelter has been 14 cents per day.
On 21 March 1975 the Canberra Times reported the roll-out of the new bus shelters:
The first of a new type of bus shelter which the Department of the Capital-Territory hopes to in-stall at almost every bus stop in Canberra is to be completed in about a month. The first 100 shelters are expected to be installed by about August, and the department hopes to let new contracts over the next few years to provide shelters for almost all bus stops. The shelters, and the bus-only lanes on Adelaide Avenue opened on Monday, are the first visible signs of a wide-ranging program of improving Canberra's public transport which was originally planned to begin early last year. As a major part of the program, frequencies on most bus routes are expected to be increased from 30 minutes to 15 minutes late this year.
The Canberra experiment
The push to improve Canberra’s bus system was part of the ‘Canberra experiment’. The Whitlam Government, first elected in 1972, decided Canberra would be its model for the development of decentralised cities, which was integral to their vision of improved access to social services and amenity. This included the provision of efficient public transport systems.
In this period of overwhelming reform, large innovative construction projects — schools, major office complexes, roads and utilities — provided the infrastructure of Canberra’s satellite centres and suburbs. The award-winning Cameron Offices in Belconnen built in 1970 in the new brutalism style was representative of this progressive urban program. As was the Cummings concrete bus shelter.
Designing an icon
Our fondness for the Cummings concrete bus shelters seems to be tied to a common recognition of their unique but successfully functional design. The designer responsible was Clement Cummings, who designed them in 1974 for the National Capital Development Commission (NCDC). See below for an image from the ACT Heritage Library of Clement Cummings’ design.
Clement Cummings was born in Queensland in 1934. He first came to Canberra in 1953 to study at the Royal Military College (RMC) Duntroon, graduating in 1955. After resigning from the Army in 1957 he studied architecture at Sydney University, graduating in 1962.
Clement Cummings returned to Canberra taking up a job at the Department of Works. In 1968, he was employed by the Prime Minister's Office as an adviser on several office refurbishment projects Leaving the public service for the private sector, he established his own architectural practice in 1971 completing a range of projects for clients including the National Trust, the ACT Heritage Committee and the NSW Heritage Council. Of all his work it is his design for the concrete bus shelters, which he prepared in 1974 for the NCDC which is arguably his most prominent work.
His legacy also continues in the ACT Chapter of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA) Clem Cummings Medal. This is awarded to recognise contributions by non-architects and architects to architecture and the public interest. Established in 2000 the medal recognises Clement Cummings’ career in the public and private sectors in Canberra.
Part of Canberra’s history
The changing ways that Canberrans have moved around the city over the decades can tell us much about the history of the city. We can appreciate the Cummings concrete bus shelter as a design classic — a successful, continuing realisation of ‘new brutalism’ the architectural style that favoured functionality above all. Or they might be thought of as suburban memorials to the heady years of the 1970’s Whitlam Government when Canberra was central to the plans of a relentlessly reforming government.
Do you have a view on the Cummings concrete bus shelter in terms of Canberra’s history? What do you think of Canberra 100? Any suggestions for objects to examine? Please let me know by providing your comments to mail@capitalhistoryhere.com
And please share. Let’s get the past and present talking.
References
Books
Brown, Nicholas. 2014, A history of Canberra / Nicholas Brown Cambridge University Press Port Melbourne, VIC.
On-line
Newspapers
1975 'New shelters for ACT bus stops', The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), 21 March, p. 8., viewed 28 Jan 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article116339183
Websites and other online sources
ArchivesACT, Concrete Monstrosities or Canberra Icons? C.G. Cummings Plans for the Concrete Bus Shelter, Previous find of the month, May 2016, https://www.archives.act.gov.au/find_of_the_month/2016/may/previous-find-of-the-month-52016-page-1
National Archives of Australia, Buses and cars, Government Records about the Australian Capital Territory, Research Guides,http://guides.naa.gov.au/records-about-act/part2/chapter14/14.4.aspx
