The Pioneer that Never Wanted to Start from Scratch
In this photograph from 1952, Margaret Feilman is standing in the Western Australian bushland on the site that will become Kwinana town. [1] She is using a twig as a pointer to explain a large map of the new satellite town to members of the state cabinet of Western Australia. Surrounded by male politicians, she is standing alone: the only woman and the expert planner, both isolated and distinct. In the foreground, at least two of the men are encroaching on her plans, feeling the need to help her hold them. The faces and postures of the men show a variety of interest levels. Some seem to be paying close attention, while others are not as eager to listen.
The appointment of Feilman as planner for the Kwinana town project was considered bold. In the mid-1950s, planning was still a heavily male-dominated field in Australia. [2] Moreover, she was just 32 years old, and had only recently opened her own practice in 1950. [3]
Feilman gained her first experiences in town planning when, in 1945, as a new and young architect, she was part of a group tasked with rebuilding Australian towns destroyed during World War II. [4] There she realised that, with this work, she could make tangible improvements to people’s lives, particularly women and children from lower socio-economic backgrounds. [5] She said that the aim of planning should be ‘to make houses fit the population and not the population to fit into housing that was available.’ [6]
This anecdote illustrates how hands-on Feilman was. She was always involved on-site, and she placed great value on a detailed engagement with the existing site and community. She continuously pushed for planning strategies that would lead to the betterment of communities, especially in aspects like education and health.
This experience made Feilman believe that people needed a connection to the past. For her, preserving the built and natural heritage of a site was vital to town planning. [7] She was instrumental in bringing heritage considerations into the planning processes in Australia. [8] In her active planning work, this philosophy led her to participate directly on site. In an interview, she told the story of how she rode around the Kwinana town site on a bulldozer, pointing out all the trees to avoid during site clearing. [9]
To fulfil these goals, Feilman was convinced that people needed to be involved in planning processes. To educate them about the benefits of planning, she went to great lengths to give speeches and lectures, notably in remote rural communities. Her records show that she answered every letter she received from the communities she worked in as a planner. [10]
As seen in the image, Feilman was also interested in educating political decision-makers and public officials about the benefits of town planning. She made great efforts to support regional and local townships in establishing planning schemes that would work with their limited funding, [11] without compromising the worth of her own work. [12]
Despite her obvious enthusiasm and passion for her career, Feilman did not advise other women to pursue it, because it left little time for a personal and social life. [13]
Many of her ideas and agencies in the field of town planning are still felt today, and her legacy shaped many young architects and planners, both women and men. [14]
Image Credits: Unknown.
1. Kwinana Town is her best-known project. Other notable planning projects include Mirrabooka (1951) and Edgwater Estate (1970). In total, she planned new towns and suburbs for over thirty local authorities across Western Australia. See Melotte, Barrie and Don Newman. “Vale Dr Margaret Anne Feilman OBE, Western Australian Town Planning Pioneer.” Planning Institute of Australia, 2013. Web. (Accessed 19 July 2022) Link.
2. Davies, Amanda, and Julie Brunner. “A Review of the Practice and Legacy of Australian Planning Pioneer Margaret Feilman.” Australian Planner, vol. 54, no.1, 2017: 44.
3. When she returned from Great Britain with a graduate degree in town and country planning from the University of Durham, she was unable to find a job in a town planning position. As a result, she decided to open her own practice. See Davies, “A review of the practice and legacy of Australian planning pioneer Margaret Feilman”: 43.
4. Ibid.: 42.
5. Ibid.: 43.
6. “Interest in Lecture by Woman Town Planner.” Editorial. The West Australian. 23 Aug. 1950: p. 7.
7. Davies, “A review of the practice and legacy of Australian planning pioneer Margaret Feilman”: 49.
8. Melotte, Barrie. “Landscape, neighbourhood and accessibility: The contributions of Margaret Feilman to planning and development in Western Australia.” Planning History, vol. 19, no. 2/3, 1997: pp. 32-41, at 34.
9. Davies, “A review of the practice and legacy of Australian planning pioneer Margaret Feilman”: 45.
10. Davies, “A review of the practice and legacy of Australian planning pioneer Margaret Feilman”: 8.
11. She worked as a consultant preparing town planning schemes for more than twenty local authorities in rural areas and eleven metropolitan councils in Western Australia.
See Melotte, “Landscape, neighbourhood and accessibility”: 35.
12. Davies, “A review of the practice and legacy of Australian planning pioneer Margaret Feilman”: 8.
13. Ibid.: 6.
14. The Margaret Feilman papers can be found at the State Library of Western Australia. They include invitations, correspondence, plans, reports, petitions, photographs, diaries and newspaper clippings spanning her forty-year career. Additionally, they include plans and drawings from Feilman’s cadetship, postgraduate degree and early career as an architect. They offer a significant basis for further studies about her work and philosophies.
