An ode to Anzac Park East

The bright sunny Canberra landscape and the plain-speaking, business-like job offer from the Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics stood in sharp contrast to the Victorian facades and matching bureaucratese of job offers from the geological surveys in Melbourne and Sydney, and the terse and insensitive terms and conditions laid out by the mining companies.

So I came to her - transposing the sooty surrounds of University College London with the clean and clipped pathways around Lake Burley Griffin.

Anzac Park East (APE), on the corner of Anzac Parade and Constitution Avenue, had only recently become the home of the Bureau of Mineral Resources (BMR), Geology and Geophysics; upon its completion in May 1965, disparate parts of the organisation from offices across Canberra and Melbourne were for the first time gathered under one roof. Earlier requests by the Department of National Development to construct a permanent site in Acton for the bureau were rejected by the city planners of the day, and so it was moved into APE. It was to become the only occupant in the building's history, and so it has long been referred to as "the BMR Building".

Anzac Park East was designed for administrative offices, with no provision for specialised laboratories, map drafting offices, and technical equipment necessary to the BMR's varied technical and scientific functions. This necessitated a long list of internal modifications which continued right through to the end of the building's occupancy to accommodate newly emerging technology such as chemical analysis, map making and computing equipment.

One such modification was the installation by crane of a 20-tonne slab of machined slate into the fourth floor (a stable base for a large 'flat bed plotter' to machine-draw accurate maps and charts), which necessitated removing a large window section. Another fourth-floor installation was the Baas Becking Geobiological Laboratory; the wet chemistry experimental procedures were the bane of the map drafting section two floors below, whose work was destroyed on more than one occasion as a result of laboratory leaks from above.

Eventually the limitations of Anzac Part East to accommodate these specialist needs led to the design of new, purpose-built accommodation (the Harold Raggatt Building in Symonston), into which the rebranded BMR - now Geoscience Australia - moved in 1996. BMR was the only "real" tenant in the life of Anzac Park East; after BMR moved out, the once proud and majestic building was reduced to a shell by anti-terrorist training, and has since been sold for redevelopment.

In retrospect it seems anachronistic that some 600 scientists, technicians and administrators focused on mapping Australia's remotest corners and delving into her geological depths to provide information to assist in scientific understanding and national development, should be housed in a smart new building in one of Canberra's most enviable office locations. But the location, set apart from most other government offices at the margins of the then CBD, helped cement a strong social grouping within its workforce, with rocks, fossils, analytical equipment and geophysical charts being temporarily discarded each lunchtime for excursions to squash and tennis courts, walks to the top of Mount Ainslie, and running laps around the lake (well, the "two bridges run" at least).

A strong volleyball competition flourished for many years, attracting toots and hoots of derision from motorists along Parkes Way urging us in colourful language to get back to work. The BMR Social Club was strongly supported, its most popular functions being barbecues near Blundells Cottage, and the family Christmas party with Santa dutifully appearing on his sleigh (a camouflaged Mini Moke). These events were important to geologists, geophysicists and technical staff, because many spent up to six months every year doing field work away from Canberra which placed significant pressure on families. There was little official support for families to accompany their husbands (yes, it was a dominantly male workforce in those days) into the field, the only concession emerging in the 1980s of brief "compassionate" breaks of a week or two mid-season to visit family - but of course we were expected to turn up for work at Anzac Park East every day during this time as well!

I am witnessing with great sadness the preparations for Anzac Park East to be redeveloped, partly because of the impending loss of a beautiful building (and its mirror-image partner across the road) and partly because of the many fond memories of my 25 years with BMR, mostly in this building. These memories extend to the practical and "seat of the pants" training on the job attitude of BMR management and how it changed me from a young pale-skinned pommie to an Aussie outdoorsman inured with bush survival skills, 4WD technique, on-the-fly management in remote bush camps, "fly traverses" involving travelling and living out of a Land Rover away from any road or settlement for up to two weeks at a time, only to return to base camp with its rudimentary facilities before doing it all again.

But through all of this I gained an intimate knowledge of much of northern Australia - the joy of building an understanding of the geology and landscape of regions that were little known then but well known now, including Kakadu National Park and Cape York Peninsula. The satisfaction of publishing beautiful maps and explaining the value of this work to the minerals and environment industries. And the enduring friendships built along the way.

And that brings me to another endearing memory of Anzac Park East - how she received and hosted young men and women from around the world and how we worked together without a scrap of prejudice or racism. The drafting office had a large proportion of central and eastern Europeans, the geologists and geophysicists featured significant numbers of English and Scottish as well as a smattering of Canadians, Americans, French and Germans, and exchanges enriched the mix with others from Indonesia, India, and in later years, China.

This must have been one of the most international workforces in the country in its day. The "foreign influx" was greatest in times of mineral booms, when experienced staff were lured away by the larger pay-packets in industry, and Australian universities were unable to provide the number of replacements required.

The tide of mapping survey work across Australia, including topographic, geodetic, land systems and geological surveys, rose and fell to a similar timeline as the life and times of BMR and Anzac Park East. These days this type of work is enabled by remotely sensed data and advanced capabilities in computerised data manipulation and interpretation, and the necessary expertise is spread throughout mining companies and consultancies as well as government and research establishments - the old days of people gathering information from observations made during field traverses on foot and by Land Rover, and transposing these by hand into maps and reports are effectively over.

So in some ways it may be fitting for the building which housed many of the people who did the old style of work to disappear too. But on the day the wrecking ball moves in, I will be sure to shed a tear and raise a glass in memory of a fine building, the fine people who worked there, and the fine work we did. Vale, Anzac Park East!

(I know it's too late, but wouldn't it have been great if APE was refurbished exclusively as a retirement home for geoscientists?)