Norman Selfe, civil engineer c1900
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Built environment Selfe, Norman
Selfe, Norman
Built over tracks, campsites, rock art and middens used for thousands of years before the dispossession of the Aboriginal people, Sydney's early haphazard development was given form by public buildings. As public transport developed, suburbs spread, and throughout the twentieth century, town planners struggled with developers to direct the form and extent of the city. After World War II, city buildings got taller, outer suburbs sprang up ever further away, and issues of heritage and architecture were contested. In the twenty-first century, concerns about environment, urban density, public transport and renewed infrastructure are driving change.
Engineer, naval architect, inventor, urban visionary and advocate of technical education, Norman Selfe was one of Sydney's most energetic and civic-minded citizens. His vision for Sydney included a harbour crossing decades before the Harbour Bridge was built, and an independent system of technical education long before the advent of TAFE. During his lifetime, his efforts were not successful, but many of his innovative ideas were later realised.
Engineer, designer and activist, whose visionary plans for Sydney's harbour crossing and education system were not realised until after his death.