Conservation of Australia’s Heritage Places
Submission to the Productivity Commission
Issues Paper May 2005

5 August 2005

About the Author

This Submission has been prepared by Richard Falkinger, Architect and Heritage Consultant on behalf of The Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne

Richard Falkinger 

•	Has established a reputation, built over 30 years, in the conservation of culturally significant places, ecclesiastical architecture and the design of culturally sensitive places;

•	has been the architect for the conservation of St Patrick’s Cathedral Melbourne from 1971 to 1997 (the year of the centenary of the consecration of the Cathedral);

•	Has carried out the restoration of St Patrick’s Cathedral Ballarat, St Mary’s Cathedral, Sale and about 50 Roman Catholic and Anglican churches in Victoria and South Australia;

•	Has worked in the architectural conservation of churches in England (Wells Cathedral), Germany (Frauen Kirke, Munich) and Italy (Chiesa Nuova, Rome).

•	Since 2000 has been leading the architectural team of Falkinger Andronas Pty Ltd in the conservation of St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral, Melbourne;

•	Has successfully participated in major fund-raising activities for many of the  pre-eminent projects he has worked on;

•	Is a member of the Cathedral Architects Association of the United Kingdom.

The Roman Catholic Church is owner of a great number of places of varying degrees of cultural significance, and is conscious of the obligation that comes with being the owner of culturally significant buildings and places. 

As Cathedral Architect for St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne from 1970 to 1997, I can make the following observations with regards to the conservation issues of a notable culturally significant place:

I worked for Yunken Freeman Architects in 1970 when the firm was commissioned by the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne to design their new Diocesan offices. There was no Heritage Act, only the National Trust’s Classification system for notable buildings. The Cathedral College had to make way for the new proposed Diocesan office building. I was the senior designer working directly with Roy Simpson, recipient of the R.A.I.A. Gold Medal. The National Trust vehemently opposed our design at that stage, although we had carried out a comprehensive analysis (similar to today’s C.M.P.). Thirty years on it was the National Trust who proposed the listing of the Diocesan offices on the Heritage List and more recently the Diocesan offices were awarded the 25 year Award by the R.A.I.A.
At the end of 1970 I left Yunken Freeman Architects to start my own practice, the re-ordering of St Patrick’s Cathedral Sanctuary becoming my first job and the beginning of a career change into ecclesiastical architecture and conservation of Heritage Places.

The temporary re-ordering of the sanctuary of St Patrick’s Cathedral in 1971-2, in readiness for the 1973 Eucharistic World Congress, was financed entirely by the Catholic Church. It became the model for many liturgical re-orderings in Australia.

Towards the end of the 1970s a stone pinnacle fell from the nave roof onto the aisle roof, miraculously not causing any personal injury. This incident prompted a condition survey to be undertaken of all the pinnacles on the upper parapets and subsequent emergency repair work. Again this was paid for by the Church.

	Because of this experience, a public fund raising appeal was launched in the early 1980s to attract funds for the maintenance of the cathedral. This appeal was not successful. Less than half the money that was expected was actually raised. The main reason given by the business community for not giving towards the maintenance fund was that it was felt that pure maintenance was the responsibility of the owners, despite tax-deductibility through the National Trust of Victoria.

As a result of the failed fund-raising appeal, Archbishop Little agreed to raising $10million for the restoration of the spires, roofs, windows, the upgrading of services, and the permanent re-ordering of the sanctuary. The appeal received $2million donation from the State Government and a further 1 million was donated by the Federal Govt towards the end of the Works Program. The balance of the funds was raised through a five year giving-program by the Parishes, and the generous donation of private individuals and major companies. Richard Falkinger was personally able to raise $100,000 for the restoration of the Franz Mayer windows. All donations were Tax-deductible through the National Trust of Victoria.

The restoration program was completed on time and on budget for the centenary celebrations of the consecration of the cathedral in 1997.

The cathedral currently lacks the funds to create a permanent maintenance program based on the experience of English Churches, necessitated through a legal faculty for a quinquennial survey of the fabric and the follow-on execution of the necessary maintenance works.  

The Cathedral is built of bluestone with freestone dressings. Our surveys have clearly shown that the sandstone used in the construction of the spires in 1937-9 had significantly decayed over a 70 year period. In order to maintain as much of the original fabric we have carried out repairs of the fabric with methods used in European churches for centuries. These include: repointing of joints; mortar repairs to stone; and some stone replacement where necessary, thus maintaining structural integrity of the fabric and preventing water entry. 

The Church is aware of the high cost of providing scaffold (access) to the spires and upper reaches of the building. The Church also knows that major restoration of the masonry will have to be carried out more frequently in the future, due to the accelerated weathering of the stoneworks. 

Whilst major restorations will always be part of the life cycle of