Australia Pavilion
Australia provided Expo ‘74 with one of its most popular pavilions. To the relief of fair planners, this success was accomplished with minimal behind-the-scenes drama. Australia’s fair committee confirmed their participation early, pulled together an appealing exhibit for their provided space, and opened on schedule. Over the duration of the fair, more than two million visitors would explore Australia’s pavilion.
Located on the east side of Havermale Island, the Australia Pavilion occupied a two-story building, with 7500 square feet on the lower level and 5000 on the upper level. There were two escalators in the pavilion - one bringing visitors up to the mezzanine, and one bringing them down again. This arrangement facilitated traffic flow as well as dividing the pavilion into three areas: “The Natural Order,” “Man’s Impact on Nature,” and “The Life Cycle of a Nation.” The interior decor of the pavilion was characterized by “lush Australian wool carpeting on the floor and up the walls.”
The first section of the pavilion, “The Natural Order,” showed off the beautiful aspects of Australia that were “untouched by man,” including photographs of natural areas in Australia and mounted specimens of Australian animals such as a stuffed kangaroo and stuffed alligator. Other aspects of Australia “untouched by man” featured in this area were the Great Barrier Reef and aboriginal artifacts. (The pavilion brochure made it clear that this section was intended to show Australia as untouched by European men. Like the U.S. Pavilion, the Australian presentation primarily portrayed its aboriginal population as a society of the past, rather than as part of the present-day nation.)
Up the first escalator, the mezzanine showed off a view of the Spokane river and an extensive array of plant life, including eucalyptus. According to pavilion plans, the mezzanine section was additionally subdivided into three sections: “The Australian Ugliness” (large photos of things like “industrial slums, city decay, telegraph, mutilated trees”), “Human Values,” (an exhibit about the average Australian’s home life and the model city of Canberra), and a large model of the Sydney Opera House.
Down the second elevator, the “Life Cycle of a Nation” section was interpreted literally, as visitors would step onto a turntable in the floor and rotate around inside a room full of screens, color slides, and mirrors. The turntable made a full rotation every three minutes. This approach was intended to create “an amazing illusion of an endless horizon for man and his environment.”
While the Australia Pavilion did not have a public restaurant, it did incorporate a private dining room that could seat around 20 VIPs for banquets featuring “some of the most elegant cuisine for which Australia is famous.”
From the Official Souvenir Program:
Australia’s unique flora is featured in the 12,000 sq. ft. Australia Pavilion. What the Australian people are like is demonstrated by a group of young people. Displays show how Australia is handling its environmental problems.
The pavilion includes a private dining room, VIP area and a unique central mirrored hexagon room, with a revolving viewing platform, containing slides and music to convey Australia’s successes.
The model of the Sydney Opera House was brought from its former display location in Milan. Involving 16,000 pieces of plexiglass, it was 7 feet tall, 15 feet long, and 10 feet wide.
At least two brochures from the Australia Pavilion focused on encouraging immigration to Australia, rather than attracting tourists. At the time, Australia was in the process of dismantling its “White Australia policy” toward immigration. Race as a factor in immigration had only been banned the previous year, in 1973. Today, Australia has one of the largest immigrant populations in the world, accounting for around 30% of its residents.
