ABSTRACT
Australia was colonised by Britain at the height of the latter's industrial revolution, and the colony's first 100 years were indelibly shaped by industrial developments in Britain. Corrugated iron tells a story about the relationship between Britain and Australia, or, between coloniser and colonised. The aesthetics of corrugated iron reveals many aspects of Australian identity, as it weaves together the themes of utility and aesthetics, portability and permanence, and durability and decay. Corrugated iron was an ideal material for the prefabrication of portable buildings. Edward Bellhouse displayed his portable buildings at the Great Exhibition and received a much-publicised order from Prince Albert for a galvanised corrugated iron ballroom to be made to royal summer residence, Balmoral Castle. The too-apparent problems of heat conductivity and corrosion caused iron to become a disdained material in Britain, with manufacturers looking to the colonies as potential markets. Glenn Murcutt has described some pavilions that comprise his Kempsey farmhouse, built in 1975, as being verandahs.
