Colin Frederick Madigan (22 July 192117 September 2011) was an Australian architect. He is best known for designing the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra.

Biography

Born in Glen Innes, New South Wales, Madigan studied architecture at

Sydney Technical College The Sydney Technical College, now part of TAFE NSW, is a technical school established in 1878, that superseded the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts. The college is one of Australia's oldest technical education institutions. History The Sydney M ...

from 1939 to 1941. He enlisted in the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the navy, naval branch of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (Australia), Chief of Navy (CN) Vice admiral (Australia), Vice Admiral Mark Hammond (admiral), Ma ...

in 1941, and was one of the few survivors of the sinking of the corvette HMAS ''Armidale'' off

Timor Timor (, , ) is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is Indonesia–Timor-Leste border, divided between the sovereign states of Timor-Leste in the eastern part and Indonesia in the ...

in 1942. In 1951 Madigan, Maurice Edwards and Jack Torzillo formed the firm, Edwards Madigan Torzillo and Partners, whose work was mostly on public projects such as public housing, public libraries, schools and offices. A notable building from this period was the

Warringah Council Warringah Council was a Local government areas of New South Wales, local government area in the Northern Beaches (Sydney), northern beaches region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It was proclaimed on 7 March 1906 as the W ...

Library at Dee Why, New South Wales, which was awarded the Sir John Sulman Medal for architecture in 1966. In 1968, they won the design competition for the National Gallery of Australia. Later, Madigan supervised construction of the High Court of Australia Building after its designer Christopher Kringas died in March 1975, just prior to the start of construction in April 1975. The unsuccessful design for the new Australian Parliament House in Canberra was one of the shortlisted finalists in the architectural design competition. He retired in 1989. Madigan also wrote a book on the sinking of HMAS ''Armidale'' in 1942, ''Armidale '42 : a survivor's account''. In later years, Madigan vigorously opposed plans to build a new entrance to the National Gallery of Australia. He died, aged 90, in Bangalow, New South Wales on 17 September 2011, survived by his wife Ruby (née Court-Rice), their son Guy (born 1952) and a grandson.

Honours

Madigan received a

Gold Medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

from the

Royal Australian Institute of Architects The Australian Institute of Architects, officially the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (abbreviated as RAIA), is Australia's professional body for architects. Its members use the post-nominals FRAIA (Fellow), ARAIA (Associate Member) an ...

in 1981. He was appointed an

Officer of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

in the

Australia Day Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet and raising of the Flag of Great Britain, Union Flag of Great Britain by Arthur Phillip at Sydney Cove, a ...

Honours of 1984, and was awarded the

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or g ...

in 2001.It's an Honour: Centenary Medal
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Madigan, Colin 1921 births 2011 deaths Australian non-fiction writers Royal Australian Navy sailors Royal Australian Navy personnel of World War II Officers of the Order of Australia Recipients of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects’ Gold Medal People from New South Wales Architects from Sydney