Margaret Anne Feilman (21 June 1921 – 24 September 2013) was an Australian

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

's first female

town planner An urban planner (also known as town planner) is a professional who practices in the field of town planning, urban planning or city planning. An urban planner may focus on a specific area of practice and have a title such as city planner, tow ...

. She practiced as an architect and

landscape design Landscape design is an independent profession and a design and art tradition, practiced by landscape designers, combining nature and culture. In contemporary practice, landscape design bridges the space between landscape architecture and garde ...

er. A founding member of the Western Australian Town Planning Institute in 1950, she engaged in substantial public speaking as a means of "educating the public as a whole on the need for better planning". Her most notable contribution to town planning was the design and implementation of the Kwinana new town. She also worked for the

Commonwealth Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The executive consists of the prime ...

in the 1940s rebuilding Darwin and

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

following the war.

Early life and career

The daughter of Herbert Bernard and Ethel Anne Feilman (née Turner),Sacks M. A. (ed) ''The WAY 79 Who is Who: synoptic biographies of Western Australians'' Crawley Publishers, Western Australia, 1980. (Monograph on p.119) Feilman grew up in the Southwest Region of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. In 1938 she became the first female cadet in the Public Works Department of Western Australia, and completed a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree at the

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

in 1943. Studying at Perth Technical College, she passed the Final Examination for Registration as an Architect in 1945. She received a

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

scholarship in 1948. In 1950 she completed her Postgraduate Diploma in Town Planning at the School of Town and Country Planning at the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charter in 1837. It was the first recognised university to ...

, after which she returned to Perth and opened a practice in architecture and town planning. In 1952, for the state Public Works Department, she planned the townsite of Kwinana New Town, to house 25,000 industry employees. A founding member of the Western Australian branch of the

National Trust of Australia The National Trust of Australia, officially the Australian Council of National Trusts (ACNT), is the Australian national peak body for community-based, non-government non-profit organisations committed to promoting and conserving Australia's Ind ...

in 1959, she later became an inaugural Commissioner on the

Australian Heritage Commission The Australian Heritage Commission (AHC), was the Australian federal government authority established in 1975 by the ''Australian Heritage Commission Act 1975'' as the first body to manage natural and cultural heritage in Australia until its de ...

in 1976, played a role in setting up the

Register of the National Estate The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heri ...

and supported the introduction of Heritage Conservation Studies in Australian universities. She was also involved in public comment about the various changes in heritage legislationMargaret Anne Feilman – speaks out on proposed changes to heritage legislation. The West Australian, 24 Oct. 1986, p. 31a-g Feilman died on 24 September 2013.

Notes

References

*Bronwyn Hanna
Australia's Early Women Architects: Milestones and Achievements'
in ''Fabrications'', Vol.12, No. 1, June 2002. (Subscriber/purchase access only.) *Barry Melotte, 'Landscape, Neighbourhood and Accessibility: The Contribution of Margaret Feilman to Planning and Development in Western Australia', ''Planning History'', Vol.19, No. 2/3, 1997 {{DEFAULTSORT:Feilman, Margaret 1921 births 2013 deaths Designers from Perth, Western Australia Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire Australian urban planners Architects from Western Australia Australian women architects 20th-century Australian architects 20th-century Australian women 21st-century Australian women 21st-century Australian people