Building 50 years of memories

The University of Queensland community is celebrating a half-century of graduations, music, concerts, exams, lectures, protests and exhibitions in Mayne Hall.

Named in honour of two key early university benefactors James O’Neil Mayne and Mary Emelia Mayne, Mayne Hall was officially opened in March 1973.

Musician and historian Emeritus Professor Peter Roennfeldt was awarded an Honorary Fryer Library Fellowship from UQ to write a history of the building and said thousands of people have experienced significant moments within its walls.

“Mayne Hall hosted around 400 University of Queensland graduation ceremonies with the first held in December 1972 before the building was officially opened,” Emeritus Professor Roennfeldt said.

“Then there are thousands of other events with musicians, speakers and audiences, even a rowdy protest or two and some pop concerts.

“I’ve spoken to dozens of people during this project and what has come out is the memorability of fleeting or ephemeral moments is very much linked to the ambience of the venue and enhanced by the very building itself.

“Mayne Hall was not so big that performers didn't feel contact with the audience, there was an intimacy inside even though it seated around 1,200 people.”

A great hall similar to those at prestigious universities in the United Kingdom was part of the original scheme for Brisbane’s university campus in the 1930s.

“It was originally going to be where the Michie Building is but when they got around to finishing that side of the Great Court in the 1950s, it was realised that what was really needed was more teaching space and so that site was used for an education block,” Emeritus Professor Roennfeldt said.

^{Graduation ceremony in Mayne Hall June 1991. Image: UQ Archives S909 p8889.102}

A campaign to fund a great hall was launched at UQ’s 50th anniversary in June 1960 and it was done in quite a unique way.

“At the time I don't think the wider public really knew what went on in the university and very few people in the community would’ve been students,” he said.

“A film was produced called A Place of Light and it was a very modern way of looking at fundraising because it didn't just say give us money.

“It basically said, look at all these wonderful things the university is doing for the state of Queensland in developing technology for mining and agriculture, research in medicine and it's producing people to work at all our important industries.

“It was just under 4 minutes long and at the end it says, ‘We need money for a great hall, please give now’ – and they did.”

Watch the video A Place of Light

Architectural plan for Mayne Hall, 2 April 1971 *Image: UQ Archives S909 p1390*

Architectural plan for Mayne Hall, 2 April 1971 *Image: UQ Archives S909 p1390*

Mayne Hall under construction 8 September 1972 Image: UQ Archives S909 p82

Mayne Hall under construction 8 September 1972 Image: UQ Archives S909 p82

There was a false start with the dismissal of an architect when agreement couldn’t be reached on design and costs.

Then there was around a decade of debate about an appropriate site amid concerns about the visual impact on the university’s centrepiece, the Forgan Smith Building.

“When architect Robin Gibson was appointed by then Vice-Chancellor Sir Zelman Cowen, he addressed the concern about siting by complementing the existing buildings with glass that reflected - and he described Mayne Hall as like a watchtower of a northern castle, looking over the main building.”

The modernist-styled Mayne Hall became one of three buildings the Brisbane architect designed for UQ, the others being the Central Library and the Biological Sciences Library.

“His philosophy was that every new building should be in sympathy with what is already there - his idea was to incorporate a visual flow from the modern back to the old and vice versa,” Emeritus Professor Roennfeldt said.

“If you walk past Mayne Hall in daytime, you can see reflections of Forgan Smith and his concept was very much a dialogue between buildings.”

The money raised during the original campaign and by the Alumni Association from 1967 had been held in trust and work finally began in 1971.

Fulfilling the theme of the fundraising video, six huge stained-glass windows built to an abstract design by Nevil Matthews formed the eastern facade of the foyer and let light flood in.

There was a false start with the dismissal of an architect when agreement couldn’t be reached on design and costs.

Then there was around a decade of debate about an appropriate site amid concerns about the visual impact on the university’s centrepiece, the Forgan Smith Building.

“When architect Robin Gibson was appointed by then Vice-Chancellor Sir Zelman Cowen, he addressed the concern about siting by complementing the existing buildings with glass that reflected - and he described Mayne Hall as like a watchtower of a northern castle, looking over the main building.”

The modernist-styled Mayne Hall became one of three buildings the Brisbane architect designed for UQ, the others being the Central Library and the Biological Sciences Library.

“His philosophy was that every new building should be in sympathy with what is already there - his idea was to incorporate a visual flow from the modern back to the old and vice versa,” Emeritus Professor Roennfeldt said.

“If you walk past Mayne Hall in daytime, you can see reflections of Forgan Smith and his concept was very much a dialogue between buildings.”

The money raised during the original campaign and by the Alumni Association from 1967 had been held in trust and work finally began in 1971.

Fulfilling the theme of the fundraising video, six huge stained-glass windows built to an abstract design by Nevil Matthews formed the eastern facade of the foyer and let light flood in.

Mayne Hall stained glass windows 1973 Image: UQ S909_p1562e

The official opening was delayed until March 31 1973 so then Governor General Sir Paul Hasluck could attend and give a lecture.

Music student Jenny Dawson was on the stage with the Queensland University Musical Society (QUMS) choir and Queensland Symphony Orchestra facing a gathering she recalls was a who’s who of Brisbane.

“QUMS was terribly chuffed at being asked to sing and it was such fun being part of a big event like that because the university had been waiting on this great hall since its inception,” Ms Dawson said.

“It was an elegant piece of architecture, not stuffy at all but simple and it felt very modern with its clean lines."

“We performed the full version of Zadok the Priest by George Frideric Handel which is a very impressive piece for an impressive occasion, and it emerged that the hall was a terrific venue for musical concerts.

“It was huge, with the ceiling a long way up and the acoustics just worked in that vast resonating space."

Mayne Hall opening night March 31 1973 Image: UQ Archives S909 p1547b

As well as classical music, Mayne Hall through the 1970s and 1980s was a venue for school and popular music concerts.

“Everyone from Judith Durham to Split Enz and the Fureys, they were all there,” Emeritus Professor Roennfeldt says.

“There were also lectures delivered by some eminent people including Sir Edmund Hillary and from the early 1990s it hosted Thanksgiving Services for the families of people who had donated their bodies to science, which are remembered as quite personal events.”

In 1985, at UQ’s 75th anniversary, Mayne Hall was the focus of a loud, 5000-strong protest at the awarding of an honorary doctorate to then Queensland premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen.

Emeritus Professor Roennfeldt says a musical piece was composed by staff member Colin Brumby for the occasion, called Great is Truth and Mighty above all Things, which is the inscription on the Forgan Smith Building.

Inside Mayne Hall, Jenny Dawson was to perform with the University Choir and Music Department orchestra.

“I recall that the university academic board of which I was a member at the time, voted to disassociate itself from the Senate’s decision to confer that degree and many staff and students were opposed,” Ms Dawson recalls.

“Feelings were running very high, and the demonstrators were out in force outside banging and pushing their cards and posters up against the glass wall.

“Members of the string section of the orchestra were absolutely petrified, not for themselves, but for their instruments if the glass broke and showered them with fragments.

“I recall one of the dignitaries went out and asked them to stop banging while the students were performing as a courtesy and I seem to recall they did.”

^{Images: Demonstrators and police at Mayne Hall 10 May 1985,}
^{Fryer Library, Joanne Rutherford Collection F3483}

By the early 2000s UQ graduation numbers had outgrown the space, other venues had been constructed in the city centre of Brisbane and the decision was made to convert Mayne Hall into an Art Museum for the university.

Acting Director and Senior Curator, Peta Rake, says the building is now a hive of activity with gallery, learning, study and storage space.

“On any given day you can see students studying or relaxing in the foyer, visitors exploring an exhibition, classes from a range of disciplines reflecting on artworks or a researcher in the Alumni Friends of UQ Collection Study Room,” Ms Rake said.

“The UQ Art Collection is housed here – it’s one of Queensland’s most significant public art collections and we have a team of experts working to make sure the artworks are carefully catalogued and looked after, prepared for loan around Australia, or moved into or out of exhibition spaces and the Collection Study Room.

“Important climate environmental management systems ensure that humidity and temperature levels are kept within a safe range that won’t deteriorate the artworks.

“That way, we can be sure that we’re preserving them for future generations to learn from and enjoy.”

The UQ Art Museum is open to the public Tuesday-Saturday.

The book about Mayne Hall by Emeritus Professor Peter Roennfeldt is due to be published later this year. His work has been supported by an Honorary Fryer Library Fellowship from UQ and a Lord Mayor’s Helen Taylor Research Award for Local History in Brisbane.

By the early 2000s UQ graduation numbers had outgrown the space, other venues had been constructed in the city centre of Brisbane and the decision was made to convert Mayne Hall into an Art Museum for the university.

Its Acting Director and Senior Curator, Peta Rake, says the building is a hive of activity with gallery, learning, study and storage space.