From the very start, the question of registration for architects in Victoria was considered alongside that of architectural education. When Frederick Purbrick called for the registration of architects in a paper read before the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects in 1887, he outlined a strategy to advance the profession that had two key aims: registration; and the establishment of a Chair of Architecture at the University of Melbourne. Both actions would bring status, clearly distinguishing the profession from a trade (formal qualifications versus technical training), as well as ensure standards of professional skills that could be an assurance to the public of competency.
Qualification as an architect in the nineteenth century was realised through a private training arrangement, variously known as pupillage or articles, in which a practicing architect agreed to train a pupil for an agreed yearly fee (usually then partly paid to the pupil as a meagre wage) for a set period, usually four years. This was all covered by a binding legal agreement. By the 1890s, articled pupils were often complementing their office-based training with evening classes in drawing and construction through working men’s colleges or schools of mines. Training was variable: it depended on the relative interest, experience and competence of the master-architect; and formal instruction was not obligatory, and frequently failed or incomplete. The requirement for upfront fee, as well as assumptions about the social status of architects, meant that articles were almost exclusively the province of the sons of the upper middle class; those of lesser social status could find a role as a draftsman for an architect, but there they would remain.
Formal education in Victoria that led to a diploma or degree qualification specifically in architecture that had a steady stream of graduates took several decades. Lectures in architecture were offered at the University of Melbourne from 1861—although few took them. The first person to enrol at the University with the intention of becoming an architect, Anketell Henderson, did so in 1869, completing the degree in engineering with the available subjects in architecture. The Melbourne Working Men’s College (now RMIT University) was established in 1887, with architecture as a foundation course; in 1890, it established a four-year part-time course in architecture leading to a certificate. The Gordon Institute in Geelong (now Deakin University) also established an architecture course in 1887. These courses were intended to complement articled training, not substitute for it. Similar subjects were subsequently offered at the Ballarat and Bendigo schools of mines, although the 1892 depression impacted all of these offerings, some dramatically dwindling with the rapid contraction of the architecture profession in Victoria.
As the discussion of registration re-emerged in the first decade of the twentieth century, greater attention was also focused on formal architectural education. The University established a four-year diploma course in 1902, and, although it fell victim to budget cuts the following year, it was revived in 1907 (attracting its first student in 1911), prompting the WMC to revive its certificate course in 1908. After a concerted campaign, supported by the RVIA, the University relaxed entry requirements in 1914, removing the requirement for matriculation, a move that attracted an enrolment of over 50 students. The graduation of the first student to hold the Diploma of Architecture in 1915, Edward Fielder Billson, further encouraged new enrolments. The same year, the Gordon Institute reinstated its diploma course in architecture.
Just as architectural education was being firmly established in tertiary institutions, the profession was starting to renew its push for registration, embedding formal qualifications into the draft bill being promoted.
A confluence of factors helped the professionalisation of architecture in Victoria during the years of the First World War. Firstly, enlistment meant significant reduction in the numbers of architecture pupils (meaning the profession needed to attract greater numbers); concurrently, it became more acceptable for women to enter higher education, training and work. Secondly, as the war progressed, thought was given as to how to re-integrate serving personnel into civilian occupations, with education at the heart of the discussion. The articulation of entry requirements into formal education programs, such as the diploma program at the University, coupled with its relative social standing, opened the field up to a wider range of potential students, particularly women, who began enrolling from 1916.
A rapid and seismic shift in architectural education thus occurred between 1914 and 1918. Before, articled education was the norm, with formal education a useful addition; after, this combination was inverted, with formal tertiary qualifications, in addition to articles, becoming the established standards for entry to the profession. The introduction of the five-year Bachelor of Architecture at the University in 1927 would further spell the end for articles as the primary means of qualification.
Registration also codified what it was to be considered a qualified architect. In articulating evidence of competency, it allowed for a wider range of practitioners to officially be known as architects than the self-organised and self-regulated professional societies had allowed among their membership. The listing of formal education and qualifications in architecture into the registration Act reinforced its importance, particularly as until 1958, a degree or diploma in architecture alone was sufficient to be eligible for registration as an architect in Victoria.
While the articulation of the effective rules for entry to the profession through education and registration enabled a wide range of graduates and practitioners to become architects, including women, it would also erect barriers for some. The naming of particular institutions in the Act, such as the University and the RVIA, effectively certified some but not all institutions. The RVIA, as affiliated with the Royal Institute of British Architects, and with its sibling institutes across Australia, meant that architects emigrating to Victoria with membership of an RIBA-affiliated or Australian institute was considered equivalent to their Victorian counterparts. Those outside that system, or with qualifications from outside the English-speaking world, found it exceptionally difficult to have their experience, qualifications and competencies recognised, particularly after the removal of the transitional clause of bona fide practise of 12 months in 1927. As a consequence, European emigres fleeing persecution from the 1930s found registration a considerable barrier to practise in Australia.
The gradual tightening of the Act over time saw increasing expectations for formal qualifications in architecture. Although it was not until 1991 that articled training was removed as a listed eligibility for registration, in reality the accepted means of qualification in architecture through formal tertiary education had been in place since at least 1940, and the dominant means since the mid-1920s. Just the fact of naming formal architectural qualifications in the Act had ensured their prominence, and later dominance, in the path to registration.
The close links between architectural education and registration remain. Through the national body of affiliated registration boards of architects, the Architects Accreditation Council of Australia (AACA), established in the 1970s, all degree programs in architecture in Australia are assessed and accredited. The AACA-administered system ensures that the degree programs are of appropriate quality and cover required competencies, and the accreditation allows graduates to be recognised as eligible for registration across Australia. The AACA also manages reciprocal recognition of degrees and qualifications for jurisdictions outside of Australia, as well as assessing equivalency of qualifications on a case-by-case basis.
The establishment of formal architectural education in Victoria through tertiary education institutions such as the University of Melbourne, the Working Men’s College (RMIT) and the Gordon Institute (Deakin), meant that the Architects’ Registration Act could have relatively simple provisions for recognising competency in architecture. The Act itself did not need to specify the competencies: it could rely on competencies certified by educational institutions, and it is thus no surprise that it became difficult to register (despite pathways being ostensibly available) without those being certified through a degree or diploma in architecture. Over time, ensuring those competencies remain relevant to architectural registration has meant the assessment of architectural education through accreditation, ensuring a symbiotic relationship between architectural education and registration.
Prepared by Professor Julie Willis of the University of Melbourne
Updated