Initially there were difficult beginnings living in distant Menangle Park, followed by then primitive circumstances in Oxford Falls, before the family settled in the Manly area.

During the making of the 2012 video sessions, to document the history of the High Court, Chief Justice Robert French arranged for Feiko Bouman to receive a bronze commemorative medallion, in recognition of his original design co-authorship.

Chief Justice Susan Kiefel invited Bouman to make a speech to record the history of its genesis /creation, from the architectural competition to the start of on-site construction.

And "Bouman’s innovation rests on his insight in recognising that the asymmetrical composition of Utzon’s Opera House could be translated into a series of parallel vaults.".

John Lahey, writing in The Age, surprised with his early commentary piece: "Opera House of the Outback" ... "we in the south have undervalued this project.

The Council selected Bouman’s firm from several other submissions, primarily based upon the design quality of, The Stockman’s Hall of Fame.

The Civic Centre project started modestly; repairing a vacant site next to the Council Chambers, providing a dedicated park and other community facilities.

Elizabeth Farrelly, in the Sydney Morning Herald, wrote ... "people who work in the Civic Centre lyricise over the sense of endless discovery it brings, and the bytes of surprise visual joy.".

[14] Professor Laszlo Kollar has commented ...” the proposal Quadrant, Milsons Point, follows a timeless theme of architecture which is the transformation of the square on the ground into the circle in the sky.

This “marriage” between the square and the circle is the theme of a great number of mankind’s most significant buildings in the East and West...a remarkable contemporary example" [15] The overriding approach of the design, was to have minimal impact on the natural beauty of the site.

Conventional gutters have been eliminated; through the device of the major curved roof forms, directly flowing onto a “flat” tapered tray system, allowing positive water and leaf run-off, into just one large downpipe, which empties into a grated sump.