Frederick Oswald Barnett

[1] In 1934 he formed a study group of about 40 members comprising the lawyer Oswald Burt, several notable architects and a surveyor/town planner, Fr Tucker of the Brotherhood of St Lawrence and representatives of other church and charitable institutions.

[2] The group held weekly meetings to receive and discuss papers about housing reform and soon attracted the attention of the major evening newspaper, The Herald.

In 1936 the SAC became the Housing Investigation and Slum Abolition Board (HISAB); Barnett was its deputy chairman and other members of his group, including Burt, were prominent on it.

In the course of the survey, Barnett came to the realisation that slums were a result of poverty, rather than social condition and that such people would not be suitable for a house purchase scheme, but rather should be given rented accommodation at subsidized rates.

[5] The commission, with a full-time Chairman, John O’Connor and three part-time commissioners, Barnett and Burt from HISAB and a social worker, Frances Pennington, met for the first time on 1 March 1938.

The HCV proceeded to purchase land and develop low-cost (low-rental) housing for the poor, with the first projects constructed in Port Melbourne and Carlton.

The first F. Oswald Barnett Oration was delivered by Associate Professor Renate Howe of Deakin University at St Kilda on 21 October 1994.