This notable architect worked closely with the founder and visionary of the Bangerang Keeping Place John (Sandy) Atkinson, O.A.M ,(O.A.M = Order of Australian Medal),
on the design for the Keeping Place.
John Atkinson had asked Romberg to design the building after he visited the Interpretation Centre at Tower Hill near Koroit.
Professor Frederick Romberg's late partner Robin Boyd, had designed the circular stone building at Tower Hill in 1962 although it was not completed until 1970.
The Keeping place, like the Tower Hill Building, is an unobtrusive structure blending harmoniously with the natural environment.
The setting, near a waterway, and the building with its long narrow windows, the timber poles, columns and shingle roof evoked the character of the forests along the Murray and Goulburn Rivers, the traditional lands and waters of the Bangerang People.
The building was deliberatly sited in a prominent position near the entrance to the (former) International Village and set in landscaped undulating grounds partly encircled with water. It was originally intended that the buiding would be surrounded by a bush garden with edible fruits, berries and plants and the materials used for making artifacts and utensils. Although this did not eventuate, cumbungi reeds(Typha sp.) were planted along waterways to provide the material for spearmaking and basket weaving.
The Bangerang Cultural Centre is architecturaly significant as a work of this renowned architect.
Frederick Romberg was the son of a German Judge and grew up in Hamburg. He witnessed the Reichstag fire and knew what it meant, after getting into trouble with the Nazis, he exiled himself to Switzerland. He graduated from the Zurich Technical Institute in 1938, and was awarded a traveling scholarschip and, resolving to get as far from Europe as he could, he arived in Melbourne in Oktober that same year.
Romberg had a intense admiration for the Finish architect Alvar Aalto. Technically a German alien, Romberg was not imprisoned during the war but in 1943 was conscripted for labouring work with the Allied Works Council, crushing stone for a time in the Northern Territory.
He was naturalised in 1945.
Frederick Romberg was a partner in the inovative firm of Grounds, Romberg and Boyd from 1953 to 1962, and later with Romberg and Boyd. In 1965 Romberg was appointed Professor of Architecture at the University of Newcastle, returning to Melbourne in 1975.
The modest Keeping place is perhaps the most interesting work from the latter part of his career.
Architectural historian Harriet Edquist has suggested that the Keeping Place, designed after Boyd's death in 1971, could be Romberg's homage to his partner.
That such a ground-braking architect as Romberg was chosen for the Keeping Place project adds to appreciation of this place as an inovative project ahead of its time.
Sources:
" Robin Boyd a life"
Author : Alan Geoffrey Serle.
I.S.B.N 0 522 84669 6
Melbourne University Press Carlton Victoria 3053
Heritage Victoria
Victorian Heritage Register
Heritage Register number : PROV H1082
Hermes id : 13104
Name: Bangerang Cultural Centre.