People & Places


Betty Burstall 1926 - 2013 Betty Burstall, the former teacher who nurtured Melbourne's explosion of contemporary theatre in the 1960s and '70s, has died. She was 87. The founder of Carlton's iconic La Mama Theatre was remembered as ... read more

David Armstrong, 1926-2014 David Armstrong, affectionally known as DMA or Armo, was in an elite category of Australian intellectuals ? a philosopher who developed an international reputation, perhaps the most considerable of any Australian ... read more

Dorian Leon Marlois Le Gallienne (1915-1963), composer, was born on 19 April 1915 at Armadale, Melbourne, only child of Dorian Reginald Harold Ronald Le Gallienne, a French-born actor, and his wife Charlotte Edith Estella, née White, ... read more

Richard Ivan (Dick) Downing (1915-1975), economist, was born on 13 March 1915 at Caulfield, Melbourne, second child of Horace Gleadow Downing, public servant, and his wife Blanche Pauline, née Domec-Carré, both Victorian born. When his ... read more

Alistair Samuel Knox (1912-1986), architect and builder, was born on 8 April 1912 at South Melbourne, second child of locally born parents Arthur Jean François Knox, clerk, and his wife Margaret Longmore, née Brown. Educated at Scotch ... read more

Wynn Roberts, who was on his way to becoming a leading Shakespearian actor, became my first foreman and took control of the construction of this house. He was a close friend of Matcham Skipper and lived at the rear of a Drummond Street ... read more

Microbial geneticist Alfred James (Jim) Pittard was born in Ballarat in 1932. He completed secondary school at the Ballarat Church of England Grammar School in 1949. Pittard then enrolled in a diploma of pharmacy at the Victorian College ... read more

Justus Jorgensen (1893-1975), artist, was born on 12 May 1893 at East Brighton, Melbourne, third of six children of Simon Jorgensen, a master mariner from Norway, and his Victorian-born wife Nora, née Schreiber. Sent to a convent ... read more

Alistair says of Keith Joslyn in his article 'Belief in Building' He is, without exception, the prince of earth-movers and land-sculptors. He started earth-moving at the age of about eleven, with the aid of a scoop and a pair of horses. ... read more

Robert graduated as an architect from the University of Melbourne in 1968. He then worked with Alistair Knox in Eltham until early 1973, punctuated with an extensive overseas trip. In 1973 Robert set up his own architectural ... read more

Frederick Romberg (1913?1992), architect and academic, was born Friedrich Sigismund Hermann Romberg on 21 June 1913 at Tsingtao (Qingdao), China, second child of German parents Kurt Romberg, judge, and his wife Else (Elspeth), née Gilow. ... read more

Susanne Dance graduated from The University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Architecture in 1965. Upon receiving her degree, Dance was introduced to the concept of Urbanism, and realized that the buildings surrounding the city of ... read more

Allan Lim Joon (14 April 1928 - 9 May 2017) was an aeronautical engineer who became one of alistair's most loyal clients. In all they commissioned three houses. Allan and his wife Lee (Leonie) came to Alistair via a tiny newspaper ... read more

Peter Glass (1917-1997) was an artist and a trained draftsman who started working for Alistair as a carpenter and mud brick worker in 1948. As the Knox building empire expanded he progressed to working in the drafting office eventually ... read more

Kevin Borland was a friend of Alistair's and in the early stages of Knox's career signed off on his designs as 'Supervisor'. Following is the Borland entry in wikipedia Kevin Borland (28 October 1926 ? 2000) was an Australian post- ... read more

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