Charles Fulton: the regional reach of modernism in Australia

Charles Fulton (1905-87) was an Australian architect who applied influences of European modernism, particularly the civic architecture of Willem Dudok, into the design for several hospital projects in regional towns across Queensland, at the same time adapting a climatic responsive rationale to the projects. As with many remote regions that have been overlooked as the recording of notable modern architecture focused on traditional centres, Australia has only recently made effective measures to publish its achievements in this genre through the twentieth Century. Compounding this predicament, Queensland has suffered from its own exclusion relative to the southern states of New South Wales (Sydney) and Victoria (Melbourne), which have always been the dominant centres of the national profession, its conferences and publications. This paper seeks to address these schisms through the presentation of the work of Charles Fulton, demonstrating how even in remote areas of Australia, thousands of kilometres from major cities, the reach of modern architecture found a place.