Modern designs inspire

I like this Dethridge-inspired water feature in Leeton's Chelmsford Place almost as much as I like the Walter Burley Griffin-inspired water tower behind it.

John Stewart Dethridge designed the water wheel to measure the flow to irrigated farms. The design was widely used around the world as a result of his refusal to patent the invention. These days a civil servant might not get the choice but I think it's inspiring that he wanted it to be used, rather than attempt to make money. This is an attitude I take toward my creative endeavours in sound recording, with my work made available under a Creative Commons licence.

Walter Burley Griffin is famous for winning the competition to design Canberra. Less known is that he left before Canberra was completed and only saw a memorial built to his designs in the Australian national capital.

During his time here Griffin undertook other work, including the designs for Leeton and Griffith in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area. The water tower shown at the top of this post was built in the 1970s but retains the design Griffin developed for the two towers that lie behind it. He thought they would form a gateway to the town, like a walled medieval village.

Griffin also added features to Leeton including a bandstand, which I like to think shows the value he placed on cultural activities like live music, as well as park that is like the water towers in being kinda small for contemporary times. I remixed it as part of my project for the centenary of Leeton, see below.