Christine Garnaut

APrf Christine Garnaut

School of Architecture and Built Environment

College of Creative Arts, Design and Humanities

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.


Christine Garnaut is Adjunct Associate Research Professor in Planning and Architectural History. She was founding Director of the Architecture Museum (2002-February 2020) in the School of Art, Architecture and Design at UniSA and of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) Research Centre, UniSA (2017-February 2020).
An historian, Associate Professor Garnaut's research focuses on Australian twentieth century planning and architectural history. She is particularly interested in the contemporary application of historical ideas, for example in the conservation and management of heritage places. Her book, Colonel Light Gardens: model garden suburb (Sydney: Crossing Press, 1999, reprinted 2006), based on her PhD thesis, was the first published account of a planned Australian garden suburb. Her doctoral research and book informed objectives and policies for the Colonel Light Gardens Plan Amendment Report (PAR) (2000) and Conservation Management Plan (2005). She was recognised for her contribution to the PAR, winning the inaugural Edmund Wright Heritage Award (2003) together with Mitcham Council and the Colonel Light Gardens Historical Society.
Associate Professor Garnaut has undertaken a variety of projects funded by the Australian Research Council and other government and industry sources. South Australian Department of Water (formerly Environment and Heritage) funding led to the development of an online biographical database, Architects of South Australia, managed by the Architecture Museum, and to the Architecture Museum monograph series. NATSPEC funding supported the development in 2018 and 2019 of a national framework for archiving digital architectural records. Associate Professor Garnaut is immediate past president (July 2018-July 2022) of the International Planning History Society,  a past member of the Board of the International Confederation of Architectural Museums (icam) and former convenor of icam Australasia, a regional network of institutions, organisations and professional bodies holding architectural and allied records.

Architecture Museum
Architects of South Australia
Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute at UniSA
International Planning History Society
International Confederation of Architectural Museums

  • Australian 20th century planned environments - urban, rural and remote settings
  • Australian 20th century architectural history
  • Australian university campus planning
  • Architectural and built environment archives

Year Citation
2021 Garnaut, C., & Gold, J. R. (2021). Interrogating voices from the past: making use of oral testimony in planning historical research. Planning Perspectives, 36(6), 1297-1304.
DOI Scopus1 WoS2
2020 Bird, L., & Garnaut, C. (2020). From stock paddock to tertiary education campus: fifty years of planning and development at The Levels, 1970-2020. Journal of the Historical Society of South Australia, (48), 117-135.
2016 Garnaut, C. (2016). Flora Crockett Stephenson (1914-1979): a life and professional partnership in planning. Planning perspectives, 31(4), 505-531.
DOI Scopus2 WoS1
2015 Hebbert, M., Calabi, D., Ward, S., Freestone, R., Meller, H., Goldfield, D., . . . Hall, P. (2015). Editorial - Thirty Years On. PLANNING PERSPECTIVES, 30(1), 1-10.
DOI WoS3
2014 Garnaut, C. M. (2014). The planning and design of Murdoch University : the foundation years. Circa : the journal of professional historians, 4, 26-37.
2012 Garnaut, C. M. (2012). icam Australasia: a regional network of the International Confederation of Architectural Museums. Museums Australia magazine, 20(3), 28-29.
2012 Garnaut, C. M. (2012). The Architecture Museum, School Of Art, Architecture and Design, University Of South Australia. Museums Australia magazine, 20(4), 24-28.
2012 Garnaut, C. (2012). Gordon Stephenson and University planning: a pleasurable professional pursuit. Town planning review, 83(3), 377-395.
DOI Scopus1 WoS1
2012 Hutchings, A. W. J., & Garnaut, C. M. (2012). The private development company and the building of planned communities in post-war South Australia : Reid Murray developments, Realty Development Corporation and their successors. Journal of the Historical Society of South Australia, 40, 96-116.
2012 Garnaut, C. (2012). ICAM Australasia: supporting the development and promotion of architectural and allied collections in Australia and New Zealand. Fabrications, 22(1), 122-126.
DOI
2012 Garnaut, C., Freestone, R., & Iwanicki, I. (2012). Cold War heritage and the planned community: Woomera Village in outback Australia. International journal of heritage studies, 18(6), 541-563.
DOI Scopus9 WoS9
2011 Garnaut, C. M. (2011). S'adapter aux circumstances. Defis, opportunities pour les principes d'acquistion d'archives d'architecture en Australie (-Meridionale). Colonnes, 27(June), 44-46.
2011 Garnaut, C. M., & Collins, J. A. (2011). Engraving the past: architectural prints from the Chamberlin collection. Place, September, 9.
2010 McDougall, A., & Garnaut, C. (2010). Navigating the personal to create the public: in search of South Australian architects. oral history association of Australia Journal, 32, 34-42.
2010 Collins, J., Lustri, S., Bird, L., & Garnaut, C. (2010). Civic spaces for children: playground design in twentieth century South Australia. Journal of the historical society of South Australia, 38, 73-92.
2010 Hutchings, A., & Garnaut, C. (2010). Suburban design in metropolitan Adelaide: principles and products (vol 46, pg 44, 2009). AUSTRALIAN PLANNER, 47(1), 63.
DOI
2009 Garnaut, C. (2009). Conference report <i>The Future of Planning Education A public symposium celebrating 60 years of planning education, University of South Australia, Adelaide, 2009</i>. TOWN PLANNING REVIEW, 80(6), 655-661.
DOI
2009 Hutchings, A. W. J., & Garnaut, C. M. (2009). Suburban design in metropolitan Adelaide: principles and products. Australian planner, 46(4), 44-52.
DOI Scopus1 WoS2
2008 Freestone, R., Marsden, S., & Garnaut, C. M. (2008). A methodology for assessing the heritage of planned urban environments : an Australian study of national heritage values. International journal of heritage studies, 14(2), 156-175.
DOI Scopus15 WoS11
2007 Collins, J. A., Collins, S. L., & Garnaut, C. M. (2007). Behind the image : assessing architectual drawings as cultural records. Archives and Manuscripts.
2006 Shamsudin, K., & Garnaut, C. M. (2006). No magic wand : Charles Reade and the establishment of town planning in the Federated Malay States 1921-1929. Planning history : bulletin of the International Planning History Society.
2006 Collins, J. A., Ibels, A. M., Collins, S. L., & Garnaut, C. M. (2006). Adelaide rises from the plain : perspective on the emergence of tall buildings in South Australia's capital city. Australian planner, 43(3), 24-33.
DOI Scopus3
2005 Collins, J. A., Ibels, A. M., & Garnaut, C. M. (2005). Years of significance : South Australian architecture and the Great War. Journal of the Historical Society of South Australia.
2003 Garnaut, C. M., & Hutchings, A. W. J. (2003). The Colonel Light Gardens Suburb Commission : building a planned community. Planning perspectives, 18(3), 277-293.
DOI Scopus3
2003 Garnaut, C. M. (2003). Making modern (river) towns : town planning and the expansion of the upper Murray irrigation area. Journal of the historical society of South Australia.
2002 Garnaut, C. M., Johnson, P. A., & Freestone, R. (2002). The design of Woomera Village for the long range weapons project. Journal of the Historical Society of South Australia.
2002 Freestone, R., Garnaut, C. M., & Hutchings, A. W. J. (2002). A bibliographic guide to recent literature in Australian planning history 1993-2002. Planning history : bulletin of the International Planning History Society.
2000 Garnaut, C. (2000). Tales from the people: at home in an Australian garden suburb. Oral History Association of Australia Journal.
1998 Garnaut, C. M. (1998). Model Intentions : Colonel Light Gardens an Uban Design Object Lesson. Australian planner, 35(2), 81-89.
DOI Scopus3
1997 Garnaut, C. M. (1997). The Soldiers Memorial Gardens Victor Harbor:'An Emblem of Love and Reverence'. Landscape Australia.

Year Citation
2025 Garnaut, C. (2025). 'Metropolitan Adelaide's unique opportunity': Charles Reade's plan of Adelaide and suburbs (1917). In N. Phelps, R. Keil, & P. Maginn (Eds.), Source details - Title: Peripheral Centralities: The Lost and Past Urbanity of the Suburbs (pp. 92-111). UK: Routledge.
2023 Garnaut, C. (2023). Garden city and garden city ideas. In K. Assche (Ed.), Source details - Title: Elgar Encyclopedia in Urban and Regional Planning and Design: Elgar Encyclopedias in the Social Sciences series (pp. 156-158). US: Edward Elgar.
DOI
2020 Garnaut, C. (2020). Towards metropolitan organisation: Town planning and the garden city idea. In Australian Metropolis A Planning History (pp. 46-64). Routledge.
DOI Scopus11
2020 Langmead, D., & Garnaut, C. (2020). Construction of the great pyramid of Khufu-Giza, Egypt. In Source details - Title: Science and Technology in World History, VOLUME 1: Beginnings of Human Society to 1500, VOLUME 2: 1450 to the Present (Vol. 1, pp. 95-97). US: Bloomsbury Publishing.
2018 Freestone, R., & Garnaut, C. (2018). Beginnings: the evolution of metropolitan planning to the late twentieth century. In Source details - Title: Planning Metropolitan Australia (pp. 26-50). UK: Routledge.
2017 Garnaut, C. (2017). Town planning in the garden city of the south: the state of play to 1914. In M. Oppenheimer (Ed.), Source details - Title: South Australia on the Eve of War (pp. 115-136). South Australia: Wakefield Press.
2017 Freestone, R., Garnaut, C., & Nichols, D. (2017). Tertiary education and postwar reconstruction: the first Australian planning programs. In A. I. Frank, & C. Silver (Eds.), Source details - Title: Urban planning education (1st ed. ed., pp. 101-118). Switzerland: Springer.
DOI Scopus1
2016 Garnaut, C., Collins, J., & Jolly, B. (2016). Afterword - Adelaide's Jubilee International Exhibition 1887-1888. In C. Garnaut, & J. Jolly (Eds.), Source details - Title: Adelaide's Jubilee International Exhibition 1887-1888 (pp. 351-352). Australia: Crossing Press.
2016 Garnaut, C., Collins, J., & Jolly, B. (2016). Adelaide's Jubilee international Exhibition: the event, the building and the legacy. In C. Garnaut, & J. Jolly (Eds.), Source details - Title: Adelaide's Jubilee International Exhibition 1887-1888 (pp. 11-14). Australia: Crossing Press.
2016 Garnaut, C., & Avey, S. (2016). 'A peep from the dome' Adelaide in 1887. In C. Garnaut, & J. Jolly (Eds.), Source details - Title: Adelaide's Jubilee International Exhibition 1887-1888 (pp. 85-93). Australia: Crossing Press.
2012 Cys, J., & Garnaut, C. M. (2012). Evidence through research. In Source details - Title: Design South Australia (pp. 140-143). Adelaide: Integrated Design Commission SA, in association with Wakefield Press.
2011 Langmead, D., & Garnaut, C. (2011). Angkor and Angkor Wat. In World History Encyclopedia Volumes 1 21 (pp. Vol9-Vo51).
2011 Langmead, D., & Garnaut, C. (2011). Mohenjo-Daro and the Cities of the Indus River Valley. In World History Encyclopedia Volumes 1 21 (pp. V3-V3-121).
2011 Langmead, D., & Garnaut, C. (2011). Construction of the Great Pyramid of Khufu—Giza, Egypt. In World History Encyclopedia Volumes 1 21 (pp. V4-V4-722).
2009 Garnaut, C. M., & Round, K. A. (2009). 'The kaleidoscope of town planning': planning advocacy in postwar South Australia. In R. Freestone (Ed.), Source details - Title: Cities, citizens and environmental reform : histories of Australian town planning associations (pp. 203-234). Sydney, N.S.W.: Sydney University Press.
2009 Garnaut, C. M., & Round, K. A. (2009). 'Pedlers' of new ideas': promoting town planning in South Australia 1914-1920. In R. Freestone (Ed.), Source details - Title: Cities, Citizens and Environmental Reform: histories of Australian Town Planning Associations (pp. 120-127). Sydney: Sydney University Press.
2008 Garnaut, C. M. (2008). The Adelaide Parklands and the endurance of the greenbelt idea in South Australia. In Source details - Title: Urban Green Belts in the twenty first century (pp. 107-128). Hampshire, England: Ashgate.
Scopus3
2007 Garnaut, C. M. (2007). A standard to turn to : planning history, heritage policy and the conservation of Colonel Light Gardens. In Source details - Title: Past matters : heritage and planning history : case studies from the Pacific rim (pp. 270-292). Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
2000 Garnaut, C. M. (2000). Towards metropolitan organisation : town planning and the garden city idea. In R. Freestone, & S. Hamnett (Eds.), Source details - Title: The Australian metropolis : a planning history (pp. 46-64). Australia: Allen and Unwin.
DOI

Year Citation
2018 Garnaut, C. (2018). A vision for arts led urban renewal in Adelaide and the City West Campus of the University of South Australia. In International Planning History Society Conference: Looking at the World History and Planning Proceedings (pp. 1-10). Japan: International Planning History Society.
DOI
2018 Garnaut, C. (2018). Remaking Adelaide's West End: The contributions of the University of South Australia's City West Campus, stage one. In I. McShane (Ed.), Remaking cities: urban history planning history (pp. 168-177). Australia: Australasian Urban History Planning History Group & RMIT University.
2016 Garnaut, C. M., Collins, J., Bird, L. M., & Anderson, E. (2016). Cherished sites of remembrance: Soldiers' memorial gardens. In C. Bosman, & A. Dedekorkut-Howes (Eds.), UHPH 2016: Proceedings of the 13th Australasian Urban History Planning History Conference (pp. 139-152). Australia: Australasian Urban History/Planning History Group and Griffith University.
2015 Garnaut, C. (2015). An "innovation" at the South Australian School of Mines and Industries : a town planning course in the architecture department 1949-1955. In P. Hogben, & J. O'Callaghan (Eds.), Proceedings of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand Vol. 32 (pp. 194-205). Sydney: SAHANZ.
2014 Freestone, R., Garnaut, C. M., & Nichols, D. (2014). The beginnings of tertiary planning education in Australia 1949-1950. In C. Silver, & D. Zhu (Eds.), Proceedings of the 16th International planning history society conference (pp. 389-403). United States: University of Florida, Florida.
2014 Garnaut, C. M. (2014). Envisioning and planning the future of Adelaide's metropolitan foreshore : from marine boulevard to coast park. In C. Silver, & D. Zhu (Eds.), Proceedings of the 16th International planning history society conference (pp. 323-339). United States: University of Florida, Florida.
2012 Garnaut, C. M. (2012). Flora Crockett Stephenson (1914-1979): forty years of collaborations in planning. In Proceedings 15th IPHS Conference (pp. 1-15). Brazil: Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, University of São Paulo.
2011 Garnaut, C. M. (2011). Gordon Stephenson and the Radburn Idea in University Planning. In World Planning Schools Conference 2011 (pp. 1-14). Perth: University of Western Australia.
2010 Garnaut, C. (2010). Gordon Stephenson and campus planning in Australia. In N. Z. Glersoy (Ed.), Urban transformations: controversies, contrasts and challenges (pp. 35-48). Istanbul, Turkey: Istanbul Technical University.
2010 Garnaut, C., Freestone, R., & Iwanicki, I. (2010). Home on the Range: the planning and design of Woomera Village, 1947-2009. In Green Fields, Brown Fields, New Fields: Proceedings of the 10th Australasian Urban History, Planning History Conference (pp. 145-158). Melbourne, Australia: University of Melbourne.
2010 Bird, L., & Garnaut, C. (2010). Planning for playgrounds: town planning and the supervised children's playgrounds in twentieth century South Australia. In UHPH 2010: Proceedings of the 10th Australasian Urban History, Planning History Conference : Green Fields, Brown Fields, New Fields (pp. 28-43). Melbourne, Australia: University of Melbourne.
2009 Garnaut, C. M. (2009). 'Everyone was for bungalows': suburban expansion and the rise of the bungalow in post-World War 1 South Australia. In The Pacific Connection: trade, travel and technology transfer (pp. 150-156). Melbourne, Vic.: University of Melbourne.
2009 Nichols, D., & Garnaut, C. M. (2009). Social innovation on the Murray irrigation frontier: the 1890s to the 1920s and beyond. In M. Lewis (Ed.), The Pacific connection: trade, travel and technology transfer (pp. 130-157). Melbourne (Vic.) :: University of Melbourne.
2008 Garnaut, C. M., & Round, K. A. (2008). 'The Kaleidoscope of Town Planning', the Town and Country Planning Association and Planning Advocacy in Post-war South Australia. In Public Versus Private Planning: Themes, Trends and Tensions (pp. 878-890). Chicago: International Planning History Society.
2008 Garnaut, C. M., & Round, K. A. (2008). 'Pedlers of New Ideas': The South Australian Town Planning and Housing Association, 1914-1924. In Seachange; new and renewed urban lanscapes. Maroochydore, Queensland: University of the Sunshine Coast.
2007 Hutchings, A. W. J., & Garnaut, C. M. (2007). The evolution of suburban design in metropolitan Adelaide. In Proceedings of the State of Australian Cities National Conference 2007 (pp. 250-258). Adelaide, Australia: SOAC 2007.
2007 Garnaut, C. M., Iwanicki, I. M. L., & Freestone, R. (2007). Modernism in the desert : the planning and design of Woomera Village 1947-1967. In Panorama to paradise : scopic regimes in architectural and urban history and theory : XXIV SAHANZ Adelaide 2007. [Adelaide, S. Aust.]: Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand.
2007 Garnaut, C. M., & Collins, J. A. (2007). Heritage, Conservation Management and Cultural Tourism in post-World War Two remote, special-purpose towns: a literature review. In Cultural Heritage in the Sustainability of Remote Planned Communities; Woomera Symposium Papers 2007. Australia: UniSA.
2006 Garnaut, C. M. (2006). Planning for heritage : planning history, heritage policy and the Colonel Light Gardens conservation management plan. In Past matters : heritage, history and the built environment : proceedings from the 8th Australasian Urban History/Planning History Conference. Palmerston Nth, N.Z.: School of People, Environment and Planning, Massey University.
2004 Garnaut, C. M. (2004). Chronicles from the far east : the garden city model of planning in the Federated Malay States, 1920-1929. In 11th Conference of the International Planning History Society (IPHS) 2004: Planning Models and the Culture of Cities. Spain.
2004 Collins, J. A., Ibels, A. M., Collins, S. L., & Garnaut, C. M. (2004). Growing up: the rise of the multi-story building in interwar Adelaide. In Town Talk. Adelaide Australia: History Trust of South Australia.
2004 Garnaut, C. M. (2004). 'Not for ourselves alone': post-war owner building and the South Australian home builders' club. In The 21st Century City, Past / Present / Future: Proceedings from the 7th Australasian Urban History / Planning History Conference 2004. Geelong, Australia: Deakin University.
2002 Freestone, R., Johnson, P. A., & Garnaut, C. M. (2002). Planning Woomera Village 1946-1947 : international crossings at an Australian outback crossroads. In Southern crossings : Waka whitiwhiti au Tonga : proceedings for the sixth Australasian urban history/planning history conference. Auckland, New Zealand: University of Auckland.
2002 Garnaut, C. M. (2002). Charles Reade and the international diffusion of towm planning ideas. In Cities of Tomorrow IPHS 2002.
2002 Garnaut, C. M. (2002). 'Not for the faint-hearted': Resident conversation initiatives in Colonel Light Gardens. In 20th Century Heritage : Our Recent Cultural Legacy : proceedings of the Australia ICOMOS National Conference 2001. Burwood, Victoria: Australia ICOMOS Secretariat.
2001 Garnaut, C. M. (2001). Conserving and Managing our Recent Cultural Legacy: The case for Colonel Light Gardens. In 20th Century Heritage our Recent Cultural Legacy, Australia ICOMOS National Conference.
1998 Garnaut, C. M. (1998). Colonel Light Gardens : Back to the Future. Sydney.
1997 Garnaut, C. M. (1997). 'Our Lovely, Lovely House': Memories of Home and Place in the Australian Garden Suburb. In Landscapes of Memory: Oral History and The Environment Conference.
  • Campus: Building Modern Australian Universities, ARC - Discovery Projects, 01/01/2016 - 15/05/2020

  • Framework Trial - ADAR: NF project, Natspec, 17/09/2018 - 31/07/2019

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2018 Co-Supervisor - Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Rasoul Rafat

Connect With Me

External Profiles

Other Links