Margaret Feilman

Margaret Feilman (1921-) was Perth's first female town planner. She has had a highly successful professional career as an architect, town planner and landscape designer. A founding member of the Western Australian Town Planning Institute in 1950, she engaged in substantial public speaking as a means of "educating the public as a whole on the need for better planning".

Biography

Born in Perth in 1921, Feilman grew up in the Southwest Region of Western Australia. In 1938 she became the first female cadet in the Public Works Department of Western Australia, and completed a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Western Australia in 1943. She passed the Final Examination for Registration as an Architect in 1945. In 1950 she completed her Postgraduate Diploma in Town Planning at the School of Town and Country Planning at the University of Durham. Shortly thereafter she returned to Perth and opened her own practice under the title of 'Margaret. A. Feilman, Architect and Town Planner'. Her planning work for the Kwinana New Town (Western Australia) in 1952, housing 25000 industry employees, has been widely acclaimed.

A founding member of the Western Australian branch of the National Trust of Australia in 1959, she later became an inaugural Commissioner on the Australian Heritage Commission 1976, played a role in setting up the Register of the National Estate and supported the introduction of Heritage Conservation Studies in Australian universities. She was also involved in public comment about the various changes in heritage legislation ^[1]

References

1. ^ Margaret Anne Feilman - speaks out on proposed changes to heritage legislation. The West Australian, 24 Oct. 1986, p. 31a-g

• Bronwyn Hanna, Australia's Early Women Architects: Milestones and Achievements', FABRICATIONS, Vol.12, No. 1, June 2002.

• Barry Melotte, 'Landscape, Neighbourhood and Accessibility: The Contribution of Margaret Feilman to Planning and Development in Western Australia', Planning History, Vol.19, No. 2/3, 1997

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Name	Feilman, Margaret
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Date of birth	1921
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