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- Avara. First year at Fenner. South Tower. Seventh Floor. Came from near Maitland.
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- Julian. Second year at Fenner. South Tower. Seventh Floor. Came from Yass.
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- Soni. First year at Fenner. South Tower. Seventh Floor. Came from Alice Springs.
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- Dan. First year at Fenner. South Tower. Ninth Floor. Came from Hobart.
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- Rosie. First year at Fenner. South Tower. Seventh Floor. Came from Melbourne.
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- Merryn. Second year at Fenner. South Tower. Seventh Floor. Came from The Shoalhaven.
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- Michael. Senior Resident. Third year at Fenner. South Tower. Ninth Floor. Came from Sydney.
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- Bethany. First year at Fenner. South Tower. Seventh Floor. Came from Nambucca Heads.
I shot these photos part of a first year photography assignment to interpret the idea of a family portrait. I was initially interested in the concept of space and how people chose to represent family and the idea of home within their newfound college rooms. I was fascinated by these identical matchbox rooms that people come into at Fenner Hall, and how they are transformed (or not), to reflect the individual presence of each occupant. The building now known as Fenner Hall was opened in 1965 and so it is incredible to think of the longevity of such reinvention in each of the 517 rooms.
I suppose what these portraits also came to represent is how the people you meet in college can become a sort of family. Like most who arrive at Fenner Hall, I did not know anyone, and although I only chose to stay a year, I left with a firm sense of community, in particular from the floor S7 where I lived. There is a strangeness to the direct proximity of these neighbourhoods arranged by floor. It is incredible to think that almost entirely by chance the people who are put on your floor are the people you will likely get to know best.
Before Fenner Hall became a university residence, it was a hostel for single public servants and other government and army employees arriving in the city. In first year I met a fellow photography student Kerry who spoke of living in what was then Gowrie Hostel when she first came to Canberra as a 17-year-old army recruit in the 1970s. She described a similar strangeness, a sense of passing through but also starting to belong. She has lived in Canberra ever since.
The relevance of Fenner Hall’s history is more important than ever, in light of recent announcements by the Vice-Chancellor of plans to move Fenner Hall into a new building on campus. I think this raises key questions about the transferral of culture, and how hard it may be to retain the individual characteristics of halls in an increasingly corporatised university environment. Fenner Hall and the history of reinvention it has occupied on Northbourne Ave for more than 40 years is undeniably a part of the culture of this city. A city where the roots of those who have come from elsewhere may seem shallow but ultimately make up the incredible fabric of this unique place we may call home.
If you would like to find out more about the fight to keep Fenner Hall on Northbourne Ave please visit:
https://www.facebook.com/fightforfenner
Esther Carlin is a Demos Subeditor.
