We are delighted to publish Maggie Edmonds acceptance speech for the 2003 Gold Medal, and to share the video of the award being made by Shannon Battisson and accepted by Maggie.

Twenty years ago, in 2003, my late husband and partner was awarded the Institute’s Gold Medal.

In his A.S. Hook address, he reflected on a prediction that by 2020, barely twenty percent of people in their early thirties would own their own home and that banks and credit cards, our leisure society and lust for instant gratification would achieve what the politicians could not legislate, the death of the Australian dream of home ownership.

He also said, “my partner Maggie Edmond should be recognised and publicly thanked. There is a great deal of prurient curiosity surrounding our partnership. It is really nobody’s business.”

That same year, a very memorable year for our practice, the Chapel of St Joseph in Surrey Hills, Victoria, won the inaugural Enduring Architecture Award.

Recently, the Victorian Chapter bestowed on me the naming rights to the Enduring Architecture Award for which I was thrilled and honoured. But nothing prepared me for the recognition I am receiving tonight.

It is both humbling and restorative to have Edmond and Corrigan’s 50-year journey of a life in architecture together finally recognised by the Australian Institute of Architects. It resonates for me like a noble peace prize.

Thank you to the National Council, the Victorian Chapter Council and the 2023 Jury, with special thanks to Shannon Battisson, Vanessa Bird and Professor Philip Goad, who together with Cameron Bruhn ambushed me with the news of the award at Gerald’s Bar in Carlton North.

Thank you also to all the colleagues, staff and students over the years who have participated in the projects designed by Edmond and Corrigan.

Congratulations also to Kerstin Thompson, the Gold Medallist for 2023, whose work and commitment to the profession of architecture I have long admired.

Thank you for this Gold Medal recognition to Edmond and Corrigan Architects.

Two pieces of stone have sat side by side on our mantlepiece for many years, a symbolic tribute from a close friend on the occasion of our marriage. One is rough and unpolished, the other honed and smooth.

Thank you.

Maggie Edmond

Thanks to Maggie and the Australian Institute of Architects for sharing this text and recording. Read Vanessa Bird on the long process of making change.