History of SIDA

Brief History of The Society of Interior Designers of Australia and its evolution into the SIDA Foundation.

The Society of Interior Designers of Australia (SIDA) was founded in 1951. It was the earliest Australian association of Interior Designers and Interior Decorators, and was first known as the Society of Interior Designers.

The aims of the Society in the early Fifties reflected the desire to advance the art of interior designing and to promote interior design services to the public as well as assisting designers just entering the field. They clearly stated the need to advance the standards of interior designing and decoration and to uphold in practice a code of ethics and professional practices.

By 1964 the society had members Australia wide and on September 4th, was incorporated under the Companies Act as a not for profit Company, limited by guarantee. Those who signature appeared on the document of incorporation were; Mary White, Leslie Walford, Thomas Harding, Merle du Boulay, Malcolm Forbes, Margaret Wardell, Marion Hall-Best and Barbara Campbell.

Whilst the objectives of the new Society included many of the aims of the founding body, they were broadened considerably under the new Memorandum and Articles of Association. They included co-operation with other bodies and organisations within Australia and overseas and an increased emphasis on interior design education in Australia. Importantly, also, they included provision for the Society to acquire real estate and hence was set in operation the objective of establishing a National Headquarters for SIDA. This came into reality when in November 1977, the National Executive, with the agreement of members, purchased a property at No 2 Paddington Street, Paddington, Sydney.

With the new emphasis an education, the Society in the mid-Sixties approached the Department of Technical and Further Education (TAFE), putting forward a proposal for the creation of a Diploma Course in Interior Design for aspiring designers.

After contributing on the Course Formation Committee, Executive members were delighted when they saw their efforts give rise to the course being commenced at Randwick College of TAFE in Sydney. This Course also lead indirectly to others being set-up in other parts of Australia thus realising the aims of the Society in the education area.

By the beginning of the 1990s some of the Directors realised that to capitalize on their strength and to remain relevant in the coming 21st century, they needed to consider joining forces with similar bodies, specifically The Design Institute of Australia (DIA). Talks with the DIA and later the Australian Textile Designers Association (ATDA), progressed and finally on July 1st, 1998 the three bodies unified under the name of the DIA.

At the time of unification SIDA resolved to retain its financial assets and to convert its corporate structure into a Foundation, and to use its funds to further develop the knowledge, skills and ethics of interior designers and decorators. It does this by way of grants to institutions and other bodies, and intends in the future to establish scholarships to assist with the further education of designers, decorators and educators. Hence the SIDA Foundation came about.

Author: Geoffrey Stewardson, May 2002.
With the assistance of notes written by Alex Dalrymple.

SIDA Presidents

1	Mary White	1963 - 1964
2	Leslie Walford	1965 - 1966
3	Ed Dykes	1967 – 1968
4	Barry Little	1975
5	John Hall	1976 – 1977
6	Leslie Walford	1978 - 1979
7	Barbara Bridges	1980 - 1981
8	James Morland	1982 - 1983
9	Terry Brooks	1984
10	James Morland	1985 - 1987
11	Geoffrey Lopez	1988 - 1989
12	James Morland	1990 - 1991
13	Rosemary Macey	1992 - 1993
14	Geoffrey Stewardson	1994 – 1995
15	Meryl Hare	1996 – 1998