In 1968, Robin Boyd was appointed Exhibits Architect of the Australian Pavilion for Expo 70. Coming on board only after Pavilion Architect James Maccormick had begun designs for the building, Boyd’s response was to design a separate, 61 metre long and partially buried structure he dubbed the Space Tube. Cylindrical and fitted with a pair of moving walkways, the Space Tube featured over 40 prefabricated display boxes radiating out in all directions, as shown here. Boyd’s design, with its techno-futuristic overtones, may have been influenced by the Metabolist architecture he encountered while researching and writing New Directions in Japanese Architecture. In order to handle large crowds, the twin travelators carried visitors from the Pavilion’s entrance (where Donald Laycock’s Terra Australis was on display) through the Space Tube, exiting into an exhibition hall. Along the way, visitors were presented with Boyd’s carefully curated exhibition boxes, which used innovative and complex sound, light, and video projection effects. These technically ambitious displays emphasised Australian accomplishments in science and technology, including solar research, immunology, and atomic spectroscopy. Alongside these, Boyd presented engineering accomplishments like the Snowy Mountain Hydro Electric Power Scheme, and domestic scenes, including the Australian model house (featuring the Asher Bilu painting Solstar). There was no formal expository material in the Space Tube - rather, the visitor’s seven-to-fourteen minute transit presented them with an impressionistic overview of contemporary Australian life and society.

In addition to the Space Tube, Boyd curated photographs and films projected onto the suspended roof in Maccormick’s main pavilion and the thirteen seasonal displays in the Exhibition Hall. These covered various topics such as industrial photography, Aboriginal art, fashion, architecture, and wildflowers. Correspondence held at the State Library of Victoria highlights the breadth and range of Boyd’s curation: for example, he commissioned original music for the pavilion from George Dreyfus with lyrics by Philip Adams, models of Australian telescopes, and a large tapestry featuring the Australian coat of arms by designer Kenneth Jack and weaver Ingerborg Guba.