The designer who never retired
5 July 2021
Amy Jarvis pays tribute to Derek Wrigley - a designer who left his touch on almost every part of the ANU campus.
Derek Wrigley believed that design had the power to change the world for the better. Taking a look at his 70 year career, it seems he was right. A pioneering powerhouse of design, Derek s fingerprints are all over the ANU campus, often hidden in plain sight.
Born in Oldham, Lancashire on 16 February 1924, Derek Wrigley was the elder of two children for Harold and Rose Wrigley (nee Bradley). Derek s sister and lifelong friend Shirley (Kral) joined the family in 1931. After failing his high school certificate, and leaving an electrical engineering apprenticeship, Derek was deemed medically unfit for active service. Based on his enthusiasm and aptitude for measured drawing, he was accepted into the architecture course at the Manchester College of Art (University of Manchester) and received outstanding results upon completion in