Stage
III, the interiors, started with Utzon
moving his entire office to Sydney in
February 1963. However, there was a change
of government in 1965, and the new Askin
government declared that the project was
now under the jurisdiction of the Ministry
of Public Works. In October 1965, Utzon
gave the Minister for Public Works, Davis
Hughes, a schedule setting out the completion
dates of parts of his work for stage III.
Significantly, Hughes withheld permission
for the construction of plywood prototypes
for the interiors (Utzon was at this time
working closely with Ralph Symonds, an
inventive and progressive manufacturer
of plywood, based in Sydney). This eventually
forced Utzon to leave the project on February
28, 1966. He said that Hughes' refusal
to pay Utzon any fees and the lack of
collaboration caused his resignation,
and later famously described the situation
as "Malice in Blunderland".
In
March 1966, Hughes offered him a reduced
role as 'design architect', under a panel
of executive architects, without any supervisory
powers over the House's construction but
Utzon rejected this. The cost of the project,
even in October of that year, was still
only $22.9 million, less than a quarter
of the final cost. A room decorated to
Utzon's original design.The second stage
of construction was still in process when
Utzon was forced to resign. His position
was principally taken over by Peter Hall,
who became largely responsible for the
interior design. Other persons appointed
that same year to replace Utzon were E.H.
Farmer as government architect, D.S. Littlemore
and Lionel Todd. The four significant
changes to the design after Utzon left
were: The cladding to the podium and the
paving (the podium was originally not
to be clad down to the water, but left
open. Also the paving chosen was different
from what Utzon would have chosen)
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