According to contemporary architects Barnes and Jackson in a paper they wrote on the concept, it was an attempt “to appeal to purported Japanese interest in mastery over nature while showing what Australia could do with its natural resources.” It was also intended to correct Japanese perceptions of Australians as coarse, uncultured and under-industrialized.
In keeping with the historic 1967 moon landing and subsequent space explorations, the U.S. pavilion had a space age theme.