The Canberra Page

19/06/2026

1960s photographs like this one - featuring a family home in Holmes Street, Campbell - were used as promotional material to entice folk to live "the good life" in the nation's capital.
Dad mowing, child cleaning up with the rake, Mum preparing cold drinks on the verandah for the workers ... were they really the "good old days"?

Photo: National Archives of Australia.

18/06/2026

Looks like the official opening of the Civic retail precinct drew a decent crowd in 1927, with flags flying to mark the occasion.
Walter Burley Griffin's plan for Canberra included a Civic Centre - and also a Market Centre which was planned for what is now Russell, but Prime Minister Stanley Bruce was not a fan so the latter did not go ahead.

Photo: MIldenhall Collection, National Library of Australia.

18/06/2026

We all know Canberra is renowned for its trees - but did you know we once had our own forestry school?
It was sited at the intersection of Banks and Schlich Streets, Yarralumla, operating from 1927 to 1968, before becoming a CSIRO research centre.

Photo: Canberra and District Historical Society.

17/06/2026

An unusual side view of Government House at Yarralumla, showing ivy growing up two-thirds of the house.
The image was taken in 1924.

Photo: Canberra and District Historical Society.

17/06/2026

Members of Canberra's pioneering Sullivan family, pictured on the verandah of their family homestead, Springbank.
William and Anastasia Sullivan (nee Pike) owned Springbank, located at the junction of Sullivans Creek and the Molonglo River - which now lies under Lake Burley Griffin.


Photo: Canberra and District Historical Society.

17/06/2026

After rescuing a rakali trapped in plastic, an ACT Wildlife volunteer is pleading with Canberrans to clean up their act. 🗑️

The amount of rubbish in Canberra's lakes has apparently never been worse and now it's starting to affect the animals…

16/06/2026

Wth a name like Gourmette, who could go past this Woolies without stopping for refreshments in 1960s Civic?
Word on that street was that you could get hot doughnuts straight from the serving window, but for those wanting to sit down for their snack, raisin toast and hot chocolate were the order of the day, as was that perennial favourite, the curried snag.

Photo: National Archives of Australia.

16/06/2026

A cheeky local label has opened an 'urban winery' on the Kingston Foreshore. Obviously there's no vines but who goes to wineries for the vines? Sophia Brady explains the venue. 🍷

What is an urban winery? This was the thought I had when heading to lunch at Contentious Character’s new location…

16/06/2026

Privately built homes in Canberra, like these ones in Grey Street, Deakin, were rare in the 1950s, with records showing only about 40 were built from 1950-1951, compared to more than 600 government-built houses. Special permits were required to build your own home, mainly because of a shortage of building materials after World War II.

Photo: National Archives of Australia.

16/06/2026

Cooleman Court can offer much more than awful parking and a smokers' courtyard, reckon locals.

At least today, it's cold. There's little sun. What wind makes it through forms little flurries with the fallen leaves.…