Previous Find of the Month - 4/2022


April 2022

Canberra in Photographs

Office of the Surveyor General Photo Collection

Last month’s Find of the Month featured a series of records that will be included in the listings we will be making available to the public through our soon to be launched ACT Memory public database. ArchivesACT is planning an event scheduled during the Canberra and Region Heritage Festival to launch ACT Memory in late April. In addition to the Canberra Fire Brigade’s Daily Occurrence Registers that we introduced in last month’s article, the database will also include descriptions from a collection of around 7,000 images related to the development of the Canberra region and capturing moments from past events and activities.

Not much is known about the accumulation of these images or how they were used by the agency or agencies controlling them. They are, however, now held by ArchivesACT after being transferred from the Office of the Surveyor General in 2014. A recent project to describe many of the prints, negatives and transparencies from the collection has now made it possible to upload the titles to allow researchers to search for images online. A small selection of these images make up our April Find of the Month. We hope these will give researchers an idea of the diverse range of subjects included in the collection.

1 – Bicycle track opening.

Tom Uren was the Minister for the Commonwealth Department of Urban and Regional Development from December 1972 to November 1975. In this capacity he got the opportunity to officially open this new bicycle track in Canberra, an experience he seems to have quite enjoyed. No formal cutting of the ribbon on this occasion, just get on your bike and ride along with plenty of other mostly young cyclists eager to test out the new surface. Unfortunately, we don’t have a location for this image, but the opening took place in either December 1973 or January 1974.

2 – Sailing on Lake Burley Griffin.

General power boat use is not permitted on Lake Burley Griffin except for operators with special permits. A section of the Molonglo River upstream from the lake has been put aside for the power boats used for water skiing. This makes the lake attractive for other water sports such as canoeing, rowing, windsurfing and sailing. The young sailor in this image is preparing his sailboat for a leisurely excursion. We don’t have a date or location for this photograph; however, the building and sailboats in the distance on the right hand side of the image may be the Canberra Yacht Club.

3 – Playground Weston Park.

Things may well have changed at Weston Park but there are still some photographs that show how it used to be. Many Canberrans would be familiar with this structure, having played with friends on the equipment or taken their children there to work off some of their energy. Nowadays much of the play equipment include barriers to prevent falls and are designed to minimise the risk of accidents. The park continues to be used as a destination for a daily outing by many families to the present day.

4 – Jamison Trash & Treasure Markets.

The Rotary Club of Belconnen has operated the Jamison Trash and Treasure Market in the Jamison Centre car park since 1974, holding it every Sunday come ‘rain, hail or shine’. Going by this image it appears not much has changed since then. Whether you are a producer selling fresh fruit and vegetables, a breeder offering a pet budgerigar, or you want to offload some of those ‘treasures’ from the boot of your car, this is the place to haggle.i
https://trashandtreasuremarketjamison.com.au/

5 – Constable Kenny Koala.

Constable Kenny Koala has been a popular character in Canberra for forty years. He first appeared on a show aired by Capital television called ‘Junior Police 7’ in September 1975, portrayed as a frantic character who was always getting things wrong and needing to be corrected by the host of the show. Children were able to identify with his faults and found him reassuring and engaging. He now delivers safety messages to over 20,000 school children each year. This photograph was taken during the Canberra Day Festival Parade on the 11 March 1989. It looks as if Constable Kenny and the three other police officers enjoyed the day.ii https://www.constablekenny.org.au/

6 – Kiosk Petrie Plaza

In its current form you are more likely to be dining on fish and chips than roast beef and hamburgers at this kiosk in Petrie Plaza. The photo was taken in May 1986. While its surroundings have changed, the building itself remains much the same, as does the willingness of passers-by to take a break and refreshments at this iconic Civic building.

7 – Capital Circle tunnel.

The Capital Circle tunnel was officially opened on the 11 December 1986 by the Honorable Gordon Scholes MP, Minister for the Territories. It was constructed under the authority of the National Capital Development Commission. The engineering design and supervision was conducted by Maunsell & Partners Pty Ltd and the construction undertaken by Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd. This image shows people gathered in the tunnel following the official opening, taking advantage of the last opportunity to chat and walk through the tunnel before being overtaken by vehicle traffic.

The Office of the Surveyor General’s photographic collection includes images related to Canberra’s social and urban development. It is just one series of records that will be featured when ArchivesACT’s public database is launched in April 2022 and made available on the ArchivesACT website. Additional entries will be uploaded as more description work is done. This database, named ACT Memory, will primarily provide information about government records, rather than copies of the records themselves. We will, though, always be working to publish more and more of historical documents and photographs online. ACT Memory will also provide information:

  • about many groups of records created by the ACT Government since self-government (called Record Series)
  • on all of the government bodies that created records over the years (Agencies and People)
  • on descriptions of the types of work that those government bodies performed (Functions)

We are very much looking forward to the public launch of ACT Memory. In the meantime, if you would like to know more about the Office of the Surveyor General’s photograph collection, please contact us via our online request form.


Photographs used

1 – ACT3, 646 – Bicycle path opening
2 – ACT3, 740 – Sailing on Lake Burley Griffin
3 – ACT3, 750 – Weston Park play equipment
4 – ACT3, 2259 – Jamison Trash and Treasure Markets
5 – ACT3, 3476 – Constable Kenny Koala
6 – ACT3, 3143 – Petrie Plaza kiosk
7 – ACT3, 5364 – Capital Circle tunnel opening

References

i - Trash and Treasure Market Jamison website About Us – accessed 28 March 2022 - https://trashandtreasuremarketjamison.com.au/

ii - Constable Kenny website Kenny’s history – accessed 28 March 2022 - https://www.constablekenny.org.au/about/history/

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