Previous Find of the Month - 7/2022


July 2022

Hidden Behind a Title

Canberra's Industrial Leases

Braddon Minor Industrial Area

Report – Industrial Leases Canberra 1924-1970. It’s not a title that would stir the minds of many inquisitive researchers, instead conjuring up thoughts of reams of paper made up of statistics and dry policy discussion. In many cases though it can be rewarding to investigate beyond the title. In the world of recordkeeping, titles are chosen to help with the correct filing of documents and the future retrieval of a file. It wouldn’t normally provide a lot of detail about the contents. Many experienced researchers know that you can’t always judge a government file by its title. We believe the file that is the subject of this month’s article is a good example of some interesting photographs and information that can sometimes be hiding behind a rather uninteresting record title.

During the 1970’s a publication was compiled by staff of the Department of the Interior reporting on the history of industrial leases in what was originally named the Federal Capital Territory and we now know as the Australian Capital Territory. The report was published primarily to provide a reference relating to the development of industrial leasing in the Territory, but it also gives some details about residential lease auctions, when they were first held and the conditions attached to the leases.

The first auction of leases in Canberra in December 1924 covered 294 residential, 41 industrial and 63 shop and general business sites… Lessees were required to bid a sum on which they were prepared to pay land rent at the rate of 5% per annum. A reserve value was placed on blocks. The only outlay for which a successful bidder was liable at the date of auction was the first year’s rent, calculated on the price bid. Each lease was for a term of 99 years.

These conditions remained between 1924 and 1927. From 1927 to 1951 land was made available by invitation to the public or by direct application to the Department. In these cases, land rent was calculated on the unimproved value placed on the land. In 1951, apparently due to strong public support, the auction system was reintroduced.

The provision of industrial leases started as early as the 1920s when a ‘temporary industrial subdivision, known as the Causeway, was established at Kingston’. The draft report includes a selection of photographs depicting some early views of Canberra’s first industrial estates: the Causeway Temporary Industrial Area, the Braddon Minor Industrial Area and the Fyshwick Industrial Area.


Causeway Temporary Industrial Area

Causeway Temporary Industrial Area 1951


The Causeway subdivision was used to provide easy access to the railway for businesses and contractors. Small industries such as sawmills, timber yards, warehouses, freight depots and light engineering works were established under short term lease agreements. Lessees were required to fence the land and were permitted to erect buildings required for their businesses. In 1954, the initial development of the permanent industrial area at Fyshwick was well under way. The Causeway lessees were given preference in the allocation of 99 year industrial leases at Fyshwick, a condition being that they vacate their Causeway block within twelve months.

Causeway site circa 1970 showing the Government Printing Office

Braddon Minor Industrial Area

Braddon Minor Industrial Area 1952

Among the leases offered at the first public auction in Canberra in 1924 were 41 sites in Braddon ‘for the purpose of an industry (other than a noxious trade) employing not more than 25 employees.’ Only six of these were sold. By the 1950s industry in the Territory was expanding quickly and the Braddon industrial area was extended, allowing the number of businesses to increase to fifty. The lease conditions required that the land be used for the main purpose of industry and ‘for any purpose subsidiary thereto such as a residence or shop’, giving the business owners the opportunity to sell goods from their premises. The types of businesses operating under the leases included motor body repairs, food processing, furniture manufacturing, hardware and scientific instrument stores, a bakery and a fruit and vegetable market.

Braddon Minor Industrial Area 1968

Fyshwick Industrial Area

In 1950 it was decided to develop a major industrial area to the south-east of the city at Fyshwick. It was considered a site ‘naturally suited’ for industrial purposes having access to the railway and a major road, suitable topography and conditions that would ‘minimise any possible disturbance by reason of noise, smoke and odours.’ Before sites could be offered, years of planning and development work was needed including a major deviation of the Canberra to Queanbeyan road. It wasn’t until January 1955 that sites were offered to industries ‘other than a noxious trade’. Twenty-two lessees from the Causeway sites were among the successful applicants.

Mildura Street, Fyshwick Industrial Area - 1968
Barrier Street, Fyshwick Industrial Area - 1968

The early planning of Fyshwick didn’t allow for retail trading, the responsible Minister stating that:

It is not intended that there should be any retail shopping area, as such, within the industrial area, but it is in conformity with the terms of the leases for a lessee to undertake retail trading associated with his industrial activities.

It wasn’t long before it was realised that the growing number of people working in Fyshwick, which was isolated compared to other places of work, required that amenities be provided.

Shopping in Fyshwick Industrial Area - 1968


In 1961 a site went up for public auction for the ‘purpose of a shop for the sale of food-stuffs, refreshments, confectionary, smoker’s requisites and such other commodities as may be approved by the Minister’. This of course was just the beginning of a successful push by other retailers and businesses such as banks and post offices to set up their trade in Fyshwick and Braddon.

Shopping in Braddon Minor Industrial Area – 1968


Photographs can show us how familiar places have changed over time and how we used to live. The milk bar on the street corner, streets filled with Holden cars and being able to buy fruit salad for 29 cents all help to remind us of the past. Sometimes a government file will place those images in context to tell us more about when and why changes took place.

If you would like to know more about this file or would like to ask us a question, please contact us via our online request form.

File used

All photographs and information for this month’s article have been taken from the following file.

ArchivesACT, 69/555 – Report – Industrial Lease Canberra 1924-1970

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