October 2024

It's (not) a long way to the shops: ACT Government records relating to shopping centres

Fig. 1. Curtin shopping centre, Oct. 1970

Shopping facilities were a major issue for Canberrans and planners through the baby-booming decades of rapid growth in Canberra after the Second World War. In the early years of new suburbs, it could be difficult for residents to buy household goods, do their grocery shopping, and even buy a packet of cigarettes.

Historian Erik Sparke, writing about Canberra in the 1950s, said:

What people missed most were the corner shops, a deficiency graphically illustrated by Gavin Casey’s story of his search for cigarettes on a Sunday – forty-five minutes from home to Civic Centre, no shops open, another bus ‘through endless residential areas, past resting blocks of offices, and across great tracts of almost-wasteland’ to Manuka or Kingston, home again with his smokes three hours after he left.[i]

In this Find of the Month we will explore resources that show the planning and function of local and group centres over the decades.

There are many National Capital Development Commission (NCDC) files about planning in Civic and the development of the Belconnen, Woden and Tuggeranong town centres. Planners aimed to balance Civic’s vibrancy as the main centre, without undermining the viability of the intertown centres. Records show that NCDC planners sought advice from eminent town planners and reviewed plans and articles about centres elsewhere in Australia and overseas.

Fig. 2. Examples of NCDC files relating to town centre planning

We are always interested in photographs to bring alive a topic—not always a strength of government records. The Office of the Surveyor General is, as usual, a useful resource. It includes some photographs of shopping centres, and quite a few aerial photographs, like this one showing Downer local centre in 1986:

Fig. 3. Aerial view of Downer, May 1986 (ACT-3246)

As we wrote in the April 2020 Find of the Month, local centres represented an evolution of NCDC planning policy for retail centres from the early 1960s. Local centres (such as Cook or Griffith shops), were the smallest unit, designed with the purpose of providing for people’s day-to-day shopping, especially for those with limited mobility or without easy access to a car.

By comparison, the group centres (such as Jamison or Manuka) were larger and dominated by supermarkets. Previously, local and group centres had been treated as the same ‘tier’ in the hierarchy of neighbourhood centres, town centres, and Civic.

Fig. 4. NCDC files relating to Commercial Centres A – K (2011/2230), L – Z (2011/2231)

In that Find of the Month, we shared photographs of local and group centres taken between the 1960s and 1980s, from two binders of NCDC records relating to shopping centres. While incomplete, the folders document many of the local and group centres over time, as well as containing a section of policy documents.

Mawson group centre

In February 1972, J.D. Hodgson, of the NCDC’s Planning Division, wrote a report titled “Canberra Group Centres”, which assessed the progress and more and less successful aspects of the different centres.

At the time, the Mawson Group Centre was unfinished, although several shops were operating. Mr Hodgson’s comments included:

• It is probably too early to assess how the finished centre will appear when landscaping has matured and paving has been completed. However Woden South does have a distinctive architectural character which sets it apart from the centres already in operation. Those premises which are already open are well-finished and appealing; care has been taken to preserve the integral character of the centre as a whole, while allowing the expression of individual preferences and ideas.
• Orientation for sun and wind control is good, most retail areas being protected by colonnades; it would appear in fact that the centre may get too little winter sun as the central shopping area is mostly in shade by mid-morning.
• Paving of the centre is not yet completed, although many shops have been operating for two to three months; this renders shopping hazardous for those with prams and strollers, particularly in wet weather. A similar problem was experienced with Dickson in 1966 and it appears that serious consideration should be given to ways of eliminating the problem of shops commencing trading upon receipt of a completion certificate while paving cannot be commenced until all construction and shopfitting has been completed.[ii]

Fig. 5. Mawson Shopping Centre, April 1978. By H. Smith. 2011/2231

Fig. 6. Mawson Shopping Centre, April 1978. By H. Smith. 2011/2231

Fig. 7. Mawson Shopping Centre, April 1978. By H. Smith

Curtin Group Centre

The NCDC binders also contain four photographs of Curtin shops taken in 1970 and in 1978. The growth of the trees shows the passage of time.

In his February 1972 report about the group centres, Mr Hodgson comments on the functionality and character of the shops, writing:

• Curtin was the first group centre in the Woden/Weston Creek area and is located immediately adjacent to several large concentrations of flats at the junction of two major distributors (Carruthers and Theodore Streets) and only a short distance from a major arterial road (Yarra Glen).
• Curtin contains the two basic retail elements, that is, a supermarket (16,000 sq ft) and a junior department store (12,000 sq ft) but, being the smallest of the group centres, a much more limited range of other retail uses. An attempt appears to have been made by the developer of block 2 of the centre to extract the maximum possible return from his investment by the expedient of reducing the floorspace allocated to many uses to the minimum possible level, thereby maximising the number of rent-paying establishments in the block.
• The presence of a superette [a small supermarket], a Chinese Restaurant and a Café all of which remain open after normal trading hours (mostly owing to custom from the adjacent flats) gives Curtin some semblance of life at night.[iii]

Fig. 8. Curtin shopping centre, Oct. 1970

Fig. 9. Curtin group centre, Apr. 1978, by R. Trindall

Fig. 10. Curtin group centre, Apr. 1978, by R. Trindall

Basic plans and aerial photographs are included for some of the shopping centres, including Curtin. Note the distinctive roof of the Holy Trinity Catholic Church, still clear on satellite photographs today:

Fig. 11. Aerial photograph of Curtin shopping centre, 1978

Fig. 12. Plan of Curtin shops, c.1978

Statutory Planning files

We recently wrote about the Territory Lease files (see May 2024 Find of the Month), which relate to the lease of each parcel of land in the ACT, including retail premises.

The Statutory Planning files are another extensive and useful series of records relating to individual premises. They give a different, more detailed perspective than the policy and development files relating to shopping centres.

This series of files was created from 1978 but contain records from as early as 1958. They were created to manage applications for additions to commercial as well as residential properties. They often include snapshots of sites taken by staff to assess the proposal, as well as sketches of the proposed development, neighbour consultations, requests for site services and landscape details.[iv]

Fig. 13. Polaroid photograph of Torrens service station taken to assess request to erect signage, 1985

There are some recurring themes in the requests from business owners at local and group centres: the functionality of service yards, and requests for permission to install signage. These requests for signs were often rejected by the NCDC, which had strict restrictions on the type and size of signage, especially close to residences.

While relating to specific premises, the Statutory Planning files also shine a light on broader policy issues and what was happening across Canberra. For example, in the late 1990s, vacant service stations sites had become a contentious issue at numerous local centres across Canberra.

The Statutory Planning file for the Torrens service station site contains numerous letters from local residents and responses from government about the use and safety of the site. In a 1998 (draft) policy paper on the use of disused service stations, Gary Humphries, MLA, as Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning, wrote about the importance and function of local centres, while noting that consumers were increasingly making some types of purchases—like fuel—at the larger centres:

Changes have been taking place to Canberra’s retail and demographic structure. There has been a consumer preference for greater variety, quality and value for money that can be provided by the ‘one-stop shopping’ facilities provided at Town and Group Centres. Planning by its very nature must respond to emerging community needs and business trends.[v]

In the decades since, Canberra’s shopping centres have continued to evolve. While the group and town centres continue to flourish, the local centre has become no less important to the liveability, community and character of the Canberra suburbs. We wonder what demographic and consumer changes researchers will find in these sorts of government records 20 or more years from now.

ACT Government files used

2011/2230: National Capital Development Commission – Commercial Centres A – K

2011/2231: National Capital Development Commission – Commercial Centres M – Z

SP11642: Statutory Planning file, Torrens 023-09

Images

Fig. 1. Curtin shopping centre, Oct. 1970. From file 2011/2230

Fig. 2. Examples of NCDC files relating to town centre planning

Fig. 3. Aerial view of Downer, May 1986 (ACT-3246)

Fig. 4. NCDC files relating to Commercial Centres A – K (2011/2230), L – Z (2011/2231)

Fig. 5. Mawson Shopping Centre, April 1978. By H. Smith. From file: 2011/2231

Fig. 6. Mawson Shopping Centre, April 1978. By H. Smith. From file: 2011/2231

Fig. 7. Mawson Shopping Centre, April 1978. By H. Smith. From file: 2011/2231

Fig. 8. Curtin shopping centre, Oct 1970. From file 2011/2230

Fig. 9. Curtin group centre, Apr. 1978, by R. Trindall. From file 2011/2230

Fig. 10. Curtin group centre, Apr. 1978, by R. Trindall. From file 2011/2230

Fig. 11. Curtin shops aerial photograph, 1978. From file 2011/2230

Fig. 12. Plan of Curtin shops, c.1978. From file 2011/2230

Fig. 13. Polaroid photograph of Torrens service station taken to assess request to erect signage, 1985. From file SP11642

References

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