Canberra History
The core of our Society's work is to promote the history of Canberra and the surrounding district. We also provide significant resources to help anyone interested in that history to research and disseminate it.
Why do we do this?
Because the history of the nation's capital is important for the whole of Australia and for everyone who lives here.
Yankee Hat Rock Art. Photo: Peter Dowling.
What's special about Canberra's history?
It is unique and many layered. Some of those layers include:
- Millennia of indigenous custodianship of the land;
- Early European settlement;
- The creation of the Federal Capital Territory and the planning of our capital city from scratch;
- The capital's early development as a major design and construction project;
- Gradual maturation as the city evolved with the influx of public servants, academics, defence forces, representatives of foreign governments and post WW II migration;
- The stop start development of Canberra interrupted by war and depression;
- The global contribution of Canberra people and institutions to science, culture and other fields;
- Balancing Canberra's Garden City heritage (a city in the landscape) with the need to sustainably accommodate a growing population in the 21st century;
- The many national institutions and memorials located here.
To help you find out more about the history of Canberra and its surrounds we have included some resources to set you on the way. These include:
- A short history of Canberra
- A detailed Time Line (Chronology of the ACT) for significant events
- Some quick reads about lesser known aspects of Canberra's history
- Some small displays
- Suggested further reading
- A list of useful web sites with live links
Quick reads
From time to time we will include here short articles about lesser known aspects of Canberra's history.
Current articles:
The Co-operative Store's cricket team excursion to Gidleigh station, 1923. www.canberrahistory.org.au/get/1109.docx
The Master Builder who built Canberra - Fred Young
www.canberrahistory.org.au/get/1205.pdf
The Co-operative Store cricket team outing to Gidleigh Station, 1923.
Displays
From time to time we plan to mount small on-line displays about aspects of Canberra and district history.
List of presentations available:
Curtin Living Memories (Link). [on the current web site this can be found at:
Curtin Living Memories (canberrahistory.org.au)
