Guide To Canberra 

I grew up in Canberra in the '60s, in a street near the War Memorial. It was a good place to grow up, as kids we didn't think Canberra was boring or sterile. But so cold in winter - sheets of ice everywhere when I was walking to school. I remember my dad filling up the kerosene heater in the evening - glug, glug, glug - and the smell, and the orange and blue flames. Later we got an oil heater but my parents wouldn't put it on until night, and then it took an eternity to heat up. Long, hot, dry summers - we were at "the pool" all day, every day in the school holidays. Most suburbs had their own little shopping centre - just a small supermarket, post office, newsagent, pharmacy, fish and chip shop, maybe a cafe or two, and of course, a "milk bar", where we spent hours tormenting the shopkeepers by fussing over our little purchases - "I'll have one of those (lollies) and one of those, and two of those, no, not those, the ones over there. Now, how much does that come to?" My pocket money in those days was sixpence and you could get a small bag of lollies for that. When decimal currency came in, a bag of hot chips was 10 cents, a meat pie was 20 cents. An icy pole was 4 cents, a proper ice-cream was 10 cents.

I was born in Canberra in 1966. 'Lumby's' was my dad's place named after himself (Χαράλαμπος) in Greek - translates to Haralambos or as people remember him 'Harry'. If you skip to 13.22 mins in the clip that is him walking through the restaurant. He was 50 in 1958. Amazing to see it. I still also have that picture hanging in the background at my place now. My mother Xeny told me as we were growing up that Lumby's had the first genuine espresso machine in Canberra. I'm pretty sure that might be correct. Makes for a pretty good yarn anyway. Early Canberra when life was a lot simpler...Good times !!

Glad I was born here, it looked so beautiful back then, still is compared to the other states a nice and quite place.

Hi Jason thanks for the feedback. Yes we do have quite a few more Canberra titles and will be posting them here through out the centenary year. They range from the very early films to the 1980s but probably not any 90s material. We have a Canberra playlist so keep an eye on that.

We arrived in Canberra 4 years after this film was made. Its so quaint to see what was important back then. And omg I even lived in the flats that were featured... Bega Flats in Civic. Canberra still has a good bus system. Very good historical film.

Lived in Canberra in the 90's,miss my walks up Mt Ainslie.

We moved to Canberra in 1967 from Darwin and I still love it

I was there in 1969 . Tempe primary verses a Queanbeyan NSW primary side , at 🏉 . We flew down . All very exciting . Life was pleasant and fun then . Seems like last week .

From someone that was born in the 00’s, looking back at what the city use to look like is crazy! Like the building structure is the same, but there isn’t any traffic lights, not so many pedestrians and it just looks clean.

Thank you for putting this online ... I lived in Canberra for good part of life and still love it to bits even though I’m in Melbourne

It looks like a place worth visiting. If I ever visit Australia, hopefully in my lifetime (laughs), I'll make it a point to visit Australia's National Capital Territory.

Yes for most of our films we do have the negs and intermediates. We have been doing a lot of work telecining and digitising from these components in order to give them new life in the digital age. Some are kept at the National Archives of Australia and some by us at the NFSA - see 09:58 for the very building which holds them in Canberra.

Io ho lavorato al Carigon Hotel dove abitavano i membri del Parlamento ,mio figlio è nato nel 1964 comperato la casa in Watson che abbiamo abitato fino l’anno 1975 quando abbiamo lasciato l’Australia ,ho lasciato la mia Famiglia per tornare in Italia ,Canberra rimarra’per sempre nel mio 💖 😢❤quanti ricordi grazie per sempre 💞💐😘🕊🎄🌈🌞🌏🙋‍♀️👋😘😘😘

Great video, wonderful places! Thank you Australia!

at 6:23-27 min see Harry Seidler designed Bowden House of 1952-54 (for diplomat Mr Bowden) finished in 1954 of 11 Northcote Crescent Deakin ACT. This house is now on the ACT state heritage register since November 2018.

I sure with we could still buy accessories for the Hotpoint jugs. The plastic on my lid has almost eroded away.

Great memories!!

It was a wonderful place to grow up in ❤️🦋❤️

I remember this Canberra so well - and I love hearing Canberra and Australia pronounced properly rather than today's bastardised versions of 'Cambra' and 'Australya' that I hear so often on the radio and TV (including the ABC).... my pet hates.

Look at all those Holdens!

"Canberra mothers appreciate the bus services that take their young children to and from school" !!

A very nice video.

This is bizarre for someone who has lived 6 years in canberra in much more modern times. Many parts of this are hilarious; like the suicide flats ever being considered a sign of hope for the future. Or the whole ethic of community and government interface being something pleasant and good for people.

A new Parliament building opened in 1988.

Had a sneaking suspicion. Thanks for the clarification!

It was Harry Seidler's first commission outside Sydney. At 11 Northcote Cres, Deakin it's known as the Bowden House

Ha ha.... My Dad , who lived in QBN and went to "St Eddies" out in Canberra (in the 1960's) would get money for the bus from his parents.....instead of catching the bus, he would keep the money for cigarettes and " hitchhike" to school instead....Go Dad.....😂

Love how green it is then

There is no lake.. When did they put the lake in?

They did it all wrong. The capital should have been placed in Moombooldool which is equally distant, 420 km, from both Sydney and Melbourne as the crow flies.

Dear Team, is there a fillum on Queanbeyan please?

My dads mum and dad came here in 1968

I second that robo ... Lol. Like a movie set .. Been there once . Never go back ..

Anyone know what the name of the railed cement mover is? (5:01-5:11) Google has failed me...

Canberra is the least talked about and least populated capital city in the world ! It looks lovely and even in today's modern times just as nice . But it doesn't have that capital city vibe about it .

You know what else would see its rapid development? High speed rail, so lets get cracking Australia! Just saying.

👍👍

What has happened to Australian society over the past sixty years? The people in this presentation all look content with their lives and appear have civic pride. What have we got now? Selfish individualistic people who think the world owes them. See how happy the children living in the 50s are to attend school? These days it's a chore to get them to school. No Emos in this presentation! Bring back the lifestyle and the respect from these wonderful days. By the way, I'm in my early thirties..

0:44 "..its sense of responsibility" - lol, what a joke. It is full of public servants and politicians who spend their entire working lives avoiding any responsibility.