Hidden Canberra
In 1911 Walter Burley Griffin won the
design competition for the federal city.
He chose the tallest hill in the small Gura Bung Dhaura (Ngunawal meaning
Stony Ground) Range known to the settlers as Kurrajong and renamed it
Capitol. This hill surrounded first by
an octagonal road and later a circular one became the centre of the new
city. On 12th March 1913 Lady
Denman named the city CANBERRA. This name was not new. The Ngunawal name for the surrounding plain
was Kamberry (various spellings) and the settlers knew it as Canberry, Canburry
and by the mid 1850s as Canberra.
The majority of men who came to build
the city in 1913 lived in four major centres – Acton (administrative centre&
first nursery), Brickyards (later Westridge – now Yarralumla – produced bricks –
1914 main nursery established), Cotter River (construction of the dam – water)
and the Power House (electricity & industrial area). By 1916 the labour and money shortages caused
by our involvement in World War 1 slowed work on the city to an almost
standstill.
Howie's Cottages.
For a time following the end of the
war in 1918 continuation of construction was in doubt. Around 1920 the decision was made to go
ahead, but instead of the grand buildings originally proposed the scale of
construction was reduced to just sufficient buildings and infrastructure
necessary to allow the Federal Parliament to move from Melbourne to
Canberra. A Provisional House was built
on the original site that Griffin chose for his permanent building much to the
annoyance of Griffin.
The new major site for temporary
camps and settlements in this post war period was the hills of Gura Bung Dhaura,
then known as Westlake. The men in this
area lived in three government tent camps – No 3 Sewer Camp 1922-1925,
Tradesmen’s Camp 1924-1927 & No 1 Labourers Camp 1923-1927 (this last camp
was on Capitol Hill, Westlake); 62 timber cottages designed by HM Rolland
(architect) and Contractor John Howie’s Settlement that consisted of 25 two and
three bedroom timber cottages and a Hostel Camp for his single men. The contractor’s men built Hostel No 1 (Hotel
Canberra) – accommodation for politicians.
The others at Westlake built the main intercepting sewer and the
Provisional Parliament House. By 1925
the population of Westlake was 700 – only 50 less than the converted
ex-internment camp known as Molonglo.
The population of the FCT at this time was just over four and half
thousand.
The Molonglo and Westlake settlements
were soon followed by Causeway and two humpy settlements, Riverside and Russell
Hill. Oaks Estate, a suburb of nearby Queanbeyan, became a part of the FCT and a
workmen’s settlement when the nearby rail line separated the FCT from
NSW.
This web focuses on Westlake, but
includes other relevent material and photographs of early Canberra – in
particular the hidden temporary camps and settlements where construction workers
lived out of sight of permanent Canberra.
Their history is not well recorded but has survived in the memories of
those who lived there and in photographs provided by the humble box brownie and
a few photographs taken by the official
photographer, Mildenhall.
Ann Gugler
