presented by Ann Gugler.

In 1939 Australia was again at war.  

This did not put an end to the Great Depression which continued on 
into the early 1940s. The digging of trenches and air raid shelters 
along with air raid drill and blackouts became a part of life.  
The Service's Club at Manuka was constructed and US servicemen 
replaced Australian enlisted men on the streets.  The RMC returned 
to Duntroon.  It moved to Sydney in the early 1930s because the 
Great War to end all wars meant that the RMC was  considered no 
longer necessary.  The second conflict saw a number of young 
ladies in uniform marching at Duntroon.

The Australian War Memorial originally planned for construction 
in the late 1920s was built at last.  The contractor was Jock 
Simmie.  The architects were Messrs J Crust & El Sodersteen of 
Sydney. The grand opening was held on Armistice Day (11th November) 
1941.   Between 1927 and 1942 the   main official Anzac Day Ceremony 
was held at Parliament House.   Following the opening of the War 
Memorial the ceremony moved to this site.

The War Memorial is a national memorial.   Canberra has no local 
public memorial to the men and women of the territory who served 
in the armed forces.  The names of those who enlisted from the 
territory are not on a local list.  There is none.  Those who 
fronted up to Vic Samuels at Acton to join are recorded on NSW 
lists.

A loss to Canberra because of lack of support was the Canberra 
City Band which ceased to exist at the end of 1937.   The 
Queanbeyan City Band  played at the opening of the Australian 
War Memorial.  Amongst those who played on the day were Mr E 
Robertson of Oaks Estate (ACT) and Frank Foster.  The Secretary 
of the Band, Mr Lambert did not play.  He was in camp.

Schools during the 1940s, if not earlier  held ANZAC Day 
ceremonies.   These school ceremonies were always moving 
affairs because nearly everyone involved had a father, brother 
or other relation  away on active duty.   Dreaded was the arrival 
of the telegraph boy with the telegram announcing the death or 
missing in action of a loved one.

Canberra High School opened in 1938.  Here as in Telopea Park, 
School Cadet Units were formed.  Many of these young men later 
enlisted in the armed forces.  In 1947 Canberra High School held 
a ceremony to unveil a Memorial Plaque - an Honour Roll - on 
which the names of those who served and died for their country 
are listed.  Bob Parson was Guard of Honour at that ceremony 
and his schoolmate, Nigel Nielson was Guard Commander.  Bob 
recalled that between 280 and 290 ex students served and 42 
died.

During the war years and for many after it rationing was in place.  
Australia also sent food to England to help out the motherland - 
included butter and eggs.  During the war many young women joined 
the voluntary land army to take the place of the men who worked 
the land and provided Australia's food.  
In Canberra a War Agricultural Committee was formed. Its address 
was PO  Box 10, Manuka and  Mr C Marriott, Esq was the Hon Secretary.  
Each person who inquired was sent a form with a number of boxes and 
requested to tick the appropriate ones.  The headings were: Horse 
work, Tractor Work, Stack Building, Pitch Forking, Milking, Fencing,
Crutching, Potato Digging, Weeding Vegetables, General Farm Work.  
Days Available.  A further note added - Work will be paid for at 
correct wage.  People will be consulted about the type of work.

Individuals and groups of people were also encouraged to turn vacant 
land into vegetable gardens and advice was given as to the best 
types of vegetables to grow etc.

A number of civilian ladies were voluntary plane spotters.  They 
stood on the roof of the National Library in Kings Avenue to watch 
for the enemy which did not come.

During the war years street signs were removed and blackouts enforced 
which resulted in the shops closing on Friday nights.  Friday night 
shopping returned to Canberra in the late 1950s.   The majority of  
young Canberra men exchanged their suits for the  uniforms of the 
armed services and civilian men changed from double breasted to 
single breasted suits.  The war effort called for savings including 
material.   In the early 1940s members of  the Dutch and later the 
American airforces were stationed in Canberra and young Canberra 
children learnt the phrase Got any gum chum?

From around 1939 until the late 1950s or early 1960s Canberra drinkers 
had to be out of the pubs by six o'clock on week days.   The pubs 
also opened on  Saturday  but not on Sundays.  Anyone who wanted to 
drink in a hotel on the Sabbath had to drive more than twenty miles 
from Canberra in order to be a bonafide travellor.   Many men after 
work headed for one of Canberra's public bars - Civic in Northbourne 
Avenue; Kingo at Kingston, Wello at Forrest, Canberra in Commonwealth 
Avenue.   Ladies were relegated to the Ladies Lounge where alcohol 
was served through a small opening above a half door.  They paid 
more for their drinks than the men.

For those who liked milk shakes the only place available at Civic 
for many years was The Blue Moon Cafe.  On the south side were a 
number of cafes including Harry Notaras's at Kingston and Gumley's 
at Manuka.  Another food store at Manuka was Wilkies - well 
remembered by many old Canberrans for his pies.

After the war life gradually began to return to normal.   Men 
returned home and the newly weds looked for any kind of accommodation 
but usually had to move in with family.   Very few houses were built 
during the Great Depression and war years.
The Brickyards closed during the war reopened in 1944 with a staff 
of 49 men and boys. At the time some of the men required were 
working in Sydney and other places where they had been sent under 
the war time provisions to move manpower to places where it was 
needed.  Others necessary men such as Sappers R Oldfield,  
JW Connelly,  H Quigg,  W Hawke, St/Sgt CE Riddle and Summerfield 
were in the army. Their early release was sought because of the 
urgent need to reopen the Canberra Brickyards.

Production of bricks could not keep up to the post war demand 
and for many years after the war a brick house size was limited 
to eleven and a half squares.    Following the placing of an order, 
the builder often had to wait long periods before his order 
arrived - often in dribs and drabs.

Building works in the city created a demand for tradesmen.  They 
came from all parts of Australia and overseas.  A policy of 
immigration  (populate or perish) by the Commonwealth government 
also saw many New Australians arriving in Canberra.  Many were 
single men who were later followed by family members.  Some men 
were brought out by firms such as Jennings.  The public service 
too was expanded.  The influx of newcomers put a great strain on 
existing accommodation and to house the many a number of hostels 
were built for tradesmen and for blue/white collar workers.  To 
help the married a new temporary suburb of pre-fabs at was erected 
at Narrabundah and Tocumwal buildings were transported to Canberra 
and re-erected in O'Connor and Ainslie.

Several hostels survived from the early years.  They included 
Duntroon, Capitol Hill, Causeway and a small one at the Brickyards.   
Capitol Hill was updated and enlarged and new ones built to take 
the influx of newcomers.  Public servants were housed in Mulwala, 
Reid and Narellan and several permanent brick ones joined Barton 
House built in 1940.  They were Lawley House (1949) and Havelock 
House (1951).  Glebe House used in 1926 as a private school was 
converted into a boarding house.
The new temporary hostels built for the tradesmen   were Hillside 
(on Capital Hill),  Riverside (near the Power House), Eastlake 
(near the Railway Station), Mt Ainslie,  Turner,  tent Hostel  
at Fairbairn and another out of town one near the Cotter.   

Another major housing problem which confronted the authorities in 
the early post war years was the fact that married couples from 
war torn Europe were often separated - the women moved into domestic 
jobs in the hostels and men into men-only hostels.  Human nature 
being what it is a number of the wives became pregnant which created 
major problems in that working women  could not be seen to be 
expecting and there was no where to send each lady in waiting.  
Some couples were lucky enough to be able to rent a room or rooms 
from people who chose to do this.  Part of the understanding of 
the dilemma faced by people may be found in a letter written on 
30 June1949 which in part reads:

On 30.6.1949 Mrs Hawke, Manageress of Lawley House rang Miss Dobson in 
reference to Mrs Albolins, who was at the time 7 or 8 months pregnant. 
Mrs Albolins was working at Mulwala but her parents were employed at 
Lawley House and as they thought their daughter would need to leave 
Canberra for a period before and after her confinement they intended 
to go with her and her husband to Bathurst or whatever city she 
could be accommodated.  Shortly after Mrs Hawke was in touch with 
the social worker, Miss Cole, Manageress of Hotel Kurrajong rang 
to advise that Mrs Silora, a member of her staff was seven months 
pregnant... Arrangements were made by the social worker with the 
co-operation of Miss Owens, Secretary of the YWCA Hostel for Mrs 
Silora and Mrs Albolins to be accommodated at the YWCA  Hostel...

The YWCA did try to make additional  accommodation available for 
the women and  negotiated with Fairbairn for one of its barracks 
which could be moved to a site behind the YWCA buildings in Civic.  
However this plan fell through because the barracks were already 
promised to married couples at Fairbairn.

 Another solution to providing housing was the building of flats.  
There were a few built in the 1930s such as those above the banks 
in Civic, others at Manuka Arcade and a few at Barton.  The number 
of flats built greatly increased from the 1950s and included the 
high rise in Currong Street Braddon, Bega & Allawah Flats Reid 
and blocks of flats in Northbourne Avenue.  

Even before sufficient accommodation was built to house the influx 
of people the death knell of the temporary suburbs was in the pipe 
line.  Evidence of this change of policy in Canberra may be found 
in  a speech given by Mr Shakespeare and recorded in the Minutes 
of the Advisory Council 14.1.1952 part of which reads as follows:

We have come to the stage when all this waste of temporary 
establishments that will have to be scrapped in a few years should 
be stopped and the permanent city put on its proper foundations 
on which you can build without having to scrap this and bulge out 
here to put in another room as we have been doing for the last 
twenty-five years.  I feel that one of the greatest duties of this 
Council in the next twenty-five years is to put drive into the 
Canberra Development plan in the right direction, instead of 
allowing the authorities to take the line of least resistance by 
using all sorts of stop gap provisions that will never complete 
a city here and never get the real value for money that the 
taxpayers are putting into the city...

From the mid 1950s cottages in the temporary suburbs were sold 
and moved to new sites as tenants left.  The last cottage to go 
at Westlake in 1965 was tenanted by George Sykes.  The exceptions 
were Causeway and Oaks Estate.  The former still exists with new 
brick veneer cottages replacing the old timber ones.  Oaks Estate, 
ignored by the authorities still survives with relatively few changes.

In 1963 the damned waters of the Molonglo River swelled to create 
Lake Burley Griffin and it seemed from that time - almost overnight
 - that new suburbs sprang up in the paddocks surrounding the old 
Canberra.    

It used to be said that Canberra was a city without a soul.   
Is this still true?  Canberra is still a city with a split personality.  
It is both the national capital where the federal parliament meets 
and a city where ordinary people live.  Many Australians blame 
Canberra for the ills of the nation when they mean the Federal 
Politicians.  In this sense little has changed since 1927.  

Many perceive that Canberra is a city of wealth.  The new buildings, 
wide streets, well watered lawns and gardens give a false impression 
to those who do not look beneath the surface.  Canberra too still 
has its poor and homeless.  Perhaps one can trace this perception 
back to 1926/1927 at which time the public servants needed to work 
in the government departments transferred to Canberra.  They moved 
into new Canberra in the suburbs.   The men who came to the city 
to build it lived in the temporary suburbs and camps hidden out of 
sight.  Those who lived in the temporary cottages in the suburbs 
of Westlake, Westridge, Causeway, Molonglo and Oaks Estate were 
treated  as second class citizens.  Whenever they made requests 
for repairs to houses or improvements such as footpaths, lights 
and a bus service the usual answer was, It Cant Be Done Because 
it is only temporary!    

The history of the working classes who built the city and the 
early public servants who left the comforts of the cities and 
families is now being written.  Still neglected by history are 
the Ngunawal people on whose land Canberra stands.  They were 
removed from the territory around 1927.    

Also missing from the territory are our monuments.  Where is the 
one which marks the site of Acton House on Canberra property and 
where is the one which says that this land was once called Kambera?   
Where are the monuments to our dead who fought in world conflicts?  
Where are our local monuments?

During the last decade there has been an increasing interest in 
our history - that is the local history of the families whose 
children were born in this district.  I believe that it is important 
to know our past.  It is a part of knowing who we are. 
      
 Map on Opposite Page is section of one drawn by Scrivener in 1909.  
It shows on the north side of the Molonglo River the areas now 
called Black Mountain Peninsula and Acton Peninsula.  The Homestead  
was Acton House.  The thick black line marks the borders of Acton 
property (formerly called Canberra or Canberry).  On the opposite 
side of the river to Black Mountain Peninsula is the area now 
called Stirling Ridge. On the eastern side of Black Mountain 
Peninsula is Sullivan's Creek (first called by Europeans Canberry 
Creek).  Ngunawal people camped along this creek during their 
annual gatherings for corroborees.  Some - if not all - of these 
annual festivities were held in the area of the sandy soil near the end 
of the Peninsula.  An old crossing on the eastern lower side of 
the M was still in use by Westlake people before the filling of 
Lake Burley Griffin. 

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