FINDING YOUR WAY

CANBERRA FIRES

Canberra is known as the Bush Capital – our homes, roads and facilities are nestled amongst trees and green space. It’s a way of life the city’s residents embrace and enjoy – but it comes with risks that became frighteningly real on 18 January 2003. 

The bushfire that tore through Canberra dramatically reshaped not only the landscape but also the collective memory of the community. Many Canberrans remember the suffocating heat, the darkening of the sky, the thunderous roar of fire and the choking smoke haze that blanketed the city; a sensory overload.

The fire had exposed the city’s weaknesses, and in the years that followed lessons learned from the disaster have resulted in changes to everything from emergency services protocols to the way we build our houses. 

The nearby fires and resulting smoke haze that Canberrans experienced in early 2020 brought back some fear and anxiety. But this time, the city was fully alert to the danger.

EARLY STREET POST

Unlike other cities which used wooden painted signs with cross-arms, low concrete navigation pillars were positioned around the early suburbs of Canberra. They were elegant, uniform and well-made, and were intended to enhance the attractive elements of the newly built streets as befitted the status of the national capital, while providing navigation to residents. 

As cars increased in popularity and number, residents wanted taller street signs that were more visible to motorists, and by 1935 the pillars were no longer being installed. Even at this early stage Canberra was moving toward being a car-dependent city.  

While some of the concrete pillars remain in their original locations, others were removed and used as infill for landscaping work – an interesting development considering their original cost and, as we see it today, their heritage value.

As the number of Canberrans walking and cycling increases, perhaps the time has come to reinstate the pillars back into our streets.

MELROSE DRIVE

Canberra may be a planned city with a reputation for too many roundabouts, but the names of the city’s streets and public places have meanings well beyond mere navigation. 

Travelling around Canberra is like taking a long history lesson of the country’s people, geography, environment and heritage. From prominent Australians to quiet achievers, cattle stations to our distinct flora and fauna, the people, places and things that contributed to Australia or that make us unique are drawn together and reflected in the national capital's place names.

Melrose Drive, now in the suburb of Curtin, was named after an early homestead in the Woden area.

As the car increased in popularity, street signs became taller to cater for drivers. These signs were initially hand-painted on wood, with the city’s sign-writers in popular demand. Later signs were machine made on more robust materials such as metal and used standardised graphics and fonts.

BEWARE OF TRAINS

Hidden under long grass to the side of Cunningham Street in Kingston lies a set of train tracks. They emerge from the railway and then abruptly stop, leading to nowhere. But once upon a time they ran directly to the city centre.

The line opened in 1921 from Kingston to Civic, crossing the Molonglo near Russell, running through Reid, Glebe Park and terminating in present Garema Place. It was a busy line, transporting freight and goods, but in July 1922 the Molonglo rail bridge was swept away in a flood, and the line was closed but left in situ.

Today Canberra is a city dominated by the car, but in the early days goods trains and their tracks criss-crossed the city. As the capital grew, tracks were moved or altered or simply closed and built over, and many people forgot they’d even existed. But early Canberrans had to keep an eye out for these large iron horses, and signs helped remind them to keep alert.