Canberra’s lakes, bike paths, and streetscapes all contribute to our sense of community. Take a look back at some of the stories that had us talking in 2024 – and see if you can guess what our most popular community story was.
12. When Canberra’s first bike path was built, ‘extremely few people’ cycled to work
by James Coleman
Sullivans Creek bike path was opened in December 1973. Photo: Dfadden, Wikimedia.
We Ride Australia, People for Bikes, the Australian Bicycle Council – all these organisations have named Canberra as the nation’s cycling capital over the years, and there’s a good reason for it.
We’re home to more than 370 dedicated cycling routes. Or to put it another way, 1000 kilometres of shared paths.
But they can all trace their origin to one, laid 50 years ago along the Sullivans Creek stormwater channel between Dickson and Turner.
11. Goodies Junction is bursting and ready to resell at ‘pre-haggled’ prices
by James Coleman
Andrew Dunn is site manager for Goodies Junction, Mugga Lane. Photo: James Coleman.
We took a sneaky tour of Goodies Junction at Mugga Lane to see what was in store for customers when they were welcomed back inside. And we had good news for bargain hunters!
10. Hamish and Andy label Canberra primary school song a national ‘banger’
by James Coleman
Fraser’s Song has racked up more than 12,000 views on YouTube. Photo: Screenshot, Fraser’s Song, YouTube.
Fraser Primary School in the ACT has come out on top in a search for Australia’s coolest school song.
In the comedy duo’s hit podcast, Hamish and Andy asked listeners from right across the country to submit their own school’s ‘bangers’ for contention. In first place was Canberra’s “song about having a good time and getting up and looking forward to a brighter day”.
“It’s so rare that they’ve got a song like that across the line because … they’re not trying to jam in giving back,” Hamish Blake said.
9. Paws-ing to help: how the Canberra community rescued Winx the cavoodle
by Genevieve Jacobs
Katrina Gillogly and Winx – reunited at last (with the help of thousands of Canberrans). Photo: Supplied.
When Katrina Gillogly left her young cavoodle, Winx, with her mother for a quick trip away, she had no idea a saga would unfold engaging dozens of active helpers, hundreds of supporters and thousands of Canberrans, all trying to find one small lost dog.
At the same time, they’d show Canberra’s beating heart, its generosity and community strength.
8. Why the experimental design of these Canberra suburbs never took off
by James Coleman
Many of the houses in Curtin open directly onto green spaces, with no fences. Photo: Richard Burns.
Who still loves a good chin-wag with the neighbours? The layout of Curtin was designed to promote it, and resident Richard Burns wouldn’t have it any other way. So what killed it?
7. 100 years on, Canberra’s Grand Old Lady accommodates a century of memories
by Sally Hopman
An early Canberra postcard, circa 1930s, showing the then Hotel Canberra, with Albert Hall in the background. It was first known as Hostel No 1. Photo: File.
It started as Hostel No.1 and ended up as Canberra’s iconic Hyatt Hotel. To mark 100 years, we take a look back at where it all began.
6. Happy birthday, Kambah! The biggest suburb in the Southern Hemisphere, right?*
by James Coleman
The Kambah Co-op was founded in 1975 to protest the suburb’s overpriced supermarket. Photo: ArchivesACT.
Kambah was named “Canberra’s booner capital” in 2009 by now-defunct satirical news website The Punch when the anonymous author highlighted the “number of V8 Falcons on the nature strip, wandering terrier dogs, and the enormous size of the local Burns Club”, but there’s a lot more to Kambah than that, according to local Louise Curham.
The loyal resident of 10-plus years organised a series of events this year to mark 50 years since Kambah’s first residents began moving in in June 1974.
Louise had already spent more than four years constructing a digital map of the entire 1130-hectare suburb, complete with video, audio, text and image entries on various locations so users can tap on an area to learn more about it.
5. The ‘chance encounter’ that saw a Bungendore dog become best mates with a dingo
by Claire Sams
Brett Ritchie believes this canid is a rare alpine dingo. Photo: Brett Ritchie.
It was a quiet morning when Brett Ritchie saw something moving on his property, out in the distance.
“One morning I got up early, at probably about a quarter past six, and was looking out our front window,” he told Region.
“When I first saw it, I thought it was just a stray dog. He was wrestling and carrying on with our German shepherd.”
4. Lake Burley Griffin was a huge mistake … for the first six months at least
by James Coleman
Construction of Lake Burley Griffin underway. Photo: PR Dann, The Federal Golf Club Story, 1933-2011.
This year marks 60 since Canberra’s jewel in the crown sparkled for the first time.
On 17 October 1964, Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies declared Lake Burley Griffin officially “inaugurated”.
But despite the fact it was written into the city’s plan pretty much ever since Walter Burley Griffin sharpened his pencils, and today forms the border of perhaps Canberra’s busiest walking loop, there were many long decades when it wasn’t there, and then many months when people wondered if it was all a big mistake.
3. Buying and moving the Big Merino
by John Thistleton
Steady as she goes. Rambo heads to its new home on 26 May, 2007. Photo: Big Merino.
Ever wondered how the Big Merino got from in town to his home at a petrol station on Goulburn’s outskirts? Here’s the story behind the move. (HINT: It didn’t involve a big sheepdog.)
2. A road trip down memory lane and the rest stops that broke up those family drives
by Chris Roe
1971 Hume Highway rest area south of Jugiong. Photos: Transport for NSW.
Back in the last century, when a family piled into the station wagon for the summer holidays, the roadside rest stops with their concrete tables and 44-gallon-drum bins were a vital part of the journey.
To celebrate these iconic Aussie roadside monuments and to encourage modern motorists in their climate-controlled bubbles to remember to take a break, Transport for NSW has released an album of 60 historical rest stop images.
1. Bunnings apologises for ‘slight miscommunication’ after charity’s vegan sausage-sizzle canned
by James Coleman
Bunnings sausage sizzles are essential fundraisers for thousands of charities across the country. Photo: Henk Tobbe.
Hardware giant Bunnings apologised to Little Oak Sanctuary after staff at the Fyshwick store told the animal sanctuary it would have to sell meat sausages. That was the last straw for charity co-founder Kate Luke.
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