[First filed: April 08, 2009 @ 07:39]
This is the 12th and final part of a series of photographs taken by RiotACT reader Old Canberran on his Kodak Box Brownie from 1948.
This one came in with the following note:
- On my ride home from school I used to call in and park myself in the visitor’s gallery and watch the carryings on of the pollies. There is something about this lovely old building which captures the attention as soon as you enter King’s Hall.
This photos shows the original position of the King George Fifth memorial, I don’t know why it was moved to it’s present spot off to the side. When the new and permanent Parliament House was under construction the Parliamentary Committee overseeing the whole project was faced with the problem of what to do with the old building. Apparently they looked at 3 options, one was to demolish it completely, another was to demolish the additions and bring it back to it’s original state and the third was to leave it as is and make a museum out of it. Thankfully common sense prevailed and it’s still there for all to see and experience its charisma.
I have enjoyed sharing my few old photos with you all and judging from most of the comments, you have enjoyed them as well. If you are interested in Canberra’s early history I recommend a visit to the old Parliament House souvenir shop, the National Library bookshop and possibly Regatta Point but I have no idea what’s there these days. One of Canberra’s journalists, Alan Fitzgerald produced a book titled “Canberra in Two Centuries” in 1987 ISBN 0909278024 which is excellent. Another is “Images of early Canberra”, the Mildenhall Collection ISBN 0644258519 which has some wonderful old photos of very early Canberra. You live in one of three unique capital cities in the world that have been planned from almost day 1. The other two are Geneva and Washington DC. While Canberra’s history only goes back to the early 1800’s as far as white people are concerned, the aborigines lived there long before that.
Many thanks to OC for sending these in every week.
If you’ve got an idea for a feature series email it to john@the-riotact.com. Best to talk to me about whether we can run it before doing too much work.
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