Centenary wants you to learn about street and suburb names

The Cententary has three trivia questions for you!

I’ll admit I only knew the answer to the first one, and only because I lived and went to high school there.

If you’re a history or trivia buff, doing a bit of research into your suburb or street’s name could win you fabulous prizes!

Prizes like cash or electricity.

Do you know –
• which Canberra suburb is named after Australia’s first international opera star?
• the street that commemorates the inventor of the Hills hoist?
• that the first Australian Prime Minister to die in office has a suburb named after him?

These are the kinds of stories the Centenary of Canberra hopes to receive as part of a new competition for Portrait of a Nation, a project that invites locals to research the origins of Canberra’s street and suburb names.

The Centenary’s History and Heritage Advisor, Dr David Headon, says entrants will be in the running to win a prize worth more than $1200 and gain a greater appreciation for the nation’s capital in the process.

“Canberra’s a place that becomes more meaningful as you learn more about it, with names first given to the city’s streets in the same decade as the Great War a century ago,” Dr Headon said. “It’s unique in Australia, and even the world, in that the name of each street, suburb and park has a story behind it—often quite a significant one.

“These stories are all interesting pieces of our history that often go unnoticed; whether it’s that the suburb of Melba is named after Australia’s first international star, Dame Nellie Melba; that Lance Hill Avenue is named after the inventor of the Hills hoist, Lance Hill; or that the suburb of Lyons was named after the first Australian Prime Minister to die in office, Joseph Lyons.”

To enter the competition, residents should look up the person their street or suburb is named after and upload their findings to portraitofanation.com.au. This content can be submitted in a variety of forms, from writing and images to video and voice recordings relevant to that person.

Submissions received between 24 October and 28 November 2013 will automatically be in the running to win the prize, which includes:
• $500 off your ActewAGL electricity bill
• $500 voucher to your local shops
• $200 Capital Chemist voucher
• a Centenary of Canberra memorabilia gift pack, including a copy of Heide Smith’s beautifully crafted book A Portrait of Canberra and of Canberrans 1979-2012, published to celebrate the Centenary of Canberra

For more information, or to get started, visit portraitofanation.com.au.