BUS DRIVER:
We're coming now to Parliament House which you can see on the left-hand side of the coach. The building, built in 1927 as only a temporary structure, was officially opened by our late King George VI when Duke of York. It is in this parliament house that the laws which govern our country are made. And we'll be stopping here for a conducted tour over the Houses of Parliament. So just watch your step, folks, as you leave the coach.
NARRATOR:
Thousands of people come to Canberra every year just to look at the national capital. The seat of Government, the centre of administration, it has a unique attraction. So with Canberra, we begin a new Weekend Magazine series dealing with the capital cities of Australia. Tourists have flocked to Canberra for years, but these days they're not coming just to see national institutions like the Australian War Memorial, they're seeing a vision being realised before their eyes - Canberra, growing from a collection of suburbs in search of a city into a proud metropolis, a true national capital. The ground plan for Canberra was adopted 50 years ago. A design of sweeping curves and crescents and open spaces. Like all tailor-made cities, it's had its growing pains, but the last three years have seen the pieces falling into place. New buildings grow almost overnight, as the plan becomes reality. And as Canberra's skyline changes, so does its shape. Alongside the well-known roads, new streets are following the lines laid out on the drawing board. Canberra is spreading. In 1958 the National Capital Development Commission was set up. Its job? To prepare for the mass transfer of Government departments to Canberra. Now mushrooming suburbs have swamped farming areas as houses are built for thousands of new citizens of Canberra. It's all rather bewildering to Charlie Russell. He's a grazier. In three years, his property, which used to be well out in the country, has been whittled down from 2,500 acres to 1,400 acres, as housing subdivisions were created. His farmhouse, once remote, now has neighbours, because where his sheep yards used to be, they've built blocks of garden flats. Canberra's population now is about 60,000, an increase of over 50% since 1958. The city seems to be bursting at the seams, and it has problems. With a car for every three people, traffic congestion in increasing. Its traffic problem is peculiar to Canberra. A majority of the city's residents work in Government offices, so most of Canberra goes to work at the same time, comes home at the same time, almost to the minute. Civic Centre, one of Canberra's main shopping areas, reflects the vast changes in the city. New shops and offices have overshadowed the long-established centre shopping blocks with their cloistered footpaths. But there are more subtle changes in Canberra - you can feel it most among the younger generation in the schools. At the Forest Public School, beneath a portrait of Sir Edmund Barton, Australia's first Prime Minister, you may find girls of three nationalities who are firm friends. In the library, reading up on Australia, Ahn Fan Shui, son of the Burmese Ambassador. He goes to school with children of scores of countries. Australia now has diplomatic representation from 29 countries. Many diplomats with their families live in Canberra. Their children are growing up with Australian children. Canberra is becoming an international centre of world standing. This is partly because it is a centre of higher studies. There is, for instance, the Australian National University. But the most important thing is that Canberra is no longer made up of transplanted people. The old public service phrase 'stationed in Canberra' has changed to 'living in Canberra'. People are settling down. Children are growing up there. Canberra has become a home town. Seeing the development of community spirit and civic pride, it's hard to remember Canberra's shaky start. It took ten years to choose the site and many more to get the city going. Mr Arthur Percival, on the left in this old picture, was sent to Canberra in 1910 to survey the site for the national capital. Mr Percival remembers his arrival in Canberra.
ARTHUR PERCIVAL:
We asked, 'Whereabouts was the capital to be, or were there any officers about who were in working connection with it?' He directed us to drive to what was then known as 'Camp Gully', just beyond the present West Block. We drove there and I found certain men waiting for us, and at about 3:30pm a wagonette or two came out from Queanbeyan with a lot of tents and gear, and we put up the camp for the commencement of the survey of the city of Canberra.
NARRATOR:
That was how it began. Canberra has come far since 1910. It has acquired physical beauty and is developing a sense of identity and civic loyalty. But it still has a long way to go. In the next 12 months the Government will spend ?11 million on developing Canberra. Private enterprise will spend about nine million. To end this first story in our series on Australia's capital cities, we hear about Canberra's future from the Commissioner of National Capital Development Commission, Mr JW Overall.
JW OVERALL:
Well, by the turn of the century Canberra will have a population of at least a quarter of a million, and the city will occupy at least double the size that it does now. The Canberra Lake, within the next two years, will be the vital feature of our planning, and buildings such as a national library, a new and permanent Parliament House, a mint, new administrative buildings, a national centre to house museums, art galleries and such like, will all add extra perspective to the grand design. In the commercial areas of the city, private enterprise interests will have the chance to undertake development projects even more spectacular than those at present underway. Despite all this, the basic plan of Canberra - the garden city concept - will not alter drastically. It'll be the same sort of city but on a much larger scale. Above all else, the fathers of Federation gave us a grand concept to work on, but for the future we must not lose sight of the fact that we are building a capital for all Australians, a symbol of our nationhood.