No. 4 Monaro Mall logo sign, Canberra 100
Canberra 100
In 2020 Capital history here is exploring Canberra’s history by identifying objects that can connect us with Canberra’s past. The aim is to tell the story of Canberra by finding 100 objects that represent the history of the city. Three objects have been identified so far, the Canberra red brick, the Cummings concrete bus shelter and the Bronze sculpture of Prime Minister John Curtin.
Monaro Mall logo sign
No 4 in the Canberra 100 series is the Monaro Mall logo sign which is pictured above and can be found on the wall of the Canberra Centre, facing Petrie Plaza in Civic, Canberra.
Why the Monaro Mall logo sign? The opening of the Monaro Mall was a significant landmark in the development of Canberra, one of the events that shifted the capital from small town to modern city.
The 1963 opening of the Monaro Mall
Prime Minister Robert Menzies opened the Monaro Mall on 6 March 1963. You can read the speech he made here. The opening was also covered by the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) who televised it nationally. And on 5 March 1963 the Canberra Times released a 32 page supplement for the opening. It was a big event.
The Monaro Mall was the first multi storey (three levels), enclosed shopping mall in the southern hemisphere and the first air-conditioned shopping mall in the country. It was Australia’s first experience of mall culture, an import from the United States. The building itself became a design classic listed for more than thirty years on the ACT register of significant twentieth century architecture.
The 1963 Monaro Mall had an area of 300,000 square feet and provided 2,000 car spaces. It housed dozens of shops including David Jones and Coles. See here for a full list of the first shops.
Incorporated into the Monaro Mall was an auditorium for community use. Situated on the first floor it provided accommodation for about 60 people. According to the Manager of the Monaro Mall the developers Lend Lease had included this as they wanted the Mall to be a community project that would serve the population.
An example of this social aspect was the Commonwealth Film Unit’s demonstration of colour television in 1969 at the Monaro Mall. The National Film and Sound Archives (NFSA) has the footage of this here. Also televised nationally was the first night of late-night shopping. This was on the ABC flagship program This Day Tonight with host Bill Peach and reporter Caroline Jones bringing the event to the nation.
The revamped Monaro Mall
On 2 November 1989 ACT Chief Minister Rosemary Follett opened the Canberra Centre, a redeveloped Monaro Mall consisting of four city blocks. In 1992 the Queensland Treasury Development Corporation acquired the Centre and expanded it further in 2006 and 2013. With the most recent expansion in 2017 a revamped portion of the Canberra Centre was formally renamed the Monaro Mall. The Centre wanted to celebrate and acknowledge their landmark status as the first modern shopping mall in Australia and its history as a building of significance.
M for Modern Canberra
More than 50 years after it was first opened the innovation and style of the original Monaro Mall is still remembered by the community. It is not hard to imagine the excitement Canberrans must have felt that day in March 1963 when they first saw their new mall. They must have also recognised that Canberra was changing. A modern shopping mall belonged to a modern city not a small town.
Later in 1963, in September the slow filling of Lake Burley Griffin began. Canberra was becoming the Canberra of today and the Monaro Mall was in integral part of this transition. As Nicholas Brown put it ‘By 1963, much that would define Canberra — its culture and cultures — was in place.’ The Monaro Mall logo sign might symbolise the start of modern Canberra as well as an important development in retail history that happened in Canberra.
Let us know your thoughts about the Monaro Mall in terms of Canberra’s history? We would love to hear about your memories of the original Monaro Mall ? What do you think of Canberra 100? Any suggestions for Canberra 100 objects? Please let me know by providing your comments to mail@capitalhistoryhere.com .
And please share. Let’s get the past and present talking.
References
Books
Brown, Nicholas. 2014, A history of Canberra / Nicholas Brown Cambridge University Press Port Melbourne, VIC
On line
Newspaper
1963 'THE MONARO MALL', The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), 5 March, p. 1.
(Supplement To The Canberra Times), viewed 18 Mar 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article104589511
1963, The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), 5 March, p. 3. (Supplement To The Canberra
Times), viewed 18 Mar 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page11458989
Other
1969, Monaro Mall debuts colour TV, National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA), https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/curated/monaro-mall-debuts-colour-tv
1963, Opening of the Monaro Shopping Mall, Canberra - 6th March 1963, Transcripts from the Prime Ministers of Australia, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-702
