National Capital (1945)

Produced by The National Film Board 1945. Directed by Maslyn Williams. When this film was made, Canberra was one of the world's youngest planned cities. This film briefly outlines how the Australian colonies became one nation in 1901 and how the need was felt for a city to be the symbol of national unity. Canberra, a tiny hamlet in the rolling countryside of New South Wales, was chosen as the site. It turned into a thriving city of Federal Government, growing according to plan yet retaining all of its rural charm. This film features some of Canberra's most dignified buildings - Parliament House, the National War Memorial, the Institute of Anatomy - as well as broad tree-lined roads and lawn-fronted homes. It also looks at the people who have come to live in the nation's captial.