2024
Hello Canberra,
Weather: 22° and showers. An 80% chance of rain, most likely in the morning.
Today: It’s Tuesday 2nd April.
This is a previous issue of Canberra Digest. Get Canberra news, events, culture and more sent to your inbox every morning. Subscribe for free.
When the Federal Government moved from Melbourne to Canberra in the 1950s and 60s, housing was needed for the influx of public servants. The Northbourne Housing Precinct was considered ground-breaking at the time and is an example of post-war international architecture. Several of these flats have been retained as part of the new developments on Northbourne and have been listed on the heritage register.
Residents were moved from the dilapidated flats around 2016 after controversial call-in powers were used to fast track the demolition of the housing precinct.
This weekend, developer JW Land is holding a grand opening for the restored flats. You'll be able to see inside the "bachelor flats", and there will be free coffee, pastries and live music. Details here.
Work is beginning today on a new dog park in Franklin. The fenced dog park will have 2,870m2 of space including a dog agility area with play elements. 48 new trees will be planted for canopy cover. Construction is expected to take 9 months with the park opening at the end of the year. Details here.
Celebrity chef Matt Moran is opening two restaurants in Canberra: Compa and &Sando. The Compa Italian steakhouse will showcase some of Australia's finest producers. Compa will be opening on April 9th and bookings are now open. The restaurants are taking over the space L'Americano used to occupy in the city. Details here.
Birdnest is a hugely popular women's fashion store based in Cooma. They are bringing their store to Canberra with a pop-up happening from Friday 5th to Monday 8th April. The pop-up is at Sanctuary in Narrabundah. Details here.
The Canberra Airport Open Day is back this Saturday, 6th April. This year, it's bigger than ever, with the Airport partnering with the ACT Emergency Services Agency. Climb aboard modern and historical aircraft and get up close to emergency services vehicles, including trucks and helicopters. Details here.
Aluminium Foil is just as recyclable as aluminium cans, but small scraps of foil can clog machines and are sent straight to landfill. Foil can be recycled in the ACT if it's larger than a credit card. Just hold onto scraps until they can be scrunched into the size of a tennis ball. Details here.
This week, the ACT government will be looking for non-compliant shopping trolleys. In the ACT, retailers are responsible for making sure their trolleys stay within the shopping precinct. Retailers can be fined if they don't have a containment system and fail to retrieve abandoned trolleys. Most supermarkets in the ACT use a coin return system, and newer supermarkets like Coles in Dickson use an electronic system that locks the trolley if it strays too far from the shop.
If you do see an abandoned trolley, you can report it to the retailer using the contact information here.
In case you missed it, on April 1st, Chief Minister Andrew Barr revealed plans to relocate the Belconnen Owl as part of the rabbit control program 😉.
