About the Project

Sunken Stories of Old Acton is an initiative of Acton Walkways, a local community program established in 2009 to raise awareness of the Acton region for its natural beauty, history, culture, intellectual and artistic highlights.

The idea for this project came about after 'discovering' the Acton Memorial on one of our walks, and officially began in 2011 with an ACT Heritage Grant and the support of NewActon.

Building on the work and research of many dedicated Canberra historians, we have endeavoured to bring to life some of the voices and stories from Acton's submerged past.

By presenting these in a format that is accessible to an online audience, we hope to encourage younger Canberrans to be curious about their cultural heritage and to further explore the history of Acton.

We also aimed to provide an opportunity for local residents to have their old Acton memories and photos preserved for their own family libraries and the benefit of the broader community.

Over the course of this project we engaged with the community in various ways. In addition to many walking tours of old Acton, we held a number of group community sessions to collect stories and images, hosted a series of Sunken Stories Lake Cruises, collaborated with students from the ANU School of Art, and conducted interviews with close to fifty people.

Two exhibitions were held at the Nishi Gallery in NewActon. In November 2013, the exhibition titled 'Submerged' featured the ANU student art works - along with accompanying photos of old Acton. The final 'Sunken Stories of Old Acton Exhibition' - including the art works and completed video interviews - was held in April 2014, to align with the 50th Anniversary of the filling of Lake Burley Griffin to target level on April 29th 2014. To read more about these activities follow the links supplied.

As a project driven by and designed for the community, we encourage you to continue to share your knowledge and feedback with us. Throughout the site you will find opportunities to comment or add insights. Alternatively you can contact us by completing our online form, or via the details below.

To read more about the generous community contributions that have made this project possible, please see the 'Acknowledgements' pages.

Contact:
Dr Kirsty Guster
Email: info@actonwalkways.com