Carlos Smitz

Canberra resident with memories of Acton
Born: 1936, Belgium
Interview: December, 2013

“My name is Carlos Smitz. I was born on the 17th April 1936, and was urged to come to Australia in 1961. I came to Canberra, and lived first at Gorman House, then the Ainslie Hostel. I started work in Canberra on the 29th June 1961 with the Division of National Mapping - which was part of the Department of Minerals and Energy. Their 'offices' consisted of three workplaces, a solid brick small office (called the bunker) for the 3 or 4 men in administration and storage; followed by the drawing office, for 30 odd staff, consisting of a 'Nissan' army hut on the western side of Liversidge Street and next to the Molonglo River, also just before the ford called Lennox Crossing. On the eastern side of the street, opposite the drawing office was a photo-laboratory, again a Nissan hut, with lots of large glass photo-plates, stored on wooden racks. The Canberra Hospital was just twenty metres behind.

The 'Nissan' hut drawing office had no ceiling and no insulation. A big, noisy heating system was suspended from the rafters, and each employee had an electric foot warmer under their drawing table. In full winter the inkwell had to be defrosted. There was plenty of wildlife. Out of the back window one could see the playful platypus in the Molonglo River. Every morning one had to uncover the drawings on our desk and check for possum damage. In those days you could cross Civic with your eyes closed, because there were hardly any cars. We used to walk right across the horse paddocks of the Acton flats to go to work, picking up mushrooms on the way. One of the regular events for the early arrivals, as the boss came only at 8.30 sharp to open the front door, was to line the street to meet the Queanbeyan bus, full of nurses, at around 8.15am and wave our hankies. At lunchtime, one could meet nurses on their lunch break sitting on one of the benches provided outside the hospital. I must say that a few of our young draftsmen ended-up marrying a nurse. I won't mention names.”