Watson History
We've just started collecting stories of Watson history for this page. Please contact us if you have something to share. We'd be interested in stories about how and when Watson grew from its original boundaries to where it is now, stories about particular buildings and sites, or stories about people who have shaped the suburb. We'd also love to add a gallery of photos of Watson over the years.
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Watson was was gazetted on 7 April 1960 and is named after Prime Minister John Christian (Chris) Watson. Watson was the third Prime Minister of the Commonwealth, and first Labor Prime Minister of the Commonwealth, serving from April to August 1904. Watson first became prominent in the labour movement in 1893 when elected President of the Sydney Trades and Labour Council at the age of twenty-six; was elected to Federal Parliament 1901 and appointed Leader of the Labor Party; and retired from politics in 1910. ​
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A few snippets of history of different Watson areas are below.
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ACU Campus
The Signadou and Blackfriars Precinct at the Australian Catholic Unversity was accepted for provisional registration on the ACT Heritage list by the ACT Heritage Council in May 2018 and full registration was progressed in February 2019. The background information report is here.
In 1959 Archbishop Eris O’Brien invited the Dominican Sisters of Australia to open a College in Canberra to prepare Sisters from a number of congregations as teachers for the rapidly expanding diocesan Catholic Primary School system. Negotiations for a site began. In 1959 ongoing negotiations resulted in the NCDC making a large site in the new northern suburb of Watson available for a Dominican complex: and plans developed for two buildings in modern monastic style - a Priory and House of Studies for Dominican Priests, and the national headquarters for the Dominican Sisters (the Generalizia) in a building which would include the Teachers’ Training College - and a parish with both a church and primary school. Additional negotiations between the NCDC and Catholic Archdiocese occurred, extending the Watson site from 12 acres to 16, in order to accommodate a larger Parish Primary School than originally planned and its associated playing fields. In 1963 the Signadou building was officially opened by Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies. Adjacent (west) of Signadou, Blackfriars Priory was built. It was officially opened in 1967.
Starlight Sign
Once upon a time Watson was home to a drive-in cinema. All that's left now is the Starlight sign, which was rescued by a community effort. When the cinema was redeveloped the apartment complex donated it to ACT Heritage, who commissioned a design firm to work on restoration. It is now placed adjacent to where it was, with ongoing heritage value as one of the few drive in movie signs of the era standing in its original location.
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Image credit: Bidgee, CC BY-SA 3.0 AU <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/au/deed.en>, via Wikimedia Commons
Canberra Potters Society
The Canberra Potters Society, a not-for-profit community organisation, was established in Canberra in 1975. The Canberra Potters building was formerly the Crafts Council, with the Gem Society in one wing and the Potters Society on the other. Before that it was a Horse Era Museum, which used to rent out horses and carriages for weddings etc. When the Potters acquired the building it only had a roof, and the Potters built the walls etc. It was used for emergency housing in the 1970’s after Cyclone Tracey.
Source: Zan via the Riot Act comments section, June 2015
Image Credit: Canberra Potters Society Inc