Woden’s 60th birthday - 1pm Sunday 16 October 2022

Food - food vans, bbq and a coffee cart

Music - Pacha Mama, Devine Devilles Trio, Belly Dancers and Pretty in Punk

Art Market - paintings, photography, ceramics, jewellery, t-shirts, clothes …

Kids activities

ballers, skaters, wildlife walks

Community groups - local environment groups, history display, and more

Woden's 60th was wonderful!

Thank you to everyone who contributed by having a stall or by showing up to enjoy the afternoon.

The weather was perfect (even with a the fluff from the poplars floating around).

The biggest thank you to Emily from Woden Community Service, Blaide from Tuggeranong Arts Centre and the Woden Valley Community Council committee.

Devine Devilles Trio

Woden locals, Ali Penney and Dorothy-Jane, along with Dave Blanken, are the powerhouse Divine Devilles Trio.

Three well-travelled souls, each with a swag of awards, a suitcase full of songs, hearts on their sleeves and a love of that sweet, swinging, shuffling, grooving place where Blues and Jazz meet. 

This trio have entertained audiences across Australasia with their award-winning vocals, keys, guitar, blues-harp and songs that draw on their lived experiences, plus bags of cheek, charm and pizazz!

Pachamama

Woden locals Pachamama is a Latin American band featuring two Chifley residents!

They will inspire you with music both familiar and strange, speaking of love, longing and the fragile earth.

Their music weaves the textures, colours and cultural richness of South America with vocal harmonies and a colourful platter of exotic folk instruments: the charango, tres, guitar, flute, zampona, mandolin, bouzouki and percussion.

Bellyup Bellydance

Bellyup Bellydance are a family friendly group that share the joy of bellydance with people of all ages and abilities. We are committed to keeping our classes fun and enjoyable and each individual dancer is valued for their contribution to the group

Art Market

$1,000 in vouchers (to be spent at the arts market) will be handed out on the day.

Some of the artists selling work at the market, include:

I love this

Chairs of Woden, Jennifer Baird.

Gouache and chalk pastel. A special piece for the upcoming arts market at the 60th Birthday celebrations of Woden Valley.

Find Jennifer and other Southies at Eddiston Park this Sunday.

This artwork features 12 chairs of different cafes and restaurants in the area.

Annette Clarke – Dissonance

Annette Clarke is the designer behind Dissonance, a womenswear fashion label for the confident women who is willing to dress outside of the box.

Designs are inspired by Japanese designers such as Issey Miyake. 

A range of women’s fashion, as well as accessories such as scarves, obi belts, face masks and scrunchies will be available at her market stall.

Cath Sutton

Cath Sutton is a Fluid Acrylic Artist specialising in abstract art paint pouring on many different surfaces – canvass, ceramic tiles, wooden boards, ceramic objects.  She also works with resin to create coasters and other objects and makes jewellery from her artwork. She will be selling original fluid acrylic artworks on canvas, tote bags, face masks, greeting cards, coasters, jewelry, fridge magnets and more.

Sheen

Sheen works primarily with pigment ink liners and oil paint, creating various pieces of different themes and ideas. Always seeking inspirations from around her, and now venturing into oil painting, she aims to infuse a little bit of the galaxy into everyone’s home.

Graham Gall

Graham Gall is an award winning, published and exhibited Woden based photographer. He has had several private and commercial commissions and is currently working on a Commonwealth-Territory commission about trees and wildlife for ACT Tree Week 2023. Graham’s passion is bird photography but he dabbles in all genre including flora, travel, portraits, macro, products and fashion.

Mawson Gallery

Monika Leone’s ceramic arts group meet and create hand built clay works at her Mawson Studio/Gallery weekly. Some of their pieces will be on display and for sale.

Rachel Develin

Rachel Develin’s pursuits have encompassed a variety of creative activities including floristry, commercial display art, video production, sculpture and jewellery.

Her artwork is mainly created from waste materials and comments on excessive consumerism (packaging) and the resultant waste of a society, obsessed with commodities.

Rachel has exhibited, locally, nationally and internationally and has entered numerous art prizes; winning multiple awards.

First houses in Canberra’s first satellite town - Woden's first residents moved in to Groom St and Jensen St (Hughes) in 1963

In May 1962, the contract was awarded for engineering works in Canberra's new satellite city. It included roadworks, curbs, gutters, sewerage, drainage and water supply for 447 residential blocks, a school and a shopping centre in Hughes.

On 13 September 1962, Gordon Freeth, Minister of State for the Interior, named the suburbs Hughes and Curtin after William Morris Hughes (Prime Minister 1915-23) and John Joseph Curtin (Prime Minister 1942-45).

In December 1962, the first contract for building houses in Hughes was awarded.  Source Archives.

1968 - Woden Town Centre

Woden Valley (including Weston Creek) was the first of Canberra’s satellite towns, planned and developed by the National Capital Development Commission from 1958 onwards. It was a great experiment in decentralised urban planning, prompted by the transfer of large numbers of Commonwealth public servants from Melbourne. The first buildings built for Commonwealth public servants were the Sirius Building and Alexander and Albemarle.

The new towns were intended to be thriving, relatively self-contained centres, providing employment opportunities, housing, businesses and shops, schools, sports fields, services and community facilities for the growing population. Source Archives.

Some pictures of Woden’s housing and Town Centre development. Source: Archives