Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
Yasmine Killeen

Instagrammer shares his love of the ACT with 50k followers

He's gathered more than 50,000 followers within a year, and all he's done is pay tribute to the city people love to hate.

Daniel Morton-Jones - better known to many as @themortz on Instagram - has become an unofficial spokesperson for the ACT, with at least two of his posts getting millions of views.

"I'm just a normal guy, and I'm pretty shy," Mr Morton-Jones.

"But people have been recognising me.

"I went to my local coffee place and the barista told me, 'You're The Mortz! I told my girlfriend I made you a coffee!'," he said.

In the city most commonly branded as "boring", he wanted to emphasise how special it was to call Canberra home, commenting on things only true locals would understand.

These included things like returning home from Sydney and suddenly appreciating Canberra's simplicity, or two strangers fighting the urge to race at a red light on the Tuggeranong Parkway.

"I don't want to make fun of us and make people hate where we live or anything like that," he said.

"I just want to make people laugh, because it's not exactly the brightest world that we live in right now.

"It's a struggle for a lot of people. So, just something positive, something to make people laugh."

Instagrammer Daniel Morton-Jones, aka themortz, is changing the nation's view of Canberra. Picture by Gary Ramage

Mr Morton-Jones said he wanted his posts to be as relatable as possible.

"I collect all of that and then put it together to make fun of ourselves or share things that only we get since we have lived in this city."

In fact, his reels have been so relatable that some commenters have suggested the ACT government take on his services for tourism purposes.

"I don't know if they want me to, because I poke fun at the public servants!" Mr Morton-Jones.

"But I'd be more than happy."

He said he had lived his whole life in Canberra, and loved the mix of city and country life.

"The incredible diversity and multiculturalism is very unique. When you look at a city like Sydney, it seems that cultures are divided by suburbs where Canberra is very much mixed wherever you go," he said.

The account is part of a new wave of Canberra pride.

As more people begin to engage with his page so, too, do they engage with their city, inspiring Canberrans to stand up for themselves and their city.

Mr Morton-Jones has noticed his followers using posts as evidence in defending their home to any outsider who can't see what Canberra has to offer.

"People often comment and say that whenever someone says, 'Canberra sucks or Canberra's boring'. They defend my content and say, 'If it 's boring, don't come'," he said.

The boost in local morale Mr Morton-Jones has introduced urges others to think positive, and ignore what the critics have to say.

For whoever refuses to listen, Canberra doesn't want you, either.

Instead of using his platform to drag his city through the mud, he paves the way for new influencers who wish to follow in his footsteps to think both analytically and affectionately of the ACT.

And he sticks to his blueprint of recognising the good in the bad, the enjoyment in the mundane or the simple things the community has taken for granted.

He added he hadn't always had an easy life, but still loved his home city.

"I'm a '90s baby born on the south side. I grew up in a broken family in government housing," he said.

"A bit of a rough area of town. It wasn't really easy and my mum did the best she could and I love her for it.

"So I kind of have this rough background, but definitely consider myself blessed."

He confirmed on the back of his Instagram account, he has now been offered some exciting new opportunities, and he and his wife are expecting twins very soon.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.