Plastered in graffiti, at first glance the modest-sized yellow-ochre painted bagged-concrete building wedged between Capital and State Circles in Parkes resembles an electrical substation. Either that or an out-of-place public toilet.
However, its real purpose comes as a surprise to those who take the time to stop for a closer look.
The near square (3m by 3.1m) concrete stronghold with a distinctive shallow curved corrugated iron roof is actually an historic site - it's the earliest extant building constructed specifically for the national capital. Really!
In 1910, when a team of surveyors set up their base - at first little more than a series of calico tents - to undertake vital work to provide base survey drawings for the impending design competition of our national capital, they informally referred to the site as "Camp Gully".
However, Commonwealth surveyor Charles Scrivener, the head honcho of Federal Capital Survey Camp as it was officially known, fast realised he needed somewhere to store valuable plans and equipment, to protect them against fire, water and vermin.
With no other permanent buildings within cooee, Scrivener, who later worked closely with Walter Burley Griffin in his preparation of the 1918 plan for Canberra, needed a purpose-built storage facility.
It's not clear exactly when this "Plan Room", now known as Surveyors Hut was built, but it was sometime in 1910 or 1911.
Terry Birtles in his tell-all biography of Scrivener (Charles Robert Scrivener: the Surveyor who Sited Australia's National Capital Twice, Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2013) implies the hut was built in 1910. He states in the context of work being undertaken from April 26, 1910, that "from May 2 ... Charley [Scrivener] required a brick survey store to be built at the Federal Capital Survey Camp. As the first permanent building in the territory by the Commonwealth, this still stands as a heritage structure."
Meanwhile, a letter published in The Canberra Times 40 years later states that the "concrete building was erected in 1911 to store plans and equipment". The letter was submitted by an anonymous correspondent, which most historians agree was Arthur Percival, one of the original surveyors, who kept detailed diaries of this period.
There's also confusion as to who actually built it.
An article in The Canberra Times on May 10, 1929, which describes the structure as "the first building which was raised in the capital" and in which the writer laments "the building may eventually disappear", suggests the location be known as Owen's Place after Colonel Percy Owen, inspector general of works.
While Owen may have seen to the erection of the structure, according to authors of the Surveyors Hut and Surveyors Park Heritage Management Plan (2014), "he personally would not have been its builder".
According to authors of the management plan, "a few years later, the obituary for John Murray claimed that it was he who erected the little building that housed the surveyors' plans and records." This claim, however, was swiftly refuted by Murray's son, Ernest, (who incidentally is believed to be the first Canberra resident to have landed on Gallipoli at dawn on April 25, 1915) who indicated that his father had only built the original huts that abutted the concrete stronghold.
If Murray didn't build it, and in the absence of any evidence of a contract being let for its erection, it is likely it was built by departmental labour.
No matter who built the hut (or exactly when), it probably only served its intended purpose for around a year or so, before the temporary camp was abandoned. In late 1911/early 1912, the clutch of surveyors began to move into new much more comfortable cottages on the other side of the Molonglo River in the emerging administrative centre in Acton.
Regular readers of this column will know that chief surveyor Scrivener took up residence in Acton House around the same time (Acton is where the Action was at, April 21, 2023)
So, what became of the Surveyors Hut?
Unlike the concrete stronghold, which wasn't going anywhere in a hurry, the surrounding wooden (and malthoid) buildings were much more easily dismantled and moved to other sites in Acton, leaving the Surveyors Hut to sit alone, the only tangible reminder of the historic campsite.
"It was the very modest or insignificant nature of the building and the fact that it was tucked away in a bit of remnant bushland that saved it from demolition; simply, no-one bothered or got around to demolishing it," state authors of the management plan.
In the 1980s, a Surveyors Park was established around the hut. It includes a BBQ, picnic table and signage. Not that I've ever seen anyone enjoy a sausage sizzle here. Also, if you look closely in the grass immediately in front of the hut, you can also see the outline of where the foundations of two of the temporary drawing offices once stood.
The National Capital Authority, current custodians of the hut, ensure it is locked to minimise vandalism. Not that there's much inside.
When the authority recently allowed me a peek behind the locked iron-sheeted door, apart from a veil of cobwebs, a rarely used broom and a rudimentary bench in one corner, it is empty. Sitting on the bench are several objects the authority advise are merely props rather than any genuine relic from Scrivener's heyday.
So, although there may not be much inside now, it's fascinating to know that this concrete box once held the blueprint for the Canberra we love today.
Surveyors Hut: Located between State and Capital Circles, just near Flynn Drive. There is parking on site and a bike path cuts through surrounding Surveyors Park. The interior of the hut is not accessible to the public. In her essay The Surveyors' Camps on Capital Hill (1909-1912) and the Building they Left Behind Ann Gugler reports that between 1930 and 1950, the hut was used by Parks and Gardens staff as well as other workers who tethered their horses and drays there during daily smoko. Gugler also notes that during World War 2 it may have been used to store ammunition.
Hidden capsule: While Surveyors Hut was built to protect important planning documents from the weather, in 1942, with the threat of Japanese bombing raids, key documents about Canberra's land leases were buried in a tin can near Mount Stromlo, "five chains towards Black Mountain". The buried documents would have allowed the re-establishment of the city's leases in the event other copies were destroyed in the event of air raids. In 1973, the can was dug-up by a team of surveyors including Julius Knight, who had been involved with its burial - much of the contents were water damaged.
Other safe houses: Surveyors Hut is also a rare early example of a fireproof structure in the ACT. Fireproof construction was part of later buildings, such as Old Parliament House, which opened in 1927, and in the construction of vaults/stores, such as in the Institute of Anatomy Building (1931, and home to the National Film and Sound Archive since 1984). It was in one such fire-proof safe at the institute in December 1952 that a skull, believed at the time to be Ned Kelly's, was rediscovered during a routine clean-up. The skull had previously gone missing after being prominently displayed for many years at the institute.
WHERE IN THE REGION
Rating: Medium
Clue: Not far from the ACT border
How to enter: Email your guess along with your name and address to tym@iinet.net.au. The first correct email sent after 10am, Saturday, September 30 wins a double pass to Dendy, the Home of Quality Cinema.
Last week: I'm disappointed that not one single reader correctly identified last week's photo as the original Yass Pool (1927-1964). Many mistakenly thought it was the Yass and District War Memorial Pool (Laidlaw Street) but it was only built in the mid-1960s when the original pool was considered a health and safety concern. Long filled-in and now a parking area near the Yass Bowling Club, the original pool was unfiltered, and despite being emptied regularly justly earned its nickname of the "duckpond". When the current filtered pool was opened in 1965 it was dedicated in honour of those who served in the Second World War and the Korean War.
MEMORIES
Libby Robertson, granddaughter of Arthur Percival, one of the surveyors who lived at the Federal Capital Survey Camp, learned about the significance of the Surveyors Hut when she was growing up.
"In the mid-1950s, I'd often go past it on the school bus and look out the window and think how proud I was that my grandfather was involved in that historic camp," recalls Libby, who cherishes family photographs she has of Arthur and his wife Frieda inside the calico tents. "It was far from luxury," reports Libby, adding, Frieda was pregnant with my mum when they lived in those tents." Libby also has a photo of her grandfather and a sulky. "They used to ride off to Queanbeyan for supplies," she reports, adding, "so the photo may have been from one of those shopping expeditions."
Libby also recalls the rollicking ghost stories that Arthur would tell her about his time in earlier life working as a drover in the bush. "Often, they were so scary that I wouldn't sleep for a night or two, but next time I saw him I'd beg for more," she laughs.
CONTACT TIM: Email: tym@iinet.net.au or Twitter: @TimYowie or write c/- The Canberra Times, GPO Box 606, Civic, ACT, 2601
