Even the prime minister had trouble hearing the speeches at Monaro Mall. In his opening speech, Robert Menzies joked about the escalators and surrounding noise, and admitted he had barely heard the speaker before him. Then there was the question of how to pronounce “mall”.1
Menzies officially opened the mall on 6 March 1963. His speech captures his surprise at the size of the interior and the number of shops, as Canberra’s growing population demanded more shopping facilities.1
It became a place to see new things as well as buy them. Television footage held by the National Film and Sound Archive records a colour-television demonstration at Monaro Mall in 1969, several years before regular colour broadcasts began in Australia.2
What would have brought you here: a particular shop, a job behind a counter, or meeting someone for a bite to eat? Tell us the name you remember and roughly when you went.1