Celebrate Canberra Day at CMAG with one of our city's longest residents.

Dawn Waterhouse in conversation with Senior Curator Virginia will reflect on our new exhibition Seeing Canberra and share the story of her painting of Civic in 1947 by Esther Paterson. Building works had been undertaken to establish a national capital, including a new Parliament house and a cluster of government offices. Despite this, it was a time where Canberra felt like a big country town, presided over by the first Secretary of the Federal Capital Commission Charles Studdy Daley, whose desk features in the exhibition.

Image:
Esther Paterson
Civic Square Canberra 1947
On loan from Dawn Waterhouse