ArchivesACT has chosen records created during the National Capital Development Commission’s (NCDC) front fence survey as its Find of the Month for April.
Archives said that in 1982 the NCDC compiled an inventory of front fence structures observed in each suburb of Canberra.
“The NCDC’s Planning Division decided to survey and analyse all the front fence structures that existed in Canberra’s expanding suburbs,” Archives said.
“Formatted survey forms were drawn up for team members to record details of any fence structures that followed the front boundary of a block or that extended along the side of the block and beyond the front of the dwelling,” it said.
“It might be considered a curious undertaking if it were done in any other city, but perhaps not so unexpected for a city that prides itself for being built according to ‘garden city’ principles.”
Archives said that an ABC Curious Canberra article questioned why Canberra houses didn’t have front fences, and a reader jokingly asked whether there was an officer for fences in Canberra.
“There has never been ‘an officer for fences’ but the idea that houses should not have front fences began when the planning for Canberra’s suburbs was first being developed,” it said.
Archives said the President of the Town Planning Association of New South Wales from 1913 to 1925, Sir John Sulman advocated for the abolishment of back lanes and front fences as principals of the English garden city movement.
“Consequently, the first building regulations passed in 1924 for Canberra houses set a precedent that has been followed ever since,” it said.
Archives said present day instructions stated that fences which faced the street in standard residential areas were not allowed, but property boundary demarcation was permitted, such as hedges.
ArchivesACT’s Find of the Month for February can be accessed at this PS News link.
