JUDITH Wenning remembers a time when Ainslie and Griffith were Canberra’s outer suburbs and Queanbeyan “was the place to go for a night out”.

Mrs Wenning was born at the Royal Canberra Hospital, at Acton, in March, 1942, and grew up in Manuka, where she lived for 54 years.

The mother of four has been nominated for a Canberra Gold Chief Minister’s Award, for people who have made a long-term commitment to people living in the ACT and have lived here for 50 years or more.

“It was just good fun back then. It was a lovely place to grow up because everything was quite new,” she says.

“I remember when the Queen came out here in 1954 and we all went to Manuka Oval to see her. We stood around for hours and some of the children fainted because of the heat.”

She says she spent her younger days playing at Rocky Knob, now known as Narrabundah Heights, and as she got older, went to many dances at Albert Hall.

While she remembers sun-baking at Manuka pool often when she was younger, these days Judith spends lots of time at the Erindale pool, where she swims most mornings with about 20 of her friends.

Growing up in a house on Flinders Way, Mrs Wenning attended Telopea Park school and went to work in the Department of Works typing pool before getting a job at Public Benefit Shoes in Civic.

“I loved working there. I met friends there and we are still friends today.”
Mrs Wenning says there is no city more beautiful than Canberra and she wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

“It’s not hard to get around, everything is accessible.

“Canberra has a reputation of being snobby, but it’s definitely not snobby. I always find that anyone who was born here is a nice person,” she says.

And while she’s seen many changes to Canberra’s landscape, there is only one building she’s not fond of – the National Museum of Australia.

“I thought it was a shame to knock down the Canberra Hospital. I don’t like the look of the new building there.”

To nominate someone for a Canberra Gold Award, a nomination form can be completed online and needs to be submitted by the end of January each year. A brief background may be included with the nomination. For further information contact 6205 3031 or go to www.cmd.act.gov.au/communication/gold