Making the storyboards

As the revitalisation of Kingston Foreshore got underway in the late 1990s, community consultation identified the importance of the site’s history to Canberra residents and interest groups.

As a result, the Land Development Agency (LDA) commissioned cultural planner Susan Conroy and community historian and writer Mary Hutchison to develop a series of interpretive panels that could be placed around the Kingston Foreshore building site. This project grew into the Kingston storyboards.

The LDA saw the storyboards as an opportunity to tell Kingston Foreshore’s story, looking at the past and recent history of the site as well as the social history and interests of the surrounding community. Creating the storyboards also provided an opportunity to locate Kingston in the broader landscape and honour the site’s contribution to Canberra over time and into the future.

Taken together, the storyboards communicate the rich history of a site which has undergone many transformations from the time of Indigenous occupation, to farming land, to an industrial centre with a surrounding suburb, and most recently to a new mixed use residential and commercial precinct with a strong arts and cultural focus.

In total, approximately 500 metres of interpretive panelling were created, incorporating images and text. 231 photos were sourced from public institutions and private collections, and in selecting and developing the content of the boards Susan Conroy and Mary Hutchison worked closely with community members with personal or professional knowledge of the site.

The Kingston Storyboards were installed in 2005. Since then they have been a source of interest and pleasure for the residents of Canberra – both old and new – and visitors to Kingston Foreshore.

Authors: Susan Conroy and Mary Hutchison June 2010