Our archives

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These are some of the records relating to Urambi, our history, and even our pre-history.

Our celebrations

Residents have gathered to celebrate the tenth and fortieth anniversaries of establishing Urambi Village.

Miscellaneous documents

Establishing Urambi

The documents below provide an insight into the early years in Urambi. The record is not complete, but will be added to whenever new documents surface. Within each file the papers are mostly in chronological order.

In the beginning (about 1973) a group of people decided it would be a good idea to develop community housing on the outskirts of Canberra, about 20km from the city centre. Out of this more formal entities (the Urambi Association, and the Urambi Cooperative Community Advancement Society Limited) were established, and the project was started.

We have early documents from Urambi’s origins dating from 1973, 1974a, 1974b, 1975, 1976a, 1976b, 1977a, 1977b, and 1978+. There are documents related to legal advice received during these years, the lease agreement with the ACT, financial statements, an early set of Urambi Rules, and some early administration records. There are miscellaneous files that may be of interest. Over the years the structural integrity of Urambi has been fiercely defended. The use of information kits for residents, such as this one from 1987, has helped new residents to understand where they are living.

An agreement was drawn up with Michael Dysart, the architect who designed Urambi. This led to a set of specifications for Urambi. Records follow the trials of building of Urambi (Building a, Building b, Building c, Building d, Building e), its insurance, all important landscaping, and lighting.

Once built, Urambi was opened on 18 November 1976. There was the task of selling the houses (Selling a, Selling b). Early settlers moved in.

Of great importance in Urambi is the community centre, consisting of two buildings and their associated courtyard, as well as other community assets. Read about the establishment of the community centre and the ballcourt. The swimming pool is treated separately below. For some time there was a community trailer.

The management of pets in Urambi has always brought out strong feelings. And there are several records related to the golf course that abuts Urambi.

In 2003 Urambi houses were connected to the Internet through TransACT cabling, but this was a struggle.

Over the years there have been a few newspaper articles about Urambi.

A very attractive feature of Urambi is that cars are kept away from most houses. There are many records related to early thoughts on car parking. In 2006 three open car spaces in car park C were converted to garages.

In 2017 Urambi was nominated for inclusion on the ACT Heritage Register.

In the following files are early documents for each house in Urambi. Most indicate who originally purchased each house, and many show subsequent purchases and structural changes. Remember, though, that the records are incomplete, and refer mainly to the early years of Urambi.

House number: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72

A brief history of the swimming pool

The swimming pool was proposed in December 1981, and was ready for use by December 1982. Initially it was available only to those residents who paid an annual membership fee. At the AGM in 2009 the pool club membership fee was abolished, and it was opened to all residents.

Following are early documents about the pool. These are incomplete records mostly in chronological order.