The big stories of Canberra's history have been important in this centenary year but perhaps the ones that will resonate the loudest will be the so-called little ones, the personal tales of its residents.
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In what was the final official community event on the centenary calendar, Centenary Stories, an oral history project, was launched on Wednesday at the Canberra Museum and Gallery.
Members of Canberra's pioneering families were present, with some committing to tell their life story for posterity, showing the changing attitudes, culture and concerns of a city.
Interviewers from the National Library of Australia will record the stories, with about 50 likely to be completed and many to be shared with the world via the internet.
The project is a collaboration between the library and the ACT government.
Among those who have been approached to tell their story is retailer David Cusack, who was at the launch, with his wife Elizabeth, of Forrest; his sister Joan Waldren, of Red Hill, and niece Dorothy Barclay, of Reid.
The Cusack family has been in the Canberra region since migrating from Ireland in 1854.
Mr Cusack's father Stan established his first furniture store in Yass in 1918, and then Manuka in 1928. David Cusack moved with the family to Canberra from Yass in 1937. ''It was my mother, my father and my sister in the front of the truck and my brother and myself and all our worldly possessions in the back of the truck,'' he said.
Stan opened the family's famous Kingston store in 1938 before it closed more than 70 years later in 2011.
Mr Cusack said Canberra was simply ''a great place to live'' while Mrs Cusack said they were ''very proud'' to be part of its pioneering days - and its ongoing development.
Another Canberran likely to give her life story is former textiles teacher Petronella Wensing, of Braddon, who turns 90 next month.
She arrived in Australia from the Netherlands with her husband Michael and sons Luke and Fred in 1953. She had ''my first little Aussie'', Ed, at the Scheyville migrant camp near Windsor in NSW on the day they arrived in Australia. She also had two daughters in Canberra, Veronica and Bernardine.
Mrs Wensing has lived in the national capital for 60 years.
''It's home,'' she said. ''I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.''
The National Library's curator of oral history and folklore, Kevin Bradley, said the oral histories would allow people to understand the ''diversity and complexity of Canberra'' and add to ''the memories of our nation''.
■ The link to most of the audio recordings will be available on the National Library's catalogue (http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/) and via Trove (http://trove.nla.gov.au/).
