Siblings Brian Sainsbury and Wendy Turner watched from prime position as the nation's fledgling capital city was constructed metres from their childhood home.
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As the last family to live in Blundells Cottage, the Sainsburys saw the paddocks surrounding their house replaced by suburbs, government buildings and Lake Burley Griffin.
The National Capital Authority reopened the historic cottage and tourist attraction on Wednesday after six months of painstaking restoration works and a big overhaul of its exhibits.
Mr Sainsbury lived in two rooms of the house with his parents and two sisters for three years in the late 1950s.
"While we were there they were starting to put the lake in so we had one year of the river, and then they started excavating and building mounds of dirt for the island for the Carillion."
Mr Sainsbury, who still lives in Canberra, said his visit to the renovated cottage brought back a lot of good memories.
"It was quite emotional to see how they had put it together just like it was, it just felt like I was coming home so it was really nice."
Chief executive Malcolm Snow said the cottage's two fresh displays told the stories of the Ginn family, who were the first to live in the cottage when they arrived from England in 1860, and the Sainsburys who moved there in 1958.
The restoration works included making sure the building was watertight, lime-washing the walls back to the original surfaces, preserving the original timbers and repainting joinery based on careful paint scrapings.
"These very subtle but nonetheless very important works will ensure the long-term conservation values of both the cottage and the slab building next to it are absolutely protected," Mr Snow said.
Mr Snow said extensive research had gone into recreating the cottage interior in an authentic way, and props included trunks and hand-made clothing.
New treasures included the original bed the Ginn family brought with them to Australia, a photo of Glen and Betty Sainsbury on their wedding day, and original kitchen utensils.
Mr Snow wanted the restored cottage to provide a "hands-on history" experience for visitors and schoolchildren.
"We're inviting people to touch and feel. We're inviting people to experience exactly the furnishings that would have been around at that particular time."
Stage two of the redevelopment will include improvements to the entrance space and outside shed, as well as further exhibits to include stories of the Blundell and Oldfield families who also lived there.
Project manager Dr Anna Wong said the cottage told an important and often-overlooked chapter of Canberra's history.
"It was occupied for over a century and provides an important social history of Canberra from the workers' perspective – the people who emigrated here, worked the land and later built the national capital."
