On this day in 1972, a survey provided a snapshot of the young cities progress and revealed the attitudes and priorities of Canberrans at the time, and it seems that generally, people were pretty happy.
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Of the two thousand residents surveyed, more than 80 per cent preferred the national capital to other major cities.
Almost all of those surveyed were born outside of Canberra and around 60 per cent had been in the city for less than 10 years.
Minister for the Interior Ralph Hunt said the information obtained through the survey would help to identify areas of satisfaction and dissatisfaction within the Canberra community.
At the time, there was overwhelming support for stricter regulations of dogs, more than 70 per cent of respondents wants dogs in enclosed yards and thought leashes should be compulsory.
An indoor recreation complex had the support of 80 per cent of residents, they were even happy to contribute to the cost of new facilities.
Nearly everyone supported daylight savings and more than half of full-time workers favoured staggered working hours.
Respondents firmly rejected both front-yard fences and overhead electricity wires.
Despite the overall satisfaction, Canberra's weather was an obvious obstacle to the live-ability of the city.
The winter and the cost of living were the two biggest drivers of people looking to leave the city in retirement.