Seven takeaway snapshots from the 1968 survey sheets, made available online by the Planning Authority, show a land far less choked with buildings when compared to today.

Still to come: Marsa’s December 13 Road

It is the principal thoroughfare heading south, but in 1968, this road did not exist. Traffic from Valletta heading southward towards Paola and Cottonera had to pass through the centre of Marsa past the Holy Trinity parish church. The 1968 survey sheets show fields and a cluster of houses in the area from which the new road, built in the 1970s, passed to join Blata l-Bajda with the roundabout outside what is known today as the Marsa sports ground. In 1968, the Marsa power station was already functioning and a new extension was being added to it. The meandering road at the back of the site linking to the Menqa area, however, had not yet been built.

Under construction: Regional Road tunnels

The section of Regional Road from Msida to Kappara had already been built in 1968, but the tunnels beneath Ta’ Giorni and the two bridges at their entry and exit were still under construction. The 1968 map shows the barren hilltop, bar the St Michael’s Teacher Training College, under which the tunnels were built. This section of the map shows the end that abuts the St Julian’s side, where the connecting road down to Spinola was also under construction. Today, the land above the tunnels is taken up by buildings, and the road remains a major artery, living up to the expectations of those who conceived it way back in the 1960s.

Alone no more: St Thomas Tower, Marsascala

In 1968, St Thomas Tower still commanded majestic views of the area, as it stood watch over the inlets to St Thomas Bay and Marsascala Creek. The area known as Il-Ħamrija behind the tower was just fields that extended all the way to the area known as Is-Siberja. These idyllic surroundings transformed gradually over the years into the booming town of Marsascala. St Thomas Tower was surrounded by residential buildings, and its sea view was rudely interrupted by the Jerma Palace Hotel, which went up on the rocky promontory in front of the tower.

A town not yet conceived: Swieqi

Swieqi’s population is 8,000 and counting, but in 1968, the vast expanse it covers today was just rolling fields that dropped down to Wied Għomor. The group of villas bordering the Paceville end of Regional Road, which had already been built in 1968, and three rows of houses along St Andrew’s Road were the only buildings in Is-Swieqi. What today is the Luxol football ground at the time formed part of the St Andrew’s Barracks. Pembroke also did not yet exist.

A church engulfed: Fgura

Fgura had already started taking shape in 1968 as a spillover town from Paola. The tree-lined main road led all the way to Żabbar, however the parish church then stood at the edge of the emerging town, surrounded almost on all sides by fields. The government primary school already showed on the map, again encircled by fields. This green setting was soon to transform in the 1970s and 1980s as housing estates were built and plots given out for construction. Fgura’s parish church also expanded into the modern building it is today, sitting in the middle of an urban setting with no fields in sight.

No more sleepy hamlet: Marsalforn

Marsalforn still retains its seaside charm but has grown fast into the hinterland, as shown in these maps from 1968 and 2017. Il-Qolla s-Safra, a rocky outcropping that is a characteristic of the locality, remains untouched, but the fields below it have been taken up by rows of houses and apartment blocks, giving Marsalforn a busier feel. On the eastern side of the bay, buildings have over the years stretched closer to Għar Qawqla, even if not as intensely as with the construction at the opposite end.

A nature reserve is born: Għadira

Immortalised in the song Il-Bajja tal-Mellieħa, Għadira was primarily sand, sea and fields in 1968, save for the police station and the military barracks, which were to make way for the Danish Village (Mellieħa Holiday Centre) in 1979. Roll the years forward, and the coastal road was rebuilt further away from the beach, the green boathouses at the top of the hill appeared, and the Għadira nature reserve was created. The reserve was an abandoned salt pan used as a parking area by beach-goers during the summer. However, in 1978 the area was declared a bird sanctuary, and in 1980, the government adopted plans proposed by the Malta Ornithological Society, later to become Birdlife, to restore the salt marsh habitat and turn the site into a nature reserve, as it is to this day.

Malta in 1968

A glimpse of life from leafing through the digital archives of the Times of Malta

• In August, architect Andre Zammit advocated the building of new roads to accommodate a growing car population. A table showed there were at least 46,000 cars on the road, compared to approximately 24,000 in 1960.

• An Indesit deluxe washing machine model sold for ‘only’ £69 in February of 1968.

• Telephone numbers still had five digits then, and Peter Maxwell was entertaining at the Corinthia Palace San Anton.

• In February, the Coliseum theatre in Valletta prided itself on being fully air-conditioned and was showing the film Doctor Zhivago.

• In October, 17-year-old Lina Grech from Nadur was crowned Miss Malta 1968 at a contest held at the Radio City in Ħamrun in front of an audience of over 1,600.

• Muscat’s Garage in Gżira was advertising the Rover 2,000TC as a powerful car ‘For the man who likes to move up fast!’