Canberra - Capital City

A two hour bus ride from Cooma saw us land in Canberra, the Australian capital, where we spent the Easter weekend. Like most things in Australia, Canberra is BIG! Our camp site was about four kilometers away from the city centre, and most of the attractions in the city are spread out quite far apart. The city was designed by American architect Arthur Burley Griffin, and the Australians so appreciated his design for their capital that they named the artificial lake at the heart of the city after him.

Being the capital, Canberra is home to a plethora of attractions with "national" attached to them - some more entertaining than others, but all with free entry! The Australian National Museum is an interesting modern structure located on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin. It houses a nice variety of exhibitions about Australia, ranging from the wildlife that makes the country unique, to several galleries of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and culture, as well as an interesting exhibition featuring the stories of people who migrated to Australia.

Not far from the lake lies the capital hill, which is at the geographical heart of the city. In his design for the city Burley Griffin stipulated that no structure should ever be erected at the top of the hill, and that it should always be accessible to the public, so that the people can always be above the government. The original parliament house, at the foot of the hill, was only meant to serve for about twenty years, but it was only replaced by the new parliament house in the 80s.

The site chosen for the new parliament was Capital Hill, but to keep in line with Burley Griffin's original ideals the hill was pulled down, the new parliament constructed, and the hill rebuilt to its original profile on top of the new building. This design further reinforced Burley Griffin's proposal, with the public having access to the actual roof of the building, and being able to walk over the government! The interior of the building is just as fascinating as the story of the exterior, with representations of the history of Australia throughout. This starts with an aboriginal creation mosaic in the building's forecourt and is followed by the blending of European and native materials in the main entrance to signify the arrival of European migrants. Both houses of government - the parliament and the senate - are open to the public, anyone can sit in the viewing galleries when the process of government is in progress. When sessions run late into the night Parliament house does not close - anyone is free to come and go into the viewing galleries.

The last attraction we visited in Canberra was the National War Memorial, a tribute to all the brave Australians who gave their lives serving Australia. The displays start with an extensive gallery dedicated to the ill-fated Gallipoli Campaign in World War One and go right through to the present anti-terrorism commitments that Australians are undertaking in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Much of our time in Canberra was spent getting from one attraction to the other - with it being Easter Weekend the public transport was running on a Sunday Schedule, meaning reduced services, though we would have ended up with a cultural overload if we had got to all the attractions available!

Photos from my trip to Canberra can be found on my Picasa Web Albums