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Published: February 15th 2014
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Wednesday 5th February, 2014. Canberra & National Capital Exhibition, Canberra, ACT, Australia
After breakfast we made our way to Pitt Street to catch the 10.00 am Murray's Bus to Canberra, the capital of Australia. The coach was very comfortable with A/C and a toilet. We only stopped once to make a pick up at Sydney Airport. There were only about 20 people onboard when we left the airport. The journey took 3 and a half hours on a motorway. There was nothing much to see - even though M had her nose pressed against the window in the hope of seeing an interesting beasty. The most exciting it got was a yellow road sign indicating that the driver needed to beware of Wombats. We didn't see any to be wary of! We also only passed one town of any note - Goldbourn. After a while M dozed off while D continued to read the Rough Guide.
We arrived on time and made our way to the YH which was right in the middle of the CBD. We checked in and were advised where the shopping centre was, so we went for a McD for lunch. In the food hall
there was an Asian place selling off left over lunches at $5. We grabbed a couple for dinner tonight.
Then we and headed off to the National Capital Exhibition which is located on Barrine Drive, Commonwealth Park, otherwise known as Regatta Point. It was walkable from the YH. Commonwealth Park is on the north side of Lake Burley Griffin. The annual spring Floriade festival is held in the 34.25 hectare park. The gardens were designed by the eminent British landscape designer, Dame Sylvia Crowe in 1964 at the time the Lake was filled. The park has many small
ponds and water features, walking trails, bike paths, sculptures and is popular with tourists and Canberrans. Located at the park is the outdoor Stage 88, which often holds concerts. We strolled through this attractive park, past Stage 88 in order to reach Regatta Point where the National Capital Exhibition is located.
The National Capital Exhibition tells the story of Australia's national capital, Canberra. We paid our fee and D had no trouble at all getting pensioner prices. This is probaably because we are now in Australian Capital Territory, rather than New South Wales. The lady then led us into a
small theatre and started off a movie on the history and design of this city. It lasted about 15 minutes but was very informative. After the movie had finished we made our way back to the start of the intractive displays that make up this exhibition.
It started off with the history of the Aborigines in the area including some information about Bush Tucker. Then moved on to the planning of a brand new city. The site of Canberra was selected for the location of the nation's capital in 1908 as a compromise between rivals Sydney and Melbourne, Australia's two largest cities. It is unusual among Australian cities, being an entirely planned city outside of any state, similar to the American Federal District of Columbia.
Following an international contest for the city's design, a blueprint by the Chicago architects Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin was selected and construction commenced in 1913. The Griffins' plan featured geometric motifs such as circles, hexagons and triangles, and was centred on axes aligned with significant topographical landmarks in the Australian Capital Territory. The city's design was influenced by the garden city movement and incorporates significant areas of natural vegetation that
have earned Canberra the title of the "bush capital" - we had already noticed that some of the design elements resembled Welwyn Garden City in England where D lived from age 16 and where his dad still resides today.
The growth and development of Canberra were hindered by the World Wars and the Great Depression, which exacerbated a series of planning disputes and the ineffectiveness of a procession of bodies that were created in turn to oversee the development of the city. The national capital emerged as a thriving city after World War II, as Prime Minister Robert Menzies championed its development and the National Capital Development Commission was formed with executive powers.
Although the Australian Capital Territory is now self-governing, the federal government retains some influence through the National Capital Authority. This information was transmitted to us by means of interactive displays and highlighted Canberra's vital role as a symbol of Federation. It features the people, events, history and design which contributed to the development of this unique, modern, fully planned capital city. There were original blue prints from all the competition entries, photos
of the Griffins as well as the other competitors with detailed information about
all of them. It was quite interesting but M didn't find it revetting!
The best thing was that the Exhibition offered spectacular views of the Parliamentary Triangle and the Captain Cook Memorial Jet which operates for only 2 hours (2 pm to 4 pm ) every afternoon. We had time it perfectly (accidentally) to be there when it was spouting away merrily. The memorial was built by the Commonwealth Government to commemorate the Bicentenary of Captain James Cook's first sighting of the east coast of Australia. The memorial includes the water jet located in the central basin in Lake Burley Griffin. On 25 April 1970, Queen Elizabeth II officially inaugurated the memorial. The water jet is powered by two 560 kilowatt electric motors. While running both pumps simultaneously the main jet throws approximately six tons of water into the air at any instant, reaching a maximum height of 147 metres. In periods of high wind the jet is automatically disabled as water landing on the nearby Commonwealth Avenue Bridge can be a hazard to traffic. The water jet must also be occasionally shut down when drought lowers the water level of the lake.
After we came out of
the exhibition we strolled along the banks of Lake Burley Griffin. We passed a number of nice sculptures including one of Robert Menzies. We were heading for Blundell's Cottage which we had learned of at the exhibition. This is a six-roomed stone cottage located on the northern shore of Lake Burley Griffin. When it was built it was located on the Molonglo River floodplain. It was built by George P. Campbell in about 1858 for his ploughman William Ginn. Ginn lived there with his family until 1874 and then Flora and George Blundell moved in and remained there until about 1933. This is now a museum which is only open at weekends. It is an example of an early settlers cottage.
We strolled back to the hostel taking some snaps of the war memorial and parliament buildings on the way. The $5 Asian food was lovely. M's was sweet and sour pork and D's was fish. We are looking forward to exploring the capital tomorrow.
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