If you liked Milton Keynes

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…you’re going to love Canberra!

Entry by Rich

Sunday 28/12/08

We left Melbourne early on Sunday morning and caught our flight up to Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory (our fifth state of the trip). Designed and built in the early twentieth century, Canberra was a solution to the dilemma of whether to choose Sydney or Melbourne as the capital city. This is a bit like deliberating between the most expensive champagne and the most expensive red wine on the menu and opting for a bottle of Blue Nun because you can’t make up your mind. I had been to Canberra before. I’m a sucker for punishment so we built a brief stay into our schedule for this trip.

There are some positives to a stay in Canberra but its fair to say that it is possible to fit them into a day’s visit. After checking in to our hostel, we wandered out into the city centre in search of somewhere to hire bikes. It was a warm but breezy morning and the deserted concrete arcades and shopping malls had the feel of a wind tunnel.

After a fruitless hunt in the immediate vicinity we found a map and located a bike rental store on the shores of Lake Burley-Griffin, named after the American designer of Canberra. We hired a couple of bikes and rode out along one of the city’s many cycle paths towards Parliament House.

One of the best features of Australia’s Parliament building is that it is built within a huge hill. It is possible to walk up the grass covered sides of the hill and also to take a lift from inside the building to a viewing area at the very top. The ability to walk over the heads of the elected leaders is a powerful symbol for the Australian people (or it would be if any of them bothered to visit Canberra).

The inside of the building is very well laid out for visitors and the whole place has been designed to give easy access to anyone interested in the workings and nuances of the Australian political system. It was quite empty in there.

Next on the list of must-see attractions was the very recently opened National Portrait Gallery. An exhibition of the ten favourite Australians was the centrepiece of the new gallery. Amongst these ten was the recently removed Prime Minister, John Howard. It seems odd that someone who has become deeply unpopular (to the extent that he even lost his seat at the election) across the country is counted amongst the ten most popular Aussies. Even more strangely, Rolf Harris was nowhere to be seen.

Our final stop was the Imperial War Memorial and Museum. Despite everything I have said about Canberra, I would happily visit the city just for this place. I have never been to such an informative and also interesting museum. It is also an extremely moving place. The focus is on the people affected by the wars in which Australians have fought (including the First and Second World Wars, the Korean War, the Vietnam War). When I studied Second World War history at school, our teacher always emphasised the importance of empathy when teaching or studying history. The Imperial War Museum certainly supports this. Examples of the exhibits include hand written letters from a soldier shortly before his execution in a prisoner of war camp, and individual photos of over a thousand Australian prisoners of war who died on an enforced march during World War II. There are also some huge and detailed dioramas of life in these wars showing life in the trenches or on the battle field. Finally there is a garden of remembrance with an eternal flame in a large courtyard. Each evening a lone bugler plays the last post as he walks around the courtyard.

We finished our day in Canberra with a visit to the cinema. The nightlife left a lot to be desired so an evening in the company of Keanu Reeves’ wooden acting was about the best we could do. On to Sydney next where things would pick up considerably!

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