Canberra ACT

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On 1 January 1901, federation of the colonies of Australia was achieved. Following a long dispute over whether Sydney or Melbourne should be the national capital, a compromise was reached: the new capital would be built in NSW, so long as it was at least 100 miles (160 km) from Sydney. The capital city was founded and formally named as Canberra in 1913. A blueprint by American architects Walter Burley Griffin and his wife Marion Mahony Griffin was selected after an international design contest, and construction commenced in 1913. Canberra is an entirely planned city, with concentric roads aligned with significant topographical landmarks such as Black Mountain, Mount Ainslie, Capital Hill and City Hill.

It has been many years since we had visited our nations capital, and it was an opportune time to revisit some of our favourite Canberra attractions. First stop was the National Art Gallery, which whilst being able to view up close some iconic paintings, it was a little disappointing that at least half of the gallery was closed to the public for a refurbishment. It was good to see Blue Poles in all its glory, along with Sidney Nolan’s Ned Kelly series of paintings, and The Drover's Wife by Russell Drysdale.

From there we walked across to the National Portrait Gallery, to be wowed again by so many amazing portraits. Undoubtedly our favourite, was again a painting of Deborah Mailman, painted on a jute chaff bag. We walked across to the Old Parliament House, which is undergoing extensive renovation, following the recent Sovereign Citizen protests, where idiots burned down the front door of this iconic building. I can still hear Gough Whitlam’s words echoing from the front steps.

After lunch we drove around Lake Burley Griffin to the Australian National Museum, where we viewed a feature exhibit entitled “Feared and Revered”. This exhibit showcases powerful women down through the ages, and their contributions to their cultures and their peoples. It was fascinating, if a little dark in some of the exhibits, most of which were on loan from the British Museum. A rare event to see in Australia. We briefly looked through a portion of the National Museum before calling it a day.

First stop the next morning was to drive up to Mount Ainslie Lookout, to take in Canberra from a high vantage point. One can really see the design features used by the Griffins from this height. We drove down to Capital Hill, to visit the New Parliament House, which fortunately now allows access for visitors to the grassed roof of parliament. Although Parliament or the Senate was not sitting that week, we still walked around and took in where the big decisions that affect our nation are made. We did though get to sit in on a Special Committee enquiring into The Effects of Sports Gambling in Australia. It was interesting to hear the politicians asking questions of experts and interested parties in the area of Sports Gambling. There are many vested interests though (particularly the sporting clubs) which have come to rely heavily on the sponsorship of the Sports Betting industry.

As we were leaving Parliament House, I noticed a tent and some TV cameras on the lawn near the front of the house, so we wandered down for a look, hoping to catch a Press Conference. What we caught was even better. Adam Liaw and Poh Ling Yeow were cooking up a “Democracy Sausage Sizzle” for an upcoming SBS Food Series. Their special guest was none other than David Pocock, former Wallabies Captain and now Independent Senator, who is doing a great job in keeping the major parties honest. Definitely one of the good guys of Australian politics.I enjoyed a gourmet sausage sandwich from the well known Cooking Duo which did not disappoint, and filled out a survey of my choice of the Australia’s Traditional Dish.

I had never visited the Royal Australian Mint, so off we went to see how our coins are minted. It is a surprisingly involved process, with most of the processes, apart from the design and inspections, automated. We then returned to the National Museum, and enjoyed seeing the remainder of the indigenous exhibits that we had missed out on the previous day.

With the temperature heading up the next day, we decided to have a quieter day, and visit the Australian National Botanic Gardens. This is Australia’s largest collection of native plants, with over 4,300 species set within 35 hectares on the side of Black Mountain. We did a guided tour with one of the Garden Volunteers, who gave a very interesting commentary as we walked around. Although he was heralding evolution as starting with the primordial slime, plant life and the symbiosis with insects and animals is way too complex, and can only be rationalised by intelligent design. We enjoyed a scrumptious lunch in the Botanic Gardens Café, and then commenced our own tour of the sections that we didn’t have time to see on the guided tour. We really enjoyed our visit to Canberra.

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