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Canberra
has a population of approximately 300,000. Canberra’s
climate and facilities make it an ideal place for sailing, fishing, cricket,
football and hang gliding; there are more than 180 miles of bicycle paths. With
its multitude of parks and gardens, the national capital is particularly
beautiful during our spring and fall months. Canberra
is a uniquely Australian city, which, right from its beginnings, has had a very
strong north-American connection. The
idea for a purpose-built capital came soon after the various Australian states
agreed to form a federation in 1901. The
creation of a new city was seen as a means of ending the rivalry between Sydney
and Melbourne, and a way of giving the fledgling nation its own identity. An
international design competition was conducted and, in 1913, the competition was
won by a young landscape architect from Chicago called Walter Burley Griffin who
submitted his design. Since
then, Canberra has grown to become one of Australia’s most distinctive cities.
It has been described as the “Washington of the South Pacific” Canberra
is the political and administrative heart of Australia. Museums,
monuments and important buildings abound. The
magnificent Parliament House dominates the skyline from Capital Hill. It
lies at the apex of an area known as the Parliamentary Triangle, which includes
the National Gallery, the Australian War Memorial Museum, the national science
and Technology Centre and the National Library. Canberra
is a city scattered through a park, with no high-rise and insignificant
pollution. It is a particularly safe city. Travel
40 minutes by road in any direction and you will be in the bush – and
sometimes the bush will come to you! It is not unusual to encounter kangaroos
and other wild animals on golf courses in the early mornings or late evenings.
The thick canopy of trees ensures an ever present, abundant population of
extravagantly coloured birds such as rainbow lorikeets and reseals and
cockatoos. Canberra
sub-alpine location is beautifully located, within an hour by air from either
Sydney or Melbourne. For
most people, visiting Australia ia a trip of a lifetime. That experience would
be incomplete without a trip to Canberra, Capital of Australia.
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