Canberra

On a lark I decided to go to Canberra on Wednesday – mostly because I wanted bragging rights to say I’d been to every state and territory and every capital city. (Like the Americans with the District of Columbia, Australia created a separate territory, the Australian Capital Territory, when Canberra was chosen for the capital. So I’ve been everywhere except, until today, the ACT). Lucky tick, because I completely enjoyed myself and really wish I had planned it so it wasn’t so squeezed in. One day wasn’t enough. You learn a lot about a country when you see its capital and its national institutions, and I sure did like what I saw.

When the Australian federation was created in 1901 there was quite a flap between Sydney and Melbourne about which should be the capital city. Through negotiations, it was decided to create a new city located between those two. So Canberra was completely planned – it didn’t grow up through eras – it is totally a 20th century city, and most of the national monuments and institutions like the national library, war memorial and even parliament buildings were built in the latter part of the century (due to the first two world wars taking up most of the nation’s resources during the first half of the century.) As a result, these buildings and the way they represent the society and culture of their country very much have a post-modern sensitivity and self-reflection. It’s not just about Europeans conquering an untamed land. It reflects what came before and has happened since. I was pretty impressed.

Most impressed with their capitol hill. The architects were really reflective in the symbols they created so that they balanced the traditions of the British Parliamentary system with the authentic values of Australia, such as equality and equity, people before government, and a southern hemisphere vs. Western hemisphere view of the world. For example, they have a parliamentary and senate chambers, just like we and the Brits. And the colours in parliament’s chamber is green and the senate’s is red, just like the Brits and us, they have modified the colours to reflect Australia’s place in the world. So the green chamber is a eucalyptus green and tropical sea green, and the red chamber is more the colours of their soil and the corral reef. And they took great pains to include a whole nation – it always saddens me when I visit Ottawa to see how only Ontario and Quebec (British and French) feature in our institutions. Oh there is a come-lately nod to the west and the Maritimes, but it’s clearly an after-thought. Not so in Canberra; it was fore-thought.

Also, the war memorial is very beautiful, as is Canada’s. They have had military involvement in more conflicts than we (they do keep following the Americans into places like Vietnam and Iraq...). They also keenly focus the importance of Gallipoli in their nationhood, and the sacrifice their little population made in WWI. In fact, on a per capita basis, Australia lost more men than Britain. So great was their struggle at Gallipoli, and so important to their self-esteem, that they even have created a beautiful memorial to the Turkish defenders of the Dardanelles, who also suffered horrible losses and who have honoured the thousands of ANZAC buried on their soil.

Anyway, I’m so very glad I got to see Canberra. Aussie’s should be proud.