Canberra (pronounced CAN-ber-ra, CAN-bruh or occasionally CAN-buh-ruh by its inhabitants) is the name of Australia's capital city and largest inland city, though only the 7th largest overall in the country. It is located in the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory, (ACT).
Canberra has many national monuments and institutions such as the Australian War Memorial, the National Gallery of Australia, the Telstra Tower, the Royal Australian Mint and the National Museum of Australia.
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2 Structure 3 Aspects of Canberra 4 History 5 Internal links 6 External links |
Canberra is located in a portion of the Brindabella Ranges, approximately 150 km inland from Austalia's east coast. Its latitude and longitude are 35°15' S and 249° 28' E. It is located at altitudes that range from 550m to 700 m above sea level. This results in temperature ranges from -5° C to 35° C. The hottest days are generally in December and January. In wintertime, the days can get very chilly, and once in a long while snow can fall.
The Molonglo River flows through Canberra. At one point, it has been artifically widened to form what is called Lake Burley-Griffin. Numerous hills, such as Mt Ainslie, Mt Mugga Mugga, Mt Taylor and Black Mountain dot the Canberra area, but have been left unsettled. This does mean a colder existence for Canberra's residents as in winter cold air pours down from these peaks to form cold pockets of air in the inhabited valleys. At wintertime, snow has been known to form on the top of some of these hills, and on the more distant ones south of Canberra.
Even at summertime, humidity is low, but fog can develop during wintertime.
Canberra's 320,000 residents live in a city originally planned by Walter Burley Griffin. The city is laid out on two major axes, an infrastructural axis stretching northward from the federal Parliament House on Capital Hill to the seat of territorial government on City Hill, and a ceremonial axis stretching from Parliament House northeastward to the National War Memorial.
Canberra is divided into seven basic districts: North Canberra, South Canberra, Tuggeranong, Weston Creek, Gungahlin, Woden and Belconnen. They are generally separated from each other by strips of national park. Most of these districts also possess a central shopping area known as a Town Centre.
The suburbs contained in these districts are generally named after famous Australians, particularly politicians. Street names within each suburb generally follow a particular theme. For instance, the streets of Duffy are named after Australian dams and weirs, whilst the streets of Gowrie are named after Australian Victoria Cross winners.
There are also three suburbs that are considered to be industrial districts: Fyshwick, Mitchell and Hume.
In addition, there is the Oaks Estate area, a small suburb located on the ACT/NSW border which is not part of any of the above districts and which has close ties with the neighbouring NSW town of Queanbeyan, and Hall, a small township that maintains its independance from Canberra despite its close proximity to the Belconnen district.
Canberra is unique in Australia in that it is governed not by a City Council , but a 17-member Legislative Assembly that performs all duties done by both state governments and local governments. This assembly governs the entire ACT.
However, since virtually the entire ACT's population is based in Canberra, the terms ACT Government and Canberra Government are largely interchangable.
Assembly members are elected once every three years by the ACT's population using a proportional voting system. The political party that wins the most seats wins government, and governs the ACT through the use of ministries.
To date, ACT government have always been minority ones - ie. they have never won more than half of the assembly's 17 seats. This has led to some unusual alliances to bring about political stability. In one instance, two parties with conflicting political views formed an alliance and governed the ACT through the combined number of seats that this produced. More recently, an ACT Liberal Party government ruled the ACT with the help of an independent member who was given an ACT ministry in return for his support.
The Federal government retains some influence in the ACT's and Canberra's government. It is free to veto any law passed in the Assembly of which it disapproves. Also, no ACT election can be called except with the Federal government's approval.
A Commonwealth organisation, the National Capital Authority, can also veto and influence decisions involving Canberra's urban development and growth.
The Australian Federal Police carry out all police services normally provided by a state police force. Persons arrested on an offence are tried in normal magistrate's and/or district courts based in the ACT. However, persons sentenced to imprisonment are sent to a NSW jail as there are no prisons in Canberra.
Courts such as a ACT small claims tribunal and a family court exist for civil law actions and other non-criminal legal matters.
The city's main industry is government and public service. It contains the Federal Parliament and the headquarters of most government departments (for instance, Defence and the Treasury).
It also has the High Court of Australia , which is the final court of appeal for lawsuits within Australia and which can make rulings on the Australian Consitution.
Canberra's second largest (and most noticeable) industry is tourism, with a large number of Australian and international visitors visiting the city each year. The most popular times are spring and autumn (fall), with the annual Floriade spring flower display (held each year in September/October) being the biggest. Other popular and noteworthy tourist spots in Canberra include the Parliamentary triangle (and in particular both the New Parliament House and the Old Parliament House), monuments such as the War Memorial, and working national institutions like the Royal Australian Mint.
Canberra is also home to foreign embassies and high commissions, the majority of which are located in the suburbs of Yarralumla, Deakin and O'Malley. The Yarralumla embassy area is another tourist attraction, as the embassies in that suburb are generally built in the style of their home country.
A legal anomaly allowing the legal production and mail-order sale of explicit pornographic videos from its industrial districts has led to a thriving industry exporting them to the rest of Australia.
As Australia's political centre, Canberra is naturally the home of much of Australia's political reportage and thus all the major media organizations, including the commercial television networks, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and the metropolitan newspapers maintain bureaus there.
Canberra's own daily newspaper, the Fairfax-owned Canberra Times, is also regarded as more prestigious, particularly for political journalism, than its small circulation in comparison to the Sydney and Melbourne dailies may otherwise imply. This newspaper was first established in 1926.
Canberra is approximately four hours by road from Sydney on the Hume and Federal Highways, and seven hours by road from Melbourne on the Hume and Barton Highways.
Internally, Canberra's roads are notable for the many circular streets, which confuse visitors. Canberra has a bus-based public transport system, as it has no railway system other than an interstate railway that terminates in the Canberra suburb of Kingston.
Canberra International Airport has a full schedule of domestic services to the state capitals. There are long-term plans to introduce regular scheduled international flights, but the only international flights to date have been those carrying heads of state such as the US President.
There is also a rail service from Sydney that takes about four hours (its future is currently in some doubt). A large number of interstate bus companies also provide services that run to and from Canberra.
Canberra is the home of the Australian National University, based in Acton, and the University of Canberra, based near Belconnen, as well as the main campus of the Australian Institute of Sport, a quasi-educational body that trains many of Australia's Olympic athletes.
The multicampus Canberra Institute of Technology also operates in Canberra.
Prior to white settlement, the Canberra area was inhabited by the Ngunnawal and Ngarigo Aboriginal tribes. When white exploration and settlement began in the 1820s, however, their numbers began to dwindle, mainly from diseases such as smallpox and measles. By 1862, they had been largely reduced to half-castes. They held their last full corroboree by the Molonglo River in that year. The last full-blood Aborginal, Nellie Hamilton, died in Queanbeyan Hospital on January 1, 1897.
The district's change from a New South Wales rural area to the national capital began during debates over Federation in the early 20th century. At the time, Melbourne was easily Australia's largest city and the obvious place for the capital. The western colonies—Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria—supported Melbourne. However, NSW (the largest colony) and (to a lesser extent) Queensland, favoured Sydney—which was older than Melbourne and the only other large city in Australia. Perhaps one or another of the two colonial capitals might have eventually been acceptable to the smaller states, but the Sydney-Melbourne rivalry was such that neither city would ever agree to the other one becoming capital.
Eventually, a compromise was reached: Melbourne would be the capital on a temporary basis while a new capital was built somewhere between Sydney and Melbourne. Section 125 of the Constitution specified that it must be north of the Murray River (placing it in NSW rather than Victoria) but at least 100 miles from Sydney.
After an extensive search, the present site, about 300 kilometres south-west of Sydney in the foothills of the Australian Alps, was chosen in 1908 as a result of survey work done by Government Surveyor Charles Scrivener in that year. The choice of site was a disputed one, and narrowly beat Dalgety, a small town near the NSW/Victoria border.
The NSW government ceded the new Australian Capital Territory to the Commonwealth Government on January 1, 1910. In that same year, the ACT became an alcohol-free area as a result of legislation that the Minister for Home Affairs King O'Malley ran through Federal Parliament in Melbourne.
An international competition was held in 1911 by O'Malley to select a plan for the new city. A variety of names were suggested for the capital, including Olympus, Paradise, Captain Cook, Shakespeare and Myola. The name of Canberra (meaning meeting place) was eventually settled upon. On March 12, 1913 the city was officially given this name by Lady (Gertrude) Denman the wife of the then Govenror-General, and building officially commenced. The city commemorates this anniversary as "Canberra Day" each year.
Melbourne ceded control of the Federal government on May 9, 1927, with the opening of Parliament House (now known as the old Parliament House) in Canberra. Amongst its first acts was to repeal O'Malley's prohibition laws.
Also in 1927, the city centre was officially established. It was meant to be called Civic Centre, but then Prime Minister Stanley Bruce vetoed the idea and it became officially known as City Centre. However, City Centre is still commonly referred to as "Civic".
Canberra's growth over the next several decades was slow, and was indeed far more a small country town than a capital. This was especially the case before World War II, when Canberra was noted for being more trees and fields than houses. Cattle grazing near Parliament House was a common occurrence, something which amazed General Macarthur when he visited Canberra during World War II.
But during and after World War II it began to grow more rapidly. The Australian War Memorial was opened in 1941, and the Australian National University in 1946. Lake Burley Griffin was filled up in 1964. In 1978, Bruce Stadium was opened. The High Court was formally opened in 1980 and the National Gallery of Australia in 1982. Canberra's population also grew slowly from this period, from 9,000 in 1930 to 13,000 in 1945, 39,000 in 1957, 146,000 in 1971 and 270,000 in 1988.
Part of Canberra were the backdrop for Cold War espionage activity. One South Canberra park, Telopea Park, was a known drop-off point for KGB spies based at the nearby USSR Embassy. This embassy was constantly monitored by ASIO agents based in a hotel located across the street from the embassy. In 1991, with the end of the Cold War and the Soviet Union, the embassy became the Russian Embassy. By then the Cold War intrigue had ceased.
In 9 May , 1988, a new larger Parliament House was opened on Capital Hill in State Circle, Parkes as part of Australia's bicentenary celebrations and the Federal Parliament moved there from the provisional parliament house. In 1988, the ACT was granted full self-government. On 11 May, 1989, following the first elections, a 17-member Legislative Assembly sat for the first time at its offices in London Circuit, Civic. Its first government was led by the Chief Minister Rosemary Follett.
In 2000, several Sydney 2000 soccer games were played at Bruce Stadium.
In 2001, the National Museum of Australia was opened. This followed a bungled demolition display in 1997 in which a local Canberra girl, Katie Bender, was killed by flying debris when the disused former Royal Canberra Hospital was destroyed to make way for the new museum. A small memorial was erected to her memory at the spot at Lake Burley Griffin where she died.
On January 18, 2003, parts of Canberra were engulfed by a bushfire that destroyed over 500 homes. The suburb of Duffy was especially affected, with some 200 homes burnt down there. Four people died in the flames.
Geography
Structure
Parliament House, CanberraAspects of Canberra
Government
Law and Order
Industry
Media
Transport
Universities
History
Early years
Choice for capital city location
Development and growth
Recent years
Internal links
External links
