Modern Australia is a young country; there are no old cities like you have in Europe. The word "old" refers to anything over one hundred years old. The first settlers came to Australia in the late 1700's. Sydney and Melbourne were mere settlements. There was a lot of rivalry between these two cities about which one was to become the capital of Australia. In the end it was decided to design a new city and place it somewhere in between. The planned city had similarities with the design of Washington DC which you will notice from the pictures. What few people, who live outside Australia know, is that Canberra is situated within a small state called Australian Capital Territory (or ACT), a state within a state. A bit like Monaco, San Marino, Andorra etc except that they are separate countries. My daughter and family live in Queanbeyan, about 15 km from Canberra.

In the city you will find The National Parliament House (Federal Government); The Australian War Memorial, which a memorial and museum in one; The National Museum, The Australian Defence Force Academy, The National Library, The National Gallery, The Royal Mint where Australia’s coins are struck and a host of other things. All foreign embassies (about 80) are located here and many are built in the style of their own country. I went around and had a look at some.

The War Memorial

The War Memorial doubles as a War museum, the best I have ever seen. Australia has been involved in many conflicts as a member of the Commonwealth and as a close ally of the USA. Every conflict has its own dedicated area. The 1914-18 War is one of the best documented areas I have ever seen. This area mainly concentrates on the Gallipoli region in Turkey (the 100th year anniversary of the landings will be held on April 25)
and the Somme region in Belgium. And large sections about WWll, Vietnam, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq etc. Most is hands-on with electronic screens explaining items in various languages by request. To add to the realism there is an area where you enter a section depicting the Vietnam conflict; it includes a helicopter with back drop films including the chopper sound and even wind simulation being part of a helicopter mission, it even make the grass move.

At the rear of the museum is Mount Ainslie with fantastic lookout over the city. From this high spot you can see the neat layout all in straight lines towards the centre circle on which the parliament house is built. In order to blend in with the landscape the roof of the building, which runs down to ground level is covered in soil on which grass grows. The war memorial, old and new parliament house all line up.

Parliament House

Om Monday’s at 2 pm it is Question time in the House of Representatives. Anyone who wishes can be an observer in the public galleries overlooking the chamber. It was interesting to see the prime minister and all the other ministers in real life as I only have ever seen them on TV. After 15 minutes I started yawning and 10 minutes later I departed for a coffee in the in-house cafeteria.

Canberra has a typical inland dry climate, hot today at 35 degrees C, in winter it can be some degrees below zero. More comments with the pictures