Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Australia facts &
history in brief
Canberra is the
national capital of Australia, in the
Australian Capital Territory (ACT).
The location was selected as a compromise
between Melbourne and Sydney,
two of Australia's largest cities.
Canberra is the administrative centre
of the federal government.
The headquarters of national political,
business, professional, and cultural
organisations.
The foreign embassies are located in Canberra.
The Australian Federal Senate and
House of Representatives
meets here.
Canberra has a moderate climate.
American landscape architect Walter Burley
Griffin designed the city.
The National Capital Development
Commission and Department of Territories
control development and land use
in the city and the Australian
Capital Territory.
Places of interest are the
old and new Parliament House,
national capital institutions,
first school, the
St. John's Schoolhouse Museum
with the attached schoolmaster's residence,
Farmhouse, a stone cottage built in 1858,
now restored. Blundell's Farmhouse, a
stone cottage built in 1858 and
restored in 1964.
The Institute of Anatomy
at Acton has two museums.
In one museum,
of Australian Aborigines and Papua
New Guinea people's culture are on display.
There are many other attractions as well.
At Tidbinbilla about 40 kilometres southwest
of the city is a large animal sanctuary.
The Deep Space Communication Complex,
nearby is one of the world-wide
network of tracking stations.
Lanyon is a historic farm
dating to 1835 is also nearby.
At Deakin is the Royal Australian Mint, where
one can watch coins being manufactured
and visit the mint museum, where you may buy coins.
At the Canberra Planning Exhibition, close to
Lake Burley Griffin is a audio-visual displays
of Canberra's planning and development.
Government House is residence of the Governor
General and can be viewed from Lady Denman Drive,
it was built in 1891 as the farmhouse of the
large Yarralumla sheep station.
The
Royal Military College is at Duntroon and
can be visited on Mount Pleasant.
The officers' mess used to be the old
Duntroon farmhouse.
The Botanic Gardens
and National Herbarium are on the nearby
foothills of Black Mountain.
In 1911, the
Australian Capital Territory was established.
In 1958, the National Capital Development
Commission decided to build two lakes on
the Molonglo River as featured in Walter
Burley Griffin's plan.
Lake Burley Griffin was created in
the early 1960's.
It was followed by Lake Ginninderra in the 1970's.
In 1980, Richard Thorp's designs for a new
Parliament House was accepted.
The new Parliament House, on a hill behind
the old Parliament House, was opened
by Queen Elizabeth II on May 9 at
the 1988 bicentennial celebrations.
I did like the tree lined,
orderly laid out streets.
The new Parliament buildings look
a 'beaut'.
You can click on these photos for an enlargement.
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