Canberra - Australia 2004 - page 591

13 Canberra

by Marc Llewellyn

I f you mention you're heading to
Canberra (pronounced Can -bra, with
very open vowels), most Australians
will raise an eyebrow and say, “Why
bother?” Even many Canberrans will
admit that it's a great place to live but
they wouldn't want to visit.
So what is it about Canberra that
draws so much lackluster comment?
Simply put, Australians aren't used to
having things so nice and ordered. In
many ways, Canberra is like Washing-
ton, D.C., or any town that was a
planned community from the start.
Some see its virtues as bland: The roads
are wide and in good order, the build-
ings are modern, and the suburbs are
pleasant and leafy. Canberra is also the
seat of government and the home of
thousands of civil servants—enough to
make almost any freethinking, indi-
vidualist Aussie shudder.
But to me, Canberra's differences
are the very things that make it spe-
cial. The streets aren't clogged with
traffic, and there are plenty of oppor-
tunities for safe biking—try that in
almost any other city center and you'll
be dusting the sides of cars and pushed
onto the sidewalks in no time. There
are plenty of open spaces, parklands,
and monuments, and there is an awful
lot to see and do—from museum and

gallery hopping to ballooning with a
champagne glass in your hand or boat-
ing on Lake Burley Griffin. You can
pack a lot into a few days' visit.
Canberra was born after the Com-
monwealth of Australia was created in
1901. Melbourne and Sydney, even
then jockeying for preeminence, each
put in their bid to become the federal
capital. In the end, Australian leaders
decided to follow the example of their
U.S. counterparts by creating a federal
district; in 1908 they chose an unde-
veloped area between the two cities.
Designing the new capital fell to
Chicago landscape architect Walter
Burley Griffin, a contemporary of
Frank Lloyd Wright. The city he
mapped out was christened Canberra
(a local Aboriginal word meaning
“meeting place”), and by 1927, the
first meeting of parliament took place.
The business of government was
underway.
Originally the land that became
Canberra was predominantly grass
plains. Over the years millions of trees
have been planted in and around the
city—earning it the nickname “the
bush capital.” Unfortunately, massive
bushfires in January 2003 destroyed
much of the surrounding forest and
more than 500 homes in the suburbs.

1 Orientation
ARRIVING
BY PLANE Qantas ( & 13 13 13 in Australia) runs frequent daily services to
Canberra. Virgin Blue ( & 13 67 89; www.virginblue.com.au) also connects
Canberra to Sydney, and offers discount Web fares.