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It's CAN-bra, Not Can-BERRA
A few hours later, and after driving past what seemed like a million eucalypts (apparently Australia's national tree), I reached Canberra, Australia's capital and its largest planned city with a population of about 300,000. Like most planned cities, Canberra is a strange place, mainly because everything is so nicely laid out – in this case, with concentric streets that radiate out from the centrally-located national Parliament Building.
Before 1901, Australia consisted of seven separate British colonies. But in that year, and with the blessing of England's Queen Victoria and the English government, the seven colonies became the independent country of Australia. Ironically, the 81-year old Queen Victoria, who had ruled the English empire since 1837, died just three weeks later. Melbourne and Sydney jostled to become the new country's capital, but instead a site was selected equidistant between the two and, voila, the city of Canberra was born. The first thing I learned after stopping at the Visitor Center was that it's pronounced CAN-bra, not Can-BERRA, as I've always called it. I had known that Brisbane was "Briz-bin" and that Cairns was "Cans," but this CAN-bra thing took a little getting used to.
I spent much of Saturday afternoon exploring Canberra's National War Memorial, a truly amazing building. Being an avid history buff, I've visited lots of museums but I think the only one that has impressed me more is the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.
The Australian National War Memorial doesn't glorify war; instead, it honors the Aussies who fought and died in global conflicts, starting with the Boer War in South Africa in the late 1800s and ending with Viet Nam. That surprised me, since I didn't realize that Australians had fought in Viet Nam alongside Americans. A large portion of the museum is devoted to the Battle of Gallipoli, with numerous maps, dioramas, and memorabilia of this failed Australian invasion of Turkey during World War I. As I'm discovering, Gallipoli is a big deal in Australia. You can tease an Aussie about their mother but never make a joke about Gallipoli.
The most touching part of my visit to the War Memorial occurred late in the afternoon when, just before closing time at 5 p.m., all the visitors including myself were ushered out the doors where, in the courtyard by the eternal flame, a lone bagpiper played to honor the Australians who have died on battlefields around the world. About 200 visitors quietly listened as the bagpiper played "Amazing Grace." After he stopped, you could've heard a pin drop.
I got a motel room that night in Canberra and watched the first night of the 2002 Winter Olympics from Salt Lake City. I've always been a big fan of the Olympics, especially the smaller and more intimate Winter Olympics, and it's been interesting to watch a different country's perspective of the games. They have the same camera feeds here as in America, but the commentators are Australian and the focus is definitely on the small but proud Australian Winter Olympic team.
The American broadcasts of the Olympics are usually pretty intense, focusing on how many medals the U.S. athletes have won – or why they haven't won more. Here in Australia, though, the tone is much more light-hearted. That's mainly because Australia, of course, doesn't have an abundance of winter activities, especially considering that most of whatever snow that falls in this vast country is confined to a tiny area near Mt. Kosciusko outside of Canberra which, at 6,700', is Australia's highest point. Speaking of winter sports, the concept of skiing in July seems strange to me. And skiing among eucalypts instead of pine trees or firs is really weird.
Anyway, the Australian coverage of the Winter Olympics has been fun to watch and, though hopes aren't high for many medals, Aussies are quite proud of their small team. After watching some American competitors mope and whine in so many previous Olympics, including Portland's own Tonya Harding (that baton-wielding, trailer-park skating girl and my former near-neighbor there), it's refreshing to see athletes – and indeed, an entire country – take pride in 10th- and 20th-place finishes.
Before I left Canberra (oops, I mean CAN-bra) the next morning, I visited a couple of sites that I'd heard good things about. The first was the Australia National Museum, a multi-million dollar building with futuristic architecture that recently opened to the public. The goal of the much-ballyhooed and modernistic National Museum was supposedly to tell the "story of Australia," but I thought it was disjointed and pretentious, emphasizing style over substance. I was pretty disappointed. Interestingly, the museum mentioned very little about Australia's convict past (the original settlers in Australia were convicts deported from England in the 1700s), nor hardly anything about the Aborigines, who weren't treated nearly as well by the English as Maoris have been in New Zealand. I had planned to spend a few hours at the museum but left after 45 minutes. I'm glad it was free.
My other stop that morning was much more interesting. I couldn't leave Australia's capital without dropping by the nation's Parliament Building, so I drove over to check it out. While the National Museum was a big disappointment, the Parliament Building was utterly fascinating. I was going to pop in for only a few minutes but stayed for two hours, during which I joined a guided tour and learned a lot about the Australian political system.
It seems that back in 1901, when Australia became an independent country, they looked around the world for an existing political system that would work in Australia and settled largely on the American bicameral system. Australia adopted a Senate and House of Representatives, each similar to America's system, while retaining some elements of the English political system, with a Prime Minister (currently John Howard) who is a sitting member of the House of Representatives.
The Parliament Building is much like the U.S. Capitol building in Washington D.C., with the House and Senate located on opposite sides of the complex, but is much more modern. And best of all, the Visitor's Gallery has cushier seats.
Above left: When Australia's government was formed in 1901, they borrowed many ideas from America, including a Senate and a House of Representatives. Here's the Australian Senate chamber, which is a lot like the American Senate. Definitely better seats, though. Above center: On the road again, this is heading up towards the Snowy Mountains outside of Canberra. Above right: Even though it was now summer, the Snowy Mountains were actually snowy when I drove through. The Snowy River is down there somewhere. The highest peak in Australia, Mt. Kosciusko (6,700'), is hidden by the clouds.
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