Axis from the Australian War Memorial to Parliament House, from Mt Ainslie, Canberra
Canberra is thecapital city ofAustralia. It is Australia's largest inland city and theeighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of theAustralian Capital Territory (ACT), south-west ofSydney, and north-east ofMelbourne. A resident of Canberra is known as a "Canberran". The site of Canberra was selected for the location of the nation's capital in 1908 as a compromise between rivals Sydney and Melbourne, Australia's twolargest cities. It is unusual among Australian cities, being an entirelyplanned city outside of any state, similar to the American FederalDistrict of Columbia.
Any journalist worth his salt doesn't think any good story can't be improved a bit. The Canberrapress gallery, where I served most of my journalistic life, could prove the case. It might well be the quietest day of a peacefulrecess, not a speck of news to be had anywhere; but next day's papers have to appear and columns have to be filled. The boys pass one another in the corridor with always the same lugubrious questions and answers. "Quiet, isn't it?" "Yes, dead." Later they gather at a convivial spot and lament the lack of events and stories. They will have a drink on that to let it seep in. They'll have another few snorts and gradually the ideas will begin to germinate. Next day, when there hasn't been a single politician within acoo-ee of Canberra, devouring readers will learn that "Informed opinion in the Canberra lobbies thinks ...", or "Those in a position to express an opinion believe ..." And so it goes on.
Jack Fingleton, Introduction toBatting from Memory (1981)
I have planned a city not like any other city in the world. I have planned it not in a way that I expected any governmental authorities in the world would accept. I have planned an ideal city, a city that meets my ideal of the city of the future.
