As you’d expect from a capital, Canberra is full of civic buildings and spaces. Here are some of the more interesting and architecturally striking examples. The Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly was designed by the same architects as Parliament House, but on a far smaller budget. It’s a well judged and low key addition to…
Australia has many reminders of the cost of war but none as powerful as the National War Memorial and ANZAC Parade in Canberra. The 102,000 Australians who have lost their lives are remembered in the commemorative area including the Hall of Memory with the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier. The building itself is appropriately impressive, designed…
Architecture fans are in for a treat in Canberra, with a large number of interesting buildings in a small area, with surprising variety and heritage for a city only a hundred years old (which didn’t really grow until the 1950s). One of the most famous and striking is the domed Academy of Science, surrounded by…
Most of central Canberra is relatively flat, but there are some decent sized (~800m) hills within a few km which provide some great views of the city. From a vantage point the planned nature of the city is apparent, with the land axis Mount Ainslie to Parliament, bisected by the water axis of Lake Burley…
Despite being a young city, only becoming the capital in 1913 when it was little more than pasture, remaining mostly that way until the 1950s, Canberra has some impressive museums and galleries. Here are three of the main ones – the vibrant National Museum of Australia, brilliant National Gallery of Australia, and stylish National Portrait…
As you’d expect from a capital city Canberra is full of embassies and consulates. Thanks to it’s planned nature they’re all pretty much in one area, on land owned by the Australian government and allocated out. There are a huge range of architectural styles on display, most clearly representing the nationality of each country. Here…
Canberra is home to not one, but two Australian parliaments. For 61 years Australia had a provisional parliament, built to house 300 people. By the time the new, permanent, parliament was opened in 1998 there were 3,000 people working in the old building, which even with multiple extensions was short of space.The new Parliament is…
