Essential Canberra facts

It seems my last entry has stirred up a bit of controversy! But not for the reasons I expected, for those who don't know much about Canberra, here are some essential facts taken from the Visit Canberra website.

Essential Canberra facts at a glance.

Population
About 325,000 people live in Canberra.

Location
Canberra is located in the Australian Capital Territory, which is surrounded by New South Wales. The city is 150 kilometres inland and 571 metres above the Pacific Ocean, 281 kilometres from Sydney and 660 kilometres from Melbourne.

History
Located on the ancient lands of the Indigenous Ngunnawal people, Canberra’s name is thought to mean ‘meeting place’, derived from the Aboriginal word Kamberra. European settlers first came in the 1830s, and the area was chosen for the federal capital in 1908. Canberra’s special contrast of nature and urban living was planned in 1912 by master designer, Walter Burley Griffin, a Chicago architect who won an international design competition. The provisional Parliament House was opened in 1927 in what was then a treeless paddock.

My learned friend Scott likes to describe Canberra as a 'great big deserted sheep paddock', but that is a somewhat short sighted view (not even shared by his wife I might add!). We often fail to realise the value and potential of some places immediately. Take the Dutch for example -- in 1667 they swapped Manhattan Island for an obscure spice island in South East Asia held by the English. I guess the lesson here is that we often can't see the true value of the things we currently hold in our possession -- even an obscure 'sheep paddock'.

I was fascinated today to learn of the aboriginal heritage of the location as a 'meeting place' -- even the word Canberra is a derivation of the indigenous name for the land.