Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is one of the home counties in the south east of England. It is bordered by Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, Buckinghamshire to the west. For government statistical purposes, it is placed in the East of England region. In 2013, the county had a population of 1,140,700 in an area of 634 square miles; the four towns that have between 50,000 and 100,000 residents are Hemel Hempstead, Watford and St Albans. Hertford, once the main market town for the medieval agricultural county, derives its name from a hart and a ford, used as the components of the county's coat of arms and flag. Elevations are high for the region in the west; these reach over 800 feet in the western projection around Tring, in the Chilterns. The county's borders are the watersheds of the Colne and Lea. Hertfordshire's undeveloped land is agricultural and much is protected by green belt; the county's landmarks span many centuries, ranging from the Six Hills in the new town of Stevenage built by local inhabitants during the Roman period, to Leavesden Film Studios.
The volume of intact medieval and Tudor buildings surpasses London, in places in well-preserved conservation areas in St Albans which includes some remains of Verulamium, the town where in the 3rd century an early recorded British martyrdom took place. Saint Alban, a Romano-British soldier, took the place of a Christian priest and was beheaded on Holywell Hill, his martyr's cross of a yellow saltire on a blue field is reflected in the flag and coat of arms of Hertfordshire. Hertfordshire is well-served with railways, providing good access to London; the largest sector of the economy of the county is in services. Hertfordshire was the area assigned to a fortress constructed at Hertford under the rule of Edward the Elder in 913. Hertford is derived from meaning deer crossing; the name Hertfordshire is first recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 1011. Deer feature in many county emblems. There is evidence of humans living in Hertfordshire from the Mesolithic period, it was first farmed during the Neolithic period and permanent habitation appeared at the beginning of the Bronze Age.
This was followed by tribes settling in the area during the Iron Age. Following the Roman conquest of Britain in AD 43, the aboriginal Catuvellauni submitted and adapted to the Roman life. Saint Alban, a Romano-British soldier, took the place of a Christian priest and was beheaded on Holywell Hill, his martyr's cross of a yellow saltire on a blue field is reflected in the flag and coat of arms of Hertfordshire as the yellow field to the stag or Hart representing the county. He is the Patron Saint of Hertfordshire. With the departure of the Roman Legions in the early 5th century, the now unprotected territory was invaded and colonised by the Anglo-Saxons. By the 6th century the majority of the modern county was part of the East Saxon kingdom; this short lived kingdom collapsed in the 9th century, ceding the territory of Hertfordshire to the control of the West Anglians of Mercia. The region became an English shire in the 10th century, on the merger of the West Saxon and Mercian kingdoms. A century William of Normandy received the surrender of the surviving senior English Lords and Clergy at Berkhamsted, resulting in a new Anglicised title of William the Conqueror before embarking on an uncontested entry into London and his coronation at Westminster.
Hertfordshire was used for some of the new Norman castles at Bishop's Stortford, at King's Langley, a staging post between London and the royal residence of Berkhamsted. The Domesday Book recorded the county as having nine hundreds. Tring and Danais became one—Dacorum—from Danis Corum or Danish rule harking back to a Viking not Saxon past; the other seven were Braughing, Cashio, Hertford and Odsey. The first shooting-down of a zeppelin over Great Britain during WW1 happened in Cuffley; as London grew, Hertfordshire became conveniently close to the English capital. However, the greatest boost to Hertfordshire came during the Industrial Revolution, after which the population rose dramatically. In 1903, Letchworth became the world's first garden city and Stevenage became the first town to redevelop under the New Towns Act 1946. From the 1920s until the late 1980s, the town of Borehamwood was home to one of the major British film studio complexes, including the MGM-British Studios. Many well-known films were made here including the first three Star Wars movies.
The studios used the name of Elstree. American director Stanley Kubrick not only used to shoot in those studios but lived in the area until his death. Big Brother UK and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? have been filmed there. EastEnders is filmed at Elstree. Hertfordshire has seen development at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden. On 17 October 2000, the Hatfield rail crash killed four people with over 70 injured; the crash exposed the shortcomings of Railtrack, which saw speed restrictions and major track replacement. On 10 May 2002, the second of the Potters Bar rail accidents occurred killing seven people.
Australian–American Memorial
The Australian–American Memorial is in Canberra, the national capital of Australia, commemorates the help given by the United States during the Pacific War. In 1948 the Australian-American Association proposed "to establish a Memorial in Canberra in the form of a monument or statue, to perpetuate the services and sacrifices of the United States forces in Australia and to symbolise Australian-American comradeship in arms". After an appeal for finances by Prime Minister of Australia, Sir Robert Menzies, the Australian people subscribed more than the eventual cost of £100,000 a vast sum of money for such a public memorial, indicating the gratitude of the nation. Additional memorials were constructed in Adelaide that used the surplus funds. A committee, which included Richard Casey and Sir Keith Murdoch, was formed to examine designs for the monument. Sydney architect Richard M. Ure won the design following a nationwide competition. Work took just over a year. Vice President, Richard Nixon, visited the site in the early stages of construction.
It was unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II on 16 February 1954. The memorial is a hollow, tapered column with a steel framework sheeted with aluminium panels that were sandblasted to give the appearance of stone. Two murals feature at the base, one relating the story of American combat in the Pacific and the other a profile map of the United States in copper; the column is surrounded by a water-filled moat about 3m wide. Under the dedication is a bronze wreath, carved by Walter Langcake, where floral wreaths are laid on official commemorations; the column is topped with a bronze sphere surmounted by a stylised figure of the American eagle by the distinguished sculptor, Paul Beadle. The Memorial's height is 79 metres, it was built at Russell Hill on the extended line of Kings Avenue, near one of the three nodes of the Parliamentary Triangle. Russell Offices has since been developed around the memorial, as the headquarters of the Australian Defence Force and the Department of Defence, with the immediate surrounds called Blamey Square after Field Marshal Sir Thomas Blamey.
It underwent a major restoration in 2014. Australia–United States relations Pacific War Australian-American Memorial at the National Capital Authority website Australian - American Memorial at Monument Australia website
Mount Stromlo Observatory
Mount Stromlo Observatory located just outside Canberra, Australia, is part of the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Australian National University. The observatory was established in 1924 as The Commonwealth Solar Observatory; the Mount Stromlo site had been used for observations in the previous decade, a small observatory being established there by Pietro Baracchi using the Oddie telescope located there in 1911. The dome built to house the Oddie telescope was the first Commonwealth building constructed in the newly established Australian Capital Territory. In 1911 a delegation for an Australian Solar Observatory went to London seeking Commonwealth assistance; the League of the Empire sought subscriptions to assist raising funds. Survey work to determine the site's suitability had begun as soon as the idea of a new Capital was established. By 1909 the Australian Association for the Advancement of Science was assisted in this effort by Hugh Mahon; until World War II, the observatory specialised in atmospheric observations.
During the war the workshops contributed to the war effort by producing gun sights, other optical equipment. After the war, the observatory shifted direction to stellar and galactic astronomy and was renamed The Commonwealth Observatory. Dr R. Wooley Director of the Observatory, worked to gain support for a larger reflector, arguing that the southern hemisphere should attempt to compete with the effectiveness of American telescopes; the ANU was established in 1946 in nearby Canberra and joint staff appointments and graduate studies were immediately undertaken. A formal amalgamation took place in 1957, with Mount Stromlo Observatory becoming part of the Department of Astronomy in the Research School of Physical Sciences at ANU, leading to the formation of the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics in 1986. On 18 January 2003, the devastating Canberra firestorm hit Mount Stromlo, destroying five telescopes, seven homes, the heritage-listed administration building; the only telescope to escape the fires was the 1886 15-centimetre Farnham telescope.
Relics from the fire are preserved in the collection of the National Museum of Australia. They include a piece of melted optical glass; the latter has pieces of wire fused into it from the fierce heat of the fire. Redevelopment is completed and the Observatory is now a major partner in the construction of the Giant Magellan Telescope; the current observatory director is Matthew Colless. The director's residence, destroyed in the 2003 fire, was rebuilt and opened to the public as a memorial in 2015; the MACHO project detected the first instance of the gravitational lensing of one star by another, known as gravitational microlensing, in 1993. This discovery was made by repeated imaging of the Magellanic Clouds with the refurbished 50-inch Great Melbourne Telescope, equipped with a mosaic of eight 2048 by 2048 pixel CCDs; the camera was constructed by the Centre for Particle Astrophysics in California, at the time was the largest digital camera built. Observations began in July 1992 and the project concluded in December 1999.
In total, the MACHO project made over 200 billion stellar measurements, with the data processed both at the observatory and at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Brian Schmidt organised an international collaboration, known as the High-z Supernova Search Team, to study the rate of change of the Cosmic Expansion using type Ia supernovae. In 1998, the team reach the conclusion that the cosmic expansion was accelerating, contrary to expectations; this universal acceleration implies the existence of dark energy and was named the top science breakthrough of 1998 by Science magazine. In 2011, Brian P. Schmidt shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with Saul Perlmutter and Adam Riess for such observations which provided evidence for the accelerating Universe; the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey, co-led by Matthew Colless, undertook the largest galaxy redshift survey of its time, was conducted at the Anglo-Australian Observatory with the 3.9m Anglo-Australian Telescope between 1997 and 11 April 2002.
In total, the survey measured more than 245,000 galaxies, along with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the definitive measurements of large scale structure in the low-redshift Universe. The instrumentation group at Mount Stromlo Observatory has built two instruments for the Gemini Telescope; this includes the near infrared integral field spectrometer, NIFS, deployed on Gemini-North, the adaptive optics imager for Gemini-South, GSAOI. NIFS, when nearly completed, was destroyed in the bushfires of 18 January 2003, rebuilt. A new rapid survey telescope, SkyMapper, is under construction. SkyMapper will be operated remotely from Mount Stromlo. Mount Stromlo hosts a DORIS earth station installed by France's CNES. Mount Stromlo Observatory is located at an altitude of 770 metres above sea level on Mount Stromlo. Situated west of the centre of Canberra, near the district of Weston Creek. Canberra's main water supply treatment plant is located nearby. List of observatories R. Bhathal, R. Sutherland, & H. Butcher, Mt Stromlo Observatory, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne VIC, ISBN 9781486300754 Alcock, C. et al.
1993, Nature, 365, 621-623 Paczynski, B. 1996, Annu. Rev. Astro. Astrophys. 34, 419-459 Stromlo An Australian Observatory by Tom Frame and Don Faulkner and Unwin 1993, ISBN 1-86508-659-2 ANU Website Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the ANU SkyMapper Website. Mt. Stromlo. SLR Global Performance
Captain James Cook Memorial
The Captain James Cook Memorial was built by the Commonwealth Government to commemorate the Bicentenary of Captain James Cook's first sighting of the east coast of Australia. The memorial includes a water jet located in the central basin and a skeleton globe sculpture at Regatta Point of Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra, showing the paths of Cook's expeditions. On 25 April 1970, Queen Elizabeth II inaugurated the memorial; the water jet is driven by two 3.3 kVA 4-stage centrifugal pumps capable of pumping up to 250 litres per second against a head of 183 metres. The water velocity at the water nozzle is 260 km/h. While running both pumps the main jet throws six tons of water into the air at any instant, reaching a maximum height of 152 metres. Alternatively the jet can be run on a single pump reaching a lower height of 114 metres. During special occasions it can be illuminated with coloured lights; the water jet operates daily from 11am to 2pm. In periods of high wind the jet is automatically disabled as water landing on the nearby Commonwealth Avenue Bridge can be a hazard to traffic.
The water jet must be shut down when drought lowers the water level of the lake. Media related to Captain Cook Memorial, Canberra at Wikimedia Commons Media related to Captain Cook Memorial Jet at Wikimedia Commons
Barrington, New South Wales
Barrington is a small village on the Barrington River, 5 kilometres north-west of Gloucester, New South Wales, Australia on Thunderbolts Way. The small town is considered a main gateway to the Barrington Tops National Park; the town is home to a range of heritage structures including the historic Barrington River Bridge, Barrington River Cottage, the pioneer cemetery, the Barrington Public School
Australian War Memorial
The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in wars involving the Commonwealth of Australia, some conflicts involving personnel from the Australian colonies prior to Federation. The memorial includes an extensive national military museum; the Australian War Memorial was opened in 1941, is regarded as one of the most significant memorials of its type in the world. The Memorial is located in Canberra, it is the north terminus of the city's ceremonial land axis, which stretches from Parliament House on Capital Hill along a line passing through the summit of the cone-shaped Mount Ainslie to the northeast. No continuous roadway links the two points, but there is a clear line of sight from the front balcony of Parliament House to the War Memorial, from the front steps of the War Memorial back to Parliament House; the Australian War Memorial consists of three parts: the Commemorative Area including the Hall of Memory with the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier, the Memorial's galleries and Research Centre.
The Memorial has an outdoor Sculpture Garden. The Memorial is open daily from 10am until 5pm, except on Christmas Day. Many people include Anzac Parade as part of the Australian War Memorial because of the Parade's physical design leading up to the War Memorial, but it is maintained separately by the National Capital Authority. Charles Bean, Australia's official World War I historian, first conceived a museum memorial to Australian soldiers while observing the 1916 battles in France; the Australian War Records Section was established in May 1917 to ensure preservation of records relating to the war being fought at the time. Records and relics were exhibited first in Melbourne and Canberra. An architecture competition in 1927 did not produce a winning entry. Two of the entrants, Sydney architects Emil Sodersten and John Crust, were however encouraged to re-present a joint design. A limited budget and the effects of the Depression confined the scope of the project; the building was completed in 1941, after the outbreak of World War II.
It was opened following a Remembrance Day ceremony on 11 November 1941 by the Governor-General Lord Gowrie, a former soldier whose honours include the Victoria Cross. Additions since the 1940s have allowed the remembrance of Australia's participation in all recent conflicts; the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier was added in 1993, to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of World War I. Directors of the AWM to the present: 1919–1920 – Henry Gullett 1920–1952 – Major John Linton Treloar, 1942–1946 – Arthur Bazley 1952–1966 – Major J. J. McGrath, 1966–1974 – W. R. Lancaster 1974–1975 – Bill Sweeting 1975–1982 – Noel Joseph Flanagan, 1982–1987 – Air Vice Marshal James H. Flemming, 1987–1990 – Keith W. Pearson, 1990–1994 – Brendon E. W. Kelson 1996–2012 – Major General Steve Gower, 2012–present – The Hon. Dr. Brendan Nelson, Remembrance Nature Park, located behind the War Memorial, is the Canberra terminus of the Remembrance Driveway, a system of arboreal parks and road-side stops between Sydney and Canberra commemorating the 24 World War II and Vietnam War Victoria Cross recipients.
Within that Nature Park is a small bronze plaque mounted on a large boulder, commemorating Indigenous Australians who have fought for their country. Anzac Parade is a short, broad boulevard named in honour of the soldiers of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, it stretches from near the north shore of Lake Burley Griffin to the foot of the Memorial proper, along the line of sight from Parliament House. It separates the residential suburbs of Campbell and Reid, is heavily trafficked as a route between northeast Canberra and Kings Avenue Bridge. Along each side of the Parade is a row of monuments commemorating specific military campaigns or services, such as the Vietnam War and Australia's wartime nurses; the monuments are sculptures in a variety of styles ranging from naturalistic to Modern. The foot of the Parade, near the lake, is paired by monumental sculptures in the form of gigantic basket handles, donated to the Memorial by New Zealand; the two monuments are dedicated to Australia and New Zealand and are inspired by the Māori proverb Mau tena kiwai o te kete, maku tenei, "Each of us at a handle of the basket", signifying the long tradition of cooperation and general closeness between the two Commonwealth countries.
The symbolic association of the two nations is carried forward in the vegetation decorating Anzac Parade. Long beds of New Zealand Hebe shrubs line the middle of the avenue, behind the two rows of monuments are narrow bands of Australian eucalypt trees; the Memorial proper is sited on a broad pie slice-shaped lawn at the north end of Anzac Parade. The commemorative area is situated in the open centre of the memorial building, the sculpture garden is on the lawn to the west; the heart of the commemorative area is the Hall of Memory, a tall domed chapel with a small floor plan in the form of an octagon. The walls are lined with tiny mosaic tiles from the floor to the dome. Inside lies the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier. Three of the walls, facing east and south feature stained glass designs representing qualities of Australian servicemen and women. At the four walls facing northeast, northwest and southwest are mosaic images of a Sailor, a Servicewoman, a Soldier and an Airman respectively.
The mosaic and stained glass are the work of the on
Duntroon, Australian Capital Territory
Duntroon is a suburb of the city of Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory. Robert Campbell's property Duntroon was situated on the limestone plains of New South Wales in the area, now covered by the ACT. Given government compensation for the loss of his ship the Sydney while under government charter, Robert Campbell, sent James Ainslie to collect 700 sheep from the government flocks at Bathurst and to go southward looking for suitable pasture. Ainslie reached the Limestone Plains and selected a site on the slopes above the Molonglo River where the Royal Military College now stands. In 1825 Campbell applied for and received his grant, naming it "Duntroon" after the family castle, Duntrune Castle on Loch Crinan in Argyll, Scotland. Duntrune Castle on Loch Crinan in Argyll, Scotland was sold to clan Malcolm in 1792. Long before this. In 1833, Campbell built "Duntroon House" out of stone with wide verandahs. In 1862 Robert's son George added a large two-storey extension. In its final form the house is a great example of colonial architecture.
It now serves as the officers' mess for the Royal Military College, Duntroon and is situated in the suburb of Duntroon, Canberra. "Duntroon House" was the centre of activity for Campbell's station. Gardens were established around the house including many exotic trees and an intricate maze was grown a conservatory, orchard and dairy farm were built in the surrounding area. Duntroon was recommended as the site for Australia's Military College by Lord Kitchener, commissioned in 1910 to report on the country's defence needs; the government rented Duntroon for two years before obtaining the title to Duntroon and its surrounding 360 acres through the creation of the Australian Capital Territory. On 27 June 1911 the Royal Military College opened at Duntroon; the Prisoner of War National Memorial is located at Duntroon. It consists of the Changi Chapel, constructed by Australian and British prisoners of war in Singapore in 1944, it was packed away and taken to a military store in Australia. It was reconstructed using old diagrams and notes from the architect Hamish Cameron-Smith and unveiled in 1988 to commemorate the POWs.
In the east calcareous Shales from the Canberra Formation is overlain by Quaternary alluvium. This rock is the limestone in the original name of Canberra "Limestone Plains"; the Narrabundah Ashstone can be seen in the easternmost corner. In the higher west including Mount Pleasant is grey quartz andesite from the Ainslie Volcanics. Around Australian Defence Force Academy is grey dacite from the Ainslie Volcanics. Geology of the Australian Capital Territory covers more of the geology of the ACT
