1.
Australian Capital Territory
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The Australian Capital Territory is the federal district in the south east of Australia, enclaved within New South Wales. Its only city is Canberra, the city of Australia. The ACT also has a strip of territory around the southern end of the Beecroft Peninsula. The need for a territory was flagged by colonial delegates during the Federation conventions of the late 19th century. Section 125 of the Australian Constitution provided that, following Federation in 1901, the territory was transferred to the Commonwealth by the state of New South Wales in 1911, two years prior to the naming of Canberra as the national capital in 1913. The floral emblem of the ACT is the royal bluebell and the emblem is the gang-gang cockatoo. The economic activity of the Australian Capital Territory is heavily concentrated around Canberra and this trend continued into 2016, when the territory was ranked the third best performing out of all of Australias states and territories. There is a proportion of young adults in the region compared with other Australian states or territories. Approximately one-fifth of ACT residents were born outside of Australia, mainly in the United Kingdom, almost one-fifth speak a language other than English at home, the most common being Chinese. The ACT also has a strip of territory around the southern end of the Beecroft Peninsula. Apart from the city of Canberra, the Australian Capital Territory also contains agricultural land, small townships and communities located within the ACT include Williamsdale, Naas, Uriarra, Tharwa and Hall. There are a range of mountains, rivers and creeks in the Namadgi National Park. These include the Naas and Murrumbidgee Rivers, Canberra is noted for its warm to hot, dry summers, and cold winters with occasional fog and frequent frosts. Many of the mountains in the territorys south-west are snow-covered for at least part of the winter. Thunderstorms can occur between October and March, and annual rainfall is 623 mm, with rainfall highest in spring and summer, the highest maximum temperature recorded in the ACT was 42.8 °C at Acton on 11 January 1939. The lowest minimum temperature was −14.6 °C at Gudgenby on 11 July 1971, notable geological formations in the Australian Capital Territory include the Canberra Formation, the Pittman Formation, Black Mountain Sandstone and State Circle Shale. In the 1840s fossils of brachiopods and trilobites from the Silurian period were discovered at Woolshed Creek near Duntroon, at the time, these were the oldest fossils discovered in Australia, though this record has now been far surpassed. Other specific geological places of interest include the State Circle cutting, the oldest rocks in the ACT date from the Ordovician around 480 million years ago
2.
Parkway
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A parkway is a broad, landscaped highway thoroughfare. The term is used for a roadway in a park or connecting to a park from which trucks. Many parkways originally intended for scenic, recreational driving have evolved into major urban, the term parkway is sometimes applied more generally to a variety of limited-access roads. Over the years, many different types of roads have been labeled parkways, the terminology parkway to define this type of road was coined by Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted in their proposal to link city and suburban parks with pleasure roads. Newer roads such as Bidwell in Buffalo, New York and Park Presidio Boulevard in San Francisco, California were designed for automobiles and are broad and divided by large landscaped central medians. During the early 20th century, the meaning of the word was expanded to include limited-access highways designed for recreational driving of automobiles and their success led to more development however, expanding a citys boundaries, eventually limiting their recreational driving use. The Arroyo Seco Parkway between Downtown Los Angeles and Pasadena, California is an example of lost pastoral aesthetics and it and others have become major commuting routes, while retaining the name parkway. In New York City, construction on the Long Island Motor Parkway began in 1906, as Commissioner of New York City Parks under Mayor LaGuardia, he extended the parkways to the heart of the city, creating and linking its parks to the greater metropolitan systems. Most of the New York metropolitan parkways were designed by Gilmore Clark, another example is the Sprain Brook Parkway from The Bronx to become the Taconic State Parkway to Chatham, New York. Landscape architect George Kessler designed extensive parkway systems for Kansas City, Missouri, Memphis, Tennessee, Indianapolis, in the 1930s, as part of the New Deal the U. S. federal government constructed National Parkways designed for recreational driving and to commemorate historic trails and routes. These divided four-lane parkways have lower speed limits and are maintained by the National Park Service, an example is the Civilian Conservation Corps built Blue Ridge Parkway in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina and Virginia. Others are, Skyline Drive in Virginia, the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee, the George Washington Memorial Parkway and the Clara Barton Parkway, running along the Potomac River near Washington, D. C. were also constructed during this era. In Kentucky the term designates a controlled-access highway in the Kentucky Parkway system. They were toll roads until the bonds were repaid, now being freeways since 2006. The Arroyo Seco Parkway from Pasadena to Los Angeles, built in 1940, was the first segment of the vast Southern California freeway system and it became part of State Route 110 and was renamed the Pasadena Freeway. A2010 restoration of the freeway brought the Arroyo Seco Parkway designation back, in the New York metropolitan area, contemporary parkways are predominantly controlled-access highways restricted to non-commercial traffic, excluding trucks and tractor-trailers. Some have low overpasses that also exclude buses, the Palisades Interstate Parkway is a post-war parkway that starts at the George Washington Bridge, heads north through New Jersey, continuing through Rockland and Orange counties in New York. The Palisades Parkway was built to allow for a route from New York City to Harriman State Park
3.
Canberra
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Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of 381,488, it is Australias largest inland city, the city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory,280 km south-west of Sydney, and 660 km north-east of Melbourne. A resident of Canberra is known as a Canberran, the site of Canberra was selected for the location of the nations capital in 1908 as a compromise between rivals Sydney and Melbourne, Australias two largest cities. It is unusual among Australian cities, being a planned city outside of any state, similar to Washington, D. C. in the United States. Following an international contest for the design, a blueprint by American architects Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin was selected. The Griffins plan featured geometric motifs such as circles, hexagons and triangles, the citys design was influenced by the garden city movement and incorporates significant areas of natural vegetation that have earned Canberra the title of the bush capital. Although the Australian Capital Territory is now self-governing, the Commonwealth Government retains some influence through the National Capital Authority, the Australian Armys officer corps is trained at the Royal Military College, Duntroon and the Australian Defence Force Academy is also located in the capital. The ACT is independent of any state to prevent any one state from gaining an advantage by hosting the seat of Commonwealth power, the ACT has voting representation in the Commonwealth Parliament, and has its own independent Legislative Assembly and government, similar to the states. Compared to the averages, the unemployment rate is lower. Property prices are high, in part due to comparatively restrictive development regulations. An 1830s map of the region by Major Mitchell indeed does mark the Sullivans Creek floodplain between two mountains as Nganbra. Nganbra or Nganbira could readily have been anglicised to the name Canberry, survey plans of the district dated 1837 refer to the area as the Canberry Plain. Although popularly pronounced /ˈkænbərə/ or /ˈkænbɛrə/, the pronunciation at its official naming in 1913 was /ˈkæn. brə/. Before white settlement, the area in which Canberra would eventually be constructed was seasonally inhabited by Indigenous Australians, archaeological evidence of settlement in the region includes inhabited rock shelters, rock paintings and engravings, burial places, camps and quarry sites, and stone tools and arrangements. Artefacts suggests early human activity occurred at some point in the area 21,000 years previously, European exploration and settlement started in the Canberra area as early as the 1820s. There were four expeditions between 1820 and 1824, white settlement of the area probably dates from 1823, when a homestead or station was built on what is now the Acton peninsula by stockmen employed by Joshua John Moore. He formally applied to purchase the site on 16 December 1826, on 30 April 1827, Moore was told by letter that he could retain possession of 1,000 acres at Canberry. The European population in the Canberra area continued to grow throughout the 19th century
4.
Kambah, Australian Capital Territory
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Kambah is the northernmost suburb in the district of Tuggeranong, Canberra. It is located just south of Mount Taylor in the Canberra Nature Park and it is located north of the suburbs of Greenway and Wanniassa. It is bounded by Sulwood Drive to the north and Athllon Drive to the south east, Kambah was not designed according to the neighbourhood philosophy guiding the design of other Canberra suburbs and is the largest suburb in the city with an area of 1130 ha. The suburb name was gazetted on 22 March 1973 and it was first settled in 1974 and it was the first suburb in the satellite city of Tuggeranong. Originally it was intended to be four separate suburbs, but only one name was available, Kambah was named after the Kambah Homestead which was originally located in the Tuggeranong district. The name Kambah derives from Ngambri, the name of the clan originally lived in the area before European occupation. The same word is the origin for the name Canberra, in 2009, Kambah was voted one of the top ten bogan suburbs in Australia, according to Punch Magazine. The Murrumbidgee Country Club is located in Kambah, and Kambah also has three playing fields and a tennis club. The Kambah Pony Club and Vikings BMX Park are located in the north of the suburb, Kambah has two Scout halls, and the Kambah Woolshed is located in the suburb. Several churches are located in Kambah, the new building caused some controversy, as the imposing structure was built on what had been open grassland next to the fire station, and in a very prominent location on the Tuggeranong Parkway. Southside Bible Church began meeting at Namadgi School in January 2016, located in the north of the suburb is the group centre called Kambah Village. It has a supermarket, service station, hotel, clubs and many smaller shops, one of the car parks is used for model car racing by the ACT Model Car Racing Club. Kambah also has several local centres scattered around the suburb. Originally, four primary schools operated in Kambah, Mount Neighbour Primary School, Taylor Primary School, Urambi Primary School. Under the ACT Governments Towards 2020 plan, Mount Neighbour Primary closed at the end of the 2006 school year with Village Creek Primary following at the end of 2007, Urambi Primary School closed at the end of 2010. Kambah High School was a school for years 7-10. It had Kambah and Greenway as its main intake area, at the end of 2007 the school educated around 140 students and employed around 20 staff. Kambah High was also closed at the conclusion of the 2007 school year as part of the ACTs Towards 2020 education reforms, Kambah High and Urambi Primary were replaced by Namadgi School, a P-10 school built in 2011
5.
Freeways in Australia
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This is a list of freeways in Australia, sorted by states and territories and their corresponding routes. This list includes tollways / toll roads such as the CityLink freeway system in Melbourne and this list has over 70 entries. The only jurisdiction in Australia without freeways is the Northern Territory, victoria has the largest and densest freeway network in Australia. Princes Motorway Princes Highway, 16% of which is of freeway or dual carriageway standard, hunter Expressway Federal Highway Hume Motorway Newcastle Inner City Bypass NorthConnex - To be Complete by 2019. WestConnex - To be Complete by 2023, western Sydney Airport Motorway - Currently in Planning Phase. Currently there are three constructed expressways within Adelaide, river Torrens to Torrens Road upgrade of 4km of South Road due to complete by the end of 2018. While the overall quality of Tasmanias highway network has been constructed to a high standard, in the past, Hobart and Launceston have each had comprehensive transport studies conducted, proposing grade separated freeways running through and around them. While some of these roads have been constructed, the majority are limited access featuring at-grade intersections, devonport and Burnie are the only major population centres with freeway standard roads linking each other. There has been repeated proposals in recent years to upgrade the Midland Highway to grade separated freeway standards. This List is limited to Tasmanias freeway-standard roads. Western Freeway Hume Freeway Goulburn Valley Freeway Calder Freeway Princes Highway Duplication - Expected to be Complete by mid 2019, Princes Highway Duplication - Expected to be Complete by mid 2019. Western Distributor - Currently in Planning Phase - Expected to be Complete by 2022, western Highway Duplication - Currently Suspended - Expected to commence construction in early 2017. Perth Freight Link Stage 1 - Construction Currently Suspended - Began Construction in late 2016 and is expected to be complete by mid 2019
6.
Civic, Australian Capital Territory
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Civic is the name by which the central business district of Canberra is commonly known. It is also called Civic Centre, City Centre, Canberra City and Canberra, Canberras City was established in 1927, although the division name City was not gazetted until 20 September 1928. Walter Burley Griffins design for Canberra included a Civic Centre with a separate Market Centre located at what is now Russell, however Prime Minister Stanley Bruce vetoed this idea and only the Civic Centre was developed, the idea of the Market Centre was abandoned. Some of the earliest buildings constructed in Canberra were the Sydney, the buildings house many shops, bars and restaurants. The Canberra Centre, a shopping complex is Civics main shopping precinct with a retail presence from the national chains David Jones, Myer, Big W. Nearby is Glebe Park, a park near the centre of the city with elm trees. It has a play park. It is popular with people on their breaks and younger children from the surrounding areas. Civic also is home to the Canberra Theatre, Casino Canberra, Canberra Museum and Gallery, garema Place and City Walk are open areas of Civic for pedestrian traffic with many outdoor cafes. One of the longest running cafes in Civic is Guss Cafe on Bunda Street, a local bus station predominantly used by ACTION, the ACT government-operated bus service, is located on East Row, Alinga Street, Mort Street and Northbourne Avenue. On the western side of Northbourne Avenue is the Jolimont Centre and this height limit is equivalent to approximately 12 storeys for an office building or about 15 storeys for a residential building. Before the development of the City of Canberra, there was no commercial centre for the area. Griffins plan separated the national centre, the centre of the city, now the Parliamentary Triangle, from the Civic Centre. The commercial centre was planned to be on what Griffin described as the Municipal Axis which was projected to run north-west from Mount Pleasant, Griffins civic focus on Vernon Knoll, now known as City Hill, has not materialised mainly because of the way city building has progressed. The first major buildings planned for the centre were the Melbourne. Construction began in 1926 and they were completed in 1946. Up until the 1960s, Canberra shoppers found the retail environment frustrating, many did their weekly shopping in Queanbeyan, where the central business district was more compact. Major purchases were made in Sydney, in 1963, the Monaro Mall opened
7.
Tuggeranong
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The District of Tuggeranong is one of the original eighteen districts of the Australian Capital Territory used in land administration. The district is subdivided into divisions, sections and blocks and is the southernmost town centre of Canberra, the district comprises nineteen suburbs and occupies 117 square kilometres to the east of the Murrumbidgee River. The name Tuggeranong is derived from a Ngunnawal expression meaning cold place, from the earliest colonial times, the plain extending south into the centre of the present-day territory was referred to as Tuggeranong. At the 2011 census, the population of the district was 86,900, the traditional custodians of the district are the indigenous people of the Ngunawal tribe. 5 which, after the enactment of the Australian Capital Territory Act 1988 and this Act was subsequently repealed by the ACT Government and the district is now administered subject to the Districts Act 2002. Cave paintings and Aboriginal artifacts discovered in the area confirm that the Tuggeranong region has been occupied by the original inhabitants, in 1823 Joseph Wild was employed by Brigade Major John Ovens and Captain Mark Currie to guide them to the Murrumbidgee. They travelled south along the river and named the now known as Tuggeranong Isabellas Plain in honour of Governor Brisbanes infant daughter. Unable to cross the river near the current site of Tharwa, the last expedition in the region was undertaken by Allan Cunningham in 1824. Cunninghams reports verified that the region was suitable for grazing, in 1828, the bushranger John Tennant, known as the Terror of Argyle, was captured by James Ainslie and a party of others near the Murrumbidgee River in Tuggeranong. Tennant had been a convict assigned to Joshua John Moore at Canberry, mount Tennent, behind Tharwa, is named after the bushranger. The first authorised settler was James Murdoch, in 1824 he was offered a land grant on a small plain known by the natives as Togranong meaning cold plains. He took up the grant in 1827, Lanyon station was established in 1835 and originally owned by James Wright, his brother William and John Lanyon. Wright bought the property from Lanyon, who had remained in Australia for three years. In 1838, Wright commenced the building of the homestead, which he named after his partner, the homestead was built with the strength of a fort to withstand the attacks of bushrangers. Wright sold to the Cunningham family in 1847, in 1835 Thomas Macquoid, then Sheriff of the New South Wales Supreme Court, bought Tuggeranong station then known as Waniassa property. The rural depression of 1840 hit hard and Macquoid committed suicide and his son took over the estate and creditors allowed him to continue to operate it until it was sold by the Macquoid family in 1858 to the Cunningham family, owners of the neighbouring Lanyon property. The whole area was part of the Tuggeranong parish in the nineteenth century. Tuggranong homestead was rebuilt by the Cunningham family in 1908, in 1917 it was resumed by the Commonwealth Government for military purposes
8.
National Arboretum Canberra
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In 2004, the Government of the Australian Capital Territory held a nationwide competition for an arboretum, which was to be part of the recovery from the 2003 bushfires. The site has been planted since 2005, and includes ceremonial trees planted by visiting heads of government and it was officially opened in February 2013. The established areas include existing forests of Himalayan cedar and cork oak planted under the guidance of early town planners under general direction from the citys planner, Walter Burley Griffin. The arboretum is generally in keeping with Griffins plan for such an arboretum, a forest of Turkish Pine Pinus brutia, a species native to the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey, has been planted to commemorate Australian service personnel killed in all conflicts. In addition, a number of ceremonial Aleppo Pines have been planted on the summit of Dairy Farmers Hill and these complement a number of mature specimens of this species already existing on the hill. The National Bonsai and Penjing Collection of Australia, previously in Commonwealth Park, has relocated to the arboretum. It includes 16 eucalypt species from various habitats and a diversity of under-storey shrubs, grasses, ground covers, flowers. The arboretum has some outstanding views and a stage and amphetheatre. The stonework in the center is sourced from the town of Wee Jasper on the outskirts of Canberra. The arboretum features several pieces of public art. It is approximately 35m in length and 9. 5m tall, on another hill is a found objects artwork depicting an eagle on a nest. Official website Friends of the National Arboretum Canberra Southern Tablelands Ecosystems Park website Wee Japer Stone Lindsay Pryor National Arboretum – nearby Arboretum Norr
9.
2003 Canberra bushfires
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The 2003 Canberra bushfires involved several deaths, over 490 injured, and caused severe damage to the suburbs and outer areas of Canberra, the capital city of Australia, during 18–22 January 2003. Almost 70% of the Australian Capital Territorys pastures, forests, and nature parks were severely damaged, after burning for a week around the edges of the ACT, the fires entered the suburbs of Canberra on 18 January 2003. Over the next ten hours, four died and more than 500 homes were destroyed or severely damaged, requiring a significant relief. On 8 January 2003, lightning strikes started four fires in NSW, over the border, despite their proximity and very small initial sizes, low intensity, and low rate of spread, these fires were not extinguished or contained by NSW emergency services personnel. On 13 January, a helicopter that had been waterbombing the fires in the forests west of Canberra crashed into Bendora Dam with one person, ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope and Chief Fire Officer Peter Lucas-Smith were reviewing the fires nearby in the Snowy Hydro SouthCare helicopter. The pilot of the Southcare chopper cautiously positioned his aircraft to allow Stanhope, Lucas-Smith, all three who rescued the injured pilot and the helicopter pilot later received awards for their bravery. On 17 January, the Emergency Services Bureau released its final release prior to 18 January at 8,50 pm. This media release differed to any one in format and content. It also provided clues that were overlooked in the assessment of the risk Canberra faced. The morning of Saturday 18 January 2003 was hot, windy, temperatures as high as 40 °C and winds exceeding 80 kilometres per hour, plus a very low relative humidity, were the main weather features of the day. Two fires continued to out of control in the Namadgi National Park, with the entire park, along with the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve. A second fire, in the Brindabella Ranges, was threatening to break containment lines, by 9 am on the morning of Saturday 18 January, burned leaves appeared on lawns in houses in the Weston Creek, Kambah, and Tuggeranong suburbs bordering the western extremity of Canberra. By 10 am, news helicopters were overflying Duffy and reporting news of the interstate and internationally. Throughout the day, the fires burned closer to the fringes of Canberras suburbs, at around 2 pm, police evacuated the township of Tharwa to the south of Canberra. A state of emergency was declared at 2.45 pm by the ACTs Chief Minister, the fires reached the urban area at 3 pm. The first emergency warning advisories were broadcast shortly after, on radio and television and these advisories, accompanied by the Emergency Warning Signal stated that a significant deterioration of the fire situation in the ACT had occurred and placed several suburbs on alert to evacuate. As the day continued, these advisories advised the evacuation of several suburbs, by now, the fire had reached the fringes of many suburbs, was surrounding Tharwa, and threatened the historic Lanyon Homestead, which was hosting a wedding and protected by only a single fire truck. By 3.50 pm, some houses were alight in the suburbs of Duffy and Chapman, an ACT Fire Brigade unit, perceiving the fire from a vantage point in Fyshwick, overrode instructions by the radio controller to ignore the signs and remain where they were
10.
Murrumbidgee River
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Murrumbidgee River, a major tributary of the Murray River within the Murray–Darling basin and the second longest river in Australia. It flows through the Australian state of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, the word Murrumbidgee means big water in the Wiradjuri language, one of the local Aboriginal languages. The river itself flows through several traditional Indigenous Australian lands, home to various Aboriginal tribes, in the Australian Capital Territory, the river is bordered by a narrow strip of land on each side, which are both managed as the ‘Murrumbidgee River Corridor’. This land includes nature reserves, eight recreation reserves, a European heritage conservation zone, the mainstream of the river system flows for 900 kilometres. From its headwaters it flows to its confluence with the Murray River, the river flows for 66 kilometres through the Australian Capital Territory near Canberra, picking up the important tributaries of the Gudgenby, Queanbeyan, Molonglo and Cotter Rivers. The Murrumbidgee drains much of southern New South Wales and all of the Australian Capital Territory, tantangara Dam was completed in 1960 on the headwaters of Murrumbidgee River and diverts approximately 99% of the rivers flow at that point into Lake Eucumbene. This has extremely serious effects on fish populations and other native aquatic life and has led to serious siltation, stream contraction, fish habitat loss. The Murrumbidgee where it enters the ACT is effectively half the river it used to be, a study suggests a section of the upper rivers channels are relatively new in geological terms, dating from the early Miocene. It is suggested that the Upper Murrumbidgee is an anabranch of the Tumut River when geological uplift near Adaminaby diverted its flow, from Gundagai onwards the rivers flow within its ancestral channel. The Murrumbidgee River runs through the lands of the Ngunnawal, Wiradjuri, Nari Nari. The Murrumbidgee River was known to Europeans before it was discovered by them. In 1820 the explorer Charles Throsby informed the Governor of New South Wales that he anticipated finding a river of salt water. In the expedition journal, Throsby wrote as a marginal note, the river he had stumbled upon was in fact the Molonglo River, Throsby reached the actual river in April 1821. In 1823, Brigade-Major John Ovens and Captain Mark Currie reached the upper Murrumbidgee when exploring south of Lake George and they then rowed back upstream, against the current, to their starting point. Sturts description of their passage through the junction of the Murrumbidgee and we were carried at a fearful rate down its gloomy and contracted banks. At 3 p. m. Hopkinson called out that we were approaching a junction, the Murrumbidgee basin was opened to settlement in the 1830s and soon became an important farming area. When in 1823 Captain Currie and Major Ovens were led along its bank on to the beautiful Maneroo country by Joseph Wild, even in 1821, when Hume found the Yass Plains, almost on its bank, he makes no special mention of the river. This theory is the more feasible as the river has retained its native name, if a white man of any known position had made the discovery, it would at once have received the name of some person holding official sway
