11 posts tagged “canberra”

See I've been here nine years now so I'm a) almost a local and b) hooked into the climate here now.  So I now know that Anzac Day, aside from being a day of sombre reflection, also marks the official beginning of the cold weather here in Canberra.

For example - today is a perfectly glorious miserable winter's day.  Maximum of 11 degress, raining on and off with possible storms later, and lots of gusty wind about to add further chill.  And I love it.  I love it so much.  My standard line is a thing about "tundra blood" and being of northern european stock, "you call this cold" blah blah de blah, but days like this you just want to sit on the couch under a favourite blanket and watch dvds or muck about on a games console all day long.

And just check out the forecast for the next several days:

Monday         Mostly fine day.            Min 3    Max 13
Tuesday        Mostly fine day.            Min 6    Max 14
Wednesday   Mostly fine.                  Min 4    Max 14
Thursday       Fine.                            Min   4    Max  15
Friday           Fine.                            Min   4    Max  15
Saturday       Mostly fine,                   Min   3    Max  16

Great stuff.  Finally we get to wear scarves, and layers, and torment little children with cold hands, or, as per my wife's habit, harrass our partners with cold nose nuzzles.  We trudge into the office and the coat stands fill up by 9.  Trips out for a coffee run start needing rock-paper-scissors to decide who goes. 

So yeah, Anzac Day = winter starting. 

And this is how the rest of it works.  Autumn usually starts right on the equinox (March 21st-ish) but this year it didn't arrive until just a couple of weeks ago.  Spring starts in early October or so, then it's brisk to mild until the warm weather starts to kick in from Remembrance Day onwards.  We start getting the hot, dry days come late December with a good blast of a few weeks of temps in the high 30s and early 40s in January.  This year was particularly bad, and not just here of course but right through the inland and coast from Adelaide east.

In February we get a week of cooler weather, with max temps usually in the late teens and early 20s, which promptly freaks all the trees out (they start turning much too early) and provides a signal, through a wonderful autumnal smell in the air that you catch ever so briefly in the evening, that winter's coming eventually.  Then we get another few weeks of hot, blasty, dry and windy weather until mid March.  By which point everyone starts getting sick of daylight saving.  Then it's the equinox and we're back to the cooler weather again.

I reckon late March through to late April is the best time to visit Canberra.  The older suburbs, with their streets lined by well-established oak trees, put on these picturesque diplays.  It's pleasurably cooler in the day and cold enough at night to be snug.

When I was new here I used to get asked how I liked it, having come from Brisbane and calling myself a queenslander, but I have no problems.  I prefer the summers here, without the cloying humidity you deal with closer to the sea.  But autumn and winter, my oh my, for me they are compelling reasons to keep me from thinking about leaving. 

 

I think I can confidently predict that Working Dog's new production The Hollowmen (ABC, 9:30pm tonight) will be one of the highest rating television shows in Canberra this week.  Well, it's an easy call given the ABC pretty much wins the ratings here week in week out anyway.  Snooty, aren't we?  From a review in today's edition of The Age -

...what you won't see here are government ministers, or the Prime Minister: the focus of The Hollowmen is firmly on the army of grey-suited men and women who advise them, their unelected underlings, the foot soldiers in the ongoing fight to keep the political machine chugging along.

I have been waiting forever for a good quality Australian political satire on our television screens, though I will make mention of Backberner from several years ago as well as Shaun Micallef and the crew (especially the wonderful Kat Stewart) more recently at Newstopia on the sketch side of things.  Invariably, comparisons will be made to Yes, Minister but the focus on the office of the PM will avoid these.  Should be interesting, with heads nodding in sympathy and recollection of dealings with Ministers' offices across the capital tonight...

The news 'round these parts this week has just been saturated with speculation about how much shit was going to break out at this morning's Olympic Torch Relay through the streets of Canberra, and especially about the role of the blue-tracksuited "games officials".  The Boy and I gave K a lift to work between about 6:30am and 7am this morning (for a 7:30am meeting she had on - seriously, that's her work at the moment, crazy), and Commonwealth Bridge was full of chinese-australians making their way over to where everything was going to be happening.

And here's the thing - there were thousands of them, with a large number of professionally made signs, banners and flags.  I heard on the local radio that just one of the touring companies involved organised 83 - count 'em, 83 - busloads of participants from the Sydney and Woollongong areas to come in bright and early this morning, with the company spokesman saying that the bookings had started about a week and a half ago.  Around the time the problems were evident at the London and Paris legs of the relay.  It seems as though the Chinese Embassy has been heavily involved in getting numbers out to the event, you'd have to think to minimise any poor publicity in a classic face-saving effort.

But it hasn't worked thanks to the pro-China fervour demonstrated by supporters, in many cases resulting in violence occasioned to people protesting peacefully.  Take a look at this thread over at Canberra group-blog the RiotACT, this ABC article, and this one over at News.com.au plus their photo gallery.  To be frank I'm just glad it's over and Canberra can get on with autumn...

Update 25th April:  Looks like the Chinese Embassy definitely helped according to this article over at News.com.au -

...

ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope confirmed the Chinese Embassy in Canberra was closely involved in helping transport up to 10,000 Chinese students, ensuring pro-China demonstrators vastly outnumbered Tibetan activists.

...

It is understood Beijing's officials in Canberra were in constant contact with travel companies and student leaders who were recruiting China's red army of young activists.

Mr Stanhope said he was not aware of the fine details of Beijing officials' involvement but he was certain they played a role.

"I have absolutely no doubt," he said. "In fact the ambassador has indicated that he was in contact with representative Chinese organisational groups, (for the) most part in Sydney and Melbourne.

"I don't know the nature of the links or the organisation but I know there was contact between the embassy and Chinese representative groups."

 

Tomorrow marks five years since the bushfire that raged through many of the leafy streets and suburbs of the place I now call home.  And, in a way, it was actually this event that finally made me inwardly accept Canberra as home.  A large part of it was triggered by seeing this cartoon a couple of days after -

 

I wish I still had the e-mail I wrote to friends just after it all happened, explaining our experience of it.  But I do remember not seeing blue sky for what felt like weeks on end thanks to the smoke, driving out to get some supplies and realising that the lights on Mt Taylor (which we now live right near the base of) weren't street lights but spot fires, shopping at the supermarket with everyone blithely ignoring the centre management's request to evacuate the complex, and staying tuned to local ABC radio (who were simply amazing on the day) until the power cut out.  We weren't really in any danger, though, like nearly everywhere else, we could have been with the right wind, but K was sufficiently worried about it to decamp with her sister to her place in Braddon for the night, leaving me with the ute already packed with valuables and the cat carriers ready in case I had to make a quick getaway. 

But to get back to the cartoon - Canberra's a funny old place at times, what with a little over 40% of the workforce in government, the locals here can be a little sensitive about the rest of Australia hating us because this is where the politicians are and where their hard earned tax dollars go.  As Geoff Pryor alludes to, it's often thought of as a place without a soul, without a heart, I expect thanks to the planned layout and "national" works of architecture around.

But damn, it's a tight community when it comes down to it.  I saw the scene depicted myself driving past the evacuation centre in Woden, with people dropping off mattresses and food and basically everyone pulling it together.  I think that part of the reason the post-fire enquiries went on for so long is because the community was so pissed off about the lack of planning and plain old policy foresight that allowed it to occur in the first place, underpinned by a deep seated pride in our surroundings and sorrow at what had happened to the bushland we're surrounded by and enjoy every day.

So I'd been in Canberra for nearly three years by this stage, had been living with K in our little townhouse with the cats for about a year and a half, and I just remember being so deeply impressed by the strength of this place, the hidden fortitude, the sense that dammit, we look after our own here and we don't care for a second what the rest of the country thinks. 

I'll always call myself a Queenslander and I'll always have a part of me that sings when I'm back in Brisbane.  But the time has now long gone - about five years now - where I'll answer queries about where I live by adding "...having moved there from Brisbane".  It's nearly enough to mean I'll start supporting the Raiders though we're not quite there yet... 

Couple of links - Wiki article here, some photos from the National Library's collection here.

 

Just got these photos from a colleague's sister, it snowed plenty down in Bungendore (near Canberra) this morning.  Damned cold in these parts at the moment - and I'm lovin' it!  Further comments and coverage from locals at the Riot-ACT.

 

 

 

Rather than add yet more photos to the post below I thought it best to create a separate one for these two pictures taken last night by a colleague's husband by someone out at Yass...

Canberra blog the RiotACT also has some coverage and photos.

Canberrans woke up to what sort of looked like a winter wonderland this morning, bringing autumn one day early (though I always figure it sort of officially starts on the Canberra Day long weekend around March 20th). 

Part of the town got hammered by a hailstorm which swept through last night, here's a sample of some of the photos being sent around this morning, and here's the report at the Sydney Morning Herald with a few more photos there....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and a couple from near my workplace...

 

 

The other thing I like to do while at Old Parliament House, aside from childishly mocking the painting of our current Prime Minister of course, is to hunt down Bill Leak's portrait of art critic Robert Hughes in the part of the building dedicated to the collection of the National Portrait Gallery.  I've managed to locate a representation of the work online -

 

Naturally this little piece doesn't do it justice.  It's a visceral piece of art, menacing, absolutely goosebump-inducing.  The image of Hughes appears to come out of this thick oily blackness as if he's been a part of it all along, this old and (physically) broken man in a crappy old bathrobe, constrained and straining.  But the chin's up, the stare is set - You Fuckers.  You Bastards.  You Will Not Drag Me Down.

The National Portrait Gallery has this to say about it -

Bill Leak started work on this portrait in 1999, as Hughes began filming his television series on Australia - Beyond the Fatal Shore. Hughes had filmed only two scenes when he suffered a near-fatal car accident on the coast of Western Australia.

The series was cobbled together during his agonising convalescence, and Hughes had little control over the final cut, but its negative reception led to his remark that for all he cared, they could "tow Australia out to sea and sink it". The accident led to a protracted legal process; three years later, there was still talk of extraditing Hughes from the USA to face charges. His second marriage broke down, and his only son died.

The effect of these experiences on his friend led Leak to abandon his earlier, more detailed portrait for this one, inspired by the terrifying late work of Goya, conveying Hughes' furious pain, despair and determination in the years after 1999.

Unfortunately the Gallery's had the work in storage for a bit over a year now, to the chagrin of many including the staff (just based on a couple of conversations I had with them).  Would be great if they could lend it out instead of tucking it away somewhere - everybody deserves to be as terrified as I was upon seeing it.

Amber Westin appeared in the Magistrates Court on Thursday. She cut a tragic figure. Petite, limping, and with facial injuries, including a number of missing teeth, the young mother sometimes wept as police outlined their allegations against her.

This has been a big story in Canberra this week.  On Tuesday morning an elderly woman was killed by the abovementioned Ms Westin who was running a red light with police right behind her.  Full story is in today's Canberra Times.  Happened not more than 20 or 30 metres from the graffitti pictured in a post below. 

It's been discussed to death over at Canberra blog The RiotACT too, and with some very cranky arguments going on it's been interesting seeing the progression over the following days as more info came to light.  Last year we had a young woman killed in the middle of Canberra in similar-ish circumstances, so I think it's hit a bit of a raw nerve in the community here. 

I'll be honest with you - I don't even know why I'm posting this.  I suspect though, as the title implies, it's tied up in ordinary everyday fears.  I cross that street nearly every day.  Even more importantly, K and the boy wander through that area on a regular basis too.  It's local.  It's close.  More from me later on a lighter subject. 

Since seeing a few of the photos of street art that Davemonkey took a couple of months ago down in Melbourne, I've been meaning to take a couple of pictures of Canberra examples that I'm aware of.  When not mucking about with teddy bears yesterday, I popped down to the canal/drain thingy down in Woden and checked 'em out - not of the same quality but here they are anyway.

 

I walk past this on the way to the bus interchange nearly every day.  Probably one of my favourites, just for the light and shadow on the dude's face.  Several months ago there was a big long one along the side of the canal referencing the July 7 attacks on London commuters - maybe not the most reassuring piece to see on the way to work in the morning.  Here's a better photo of the dude and a few more of another piece up near the northern end -

 

 

 

 

Not sure if you can read the detail - it says "The Cronies of Canberra - the lyin', the rich and the warhungry".  There are other graffitti places around Canberra that are also ok, so I might get around to taking photos of those as well.  What I'd really like to see is more stencilling around the place, particularly the political kind.  For a while we had "Freedom Gestapo" ones underneath a rendition of Donald Rumsfeld but they're now long gone.

And before I go - Canberra's a dry old town at the best of times, so it means that they've been rationalising ponds and other water features.  So what used to be on ok sort of place to sit down and have a bite to eat is now quite crappy.

 

Plus there are no ducks anywhere.  Dammit.  I'm hoping by the time I take time off work to look after the boy full time that the water has magically returned and we can chase the fowl around together.