Canberra is not the most boring city in Australia
BORING, dull and bland are often words associated with this Aussie city but is it actually Australia’s best kept secret? Here are some surprising facts.
IT MAY be the capital of Australia, but Canberra gets no special treatment when it comes to its reputation.
Boring, dull and bland are often words you hear to describe the landlocked city but 2014 changed all that. Canberra was decreed the best place in the world to live by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) that ranked quality of life to nine measures of wellbeing.
According to Visit Canberra there’s more to the city than just parliament, roundabouts and museums. So is Canberra Australia’s best kept secret? Here are 12 surprising facts.
MORE: CANBERRA IS THE BEST CITY IN THE WORLD
Man on the moon
A satellite dish near Canberra was one of the sites used to show ‘the man on the moon’ to the world. The Honey Suckle Creek Tracking Station near the capital was one of three dishes used to record the historic event in 1969.
Famous Aussie history
At the National Museum of Australia, the oversized heart of racehorse Phar Lap is the most requested visitor object, followed by a black dress worn by baby Azaria Chamberlain, who disappeared from Uluru in 1980.
Secret spies
Canberra holds many secrets, in fact in some parts of Canberra you have more chance of living next door to a spy than just about any other city on earth — it helps that Australia has six known intelligence gathering agencies (compared to the USA and UK which only have two).
Crown Jewels
Canberra stole the crown Jewels. Well not exactly, but Canberra does hold a reproduction of the crown jewels and while not exact replicas, they are very close to the real thing.
They exist thanks to a specific mission by Neil Glasser MVO who met with the Queen in the 1980s seeking a tour of the Crown Jewels. The replica jewels are located at the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House.
Celebrities
Alex O’Loughlin, star of beachside television series Hawaii Five-0 was born in landlocked Canberra.
Sleep with lions
The only place you can sleep with lions is in Canberra. The recently opened Jamala Wildlife Lodge situated in the National Zoo and Aquarium gives guests the opportunity to sleep, eat, drink and have a bath while watching lions, cheetahs or beers through the glass walls of their accommodation.
Cricket legends
This summer, Canberra is playing host to cricket superstar and world record holder for the One Day International fastest century ever — AB De Villers.
Its academics make wine
In his spare time Nobel laureate winner and astrophysicist Professor Brian Schmidt makes Canberra District wine under the Maipenrai and Amungula Creek labels.
The Australian War Memorial wasn’t planned
Even though it is now one of Canberra’s most iconic sites, Walter Burley Griffin’s original plan for Canberra made no provision for what would eventually become the Australian War Memorial.
One suggestion for the current Memorial site was that it might house a casino — which in those days principally meant a public room used for social meetings, such as musical performances or dancing.
They like art
The mosaic that adorns the walls of the Hall of Memory at the Australian War Memorial was designed by artist and First World War veteran Napier Waller and installed by two Italian artisans with the help of a group of war widows and local schoolchildren.
There are more than 6 million tiles in the mosaic, which took six years to complete.
They like fine wine
Forget Sydney and the Hunter Valley, Canberra’s wine region offers 30 premium cellar doors accessible within a 35-minute drive of the city — that’s half the distance and double the vineyards.
City of clocks
Politicians have no excuse to be late. Parliament House is home to over 2,700 clocks, designed to inform members of parliament where they need to be, by flashing green or red lights.