This will hurt me...

This title was taken from the Bill Bryson book, Down Under . Yes, there is quite a tradition to slagging Canberra! Before I get back to Canberra, I better acknowledge the fact that the photo is not from that fine town, but an action shot of Henry in motion. I figured that even reading about Canberra is dull enough to kill elephants, so I'd best give you folks something interesting to look at. So I did finally make it to Canberra! As you can see in the photograph below, the whole plane is absolutely over the moon at the prospect of a day in such an exciting place. Some people reckon that the name "Canberra" means 'meeting place' in the Ngunnawal language, with reference to the various transcriptions of Kambera (alternatively spelt Kamberra, Nganbra or Nganbirra). However, my sources - high up in the indigenous community - reckons that this is a mistranslation . They claim that the actual meaning of the name is "cake eating" ( at a meeting). They attri...

So this title is a cutting little remark made by Percy Deane, the Secretary of the Prime Minister's Department, in 1928. To continue the tale, after an extensive search, the present site was chosen! Although people claim that it was chosen halfway between Melbourne and Sydney, the dodgy pastoralists of corrupt and amoral New South Wales managed to wrangle and extra 230 kilometres closer than their more cultured and classy southern rival. Thus, utisiling nefarious means to marginalise the exceptionally superior states, the NSW government ceded the new Australian Capital Territory to the Commonwealth Government in 1910. In that same year, setting the scene for the kind of funsville that Canberra would go on to be, the ACT became an alcohol-free area ! A soulless patchwork of streets sprawled out over a flat and barren landscape, Canberra is truly the Michael Buble of Australian cities: clean, neat, polite, inoffensive and completely and utterly lacking in any character, charm or sw...

I am still winging my way to Canberra here, this time from Melbourne airport. As you can see, there was a bit of cloud. Yes, in response to a question asked by Willits’ finest blogger, USelaine, Canberra is one of those artificially constructed artefacts of the decision-less decision made (not made?) years ago. The title today is a comment on Canberra from Malcolm Muggeridge, a noted political commentator here from last century here in Australia. The story of Canberra is far from interesting, fitting to the town. When the Australian colonies decided to federate, you can imagine the keen debate around which of our fair cities would be chosen as the national capital. As the city of Burnie (declared by the Queen herself , no less) was still in its formative years, the decision was made to bypass Tasmania altogether. That left two candidates for the new national capital. At the time, bloated a gold rush and a superior code of football, Melbourne was Australia's largest – and wealthie...

Another day, another shot of the Derwent. I am still in Canberra (what have I done to deserve that cruel fate, I ask you?), but I shall be back home later today. Hopefully I will have some photos to share. I guess that will depend how my meetings go! Canberra is kind of like a cross between a church, a country town hosting a high school debating tournament and Singapore. It's like Portland, Oregon. Minus the interesting parts. On Xanax. And methadone. Canberra is kind of dull you see. That's why they put Parliament there. They figured that nobody would notice. They were pretty close to the mark. And no, the title has nothing to do with Canberra, but I figured with a town that dull, I need to spice it up a bit. Who better than Alfonso Bedoya?