Page 10 - Lifestyles in Palm Beach Gardens - August '22

Page 10, Lifestyles in Palm Beach Gardens
Canberra: The Meeting Place

By Don Kiselewski, MCC,
D.S., Palm Beach Gardens
Travel Leaders
About 175 years ago, a
small settlement of squatters
gathered at a clearing
some 185 miles southeast
of Sydney and 290 miles
northeast of Melbourne,
Australia. The place was
called Canberry or Canbury,
derived from the aboriginals
in the area and meaning “meeting place.” A dozen years later
the name Canberra was settled upon. Now an Aussie can View of Canberra from atop Mt. Ainslie Australian War Memorial
quickly tell where you’re from by the way you pronounce the
name of their capital city; in Australia it’s not Can-bear-ra, The new Commonwealth of Australia acquired the land influenced by Wright’s designs. His main interest then
but rather it’s Can-bra. The name has been “Aussie-ized,” for the city in 1911 in accordance with Section 125 of the became directed to landscape architecture.
like so many of their other city names such as Cairn (Cans), Australian Constitution. A temporary capital was set up Griffin laid out Canberra based upon the “English Garden
Brisbane (Bris-bin) and others. in Melbourne, where it remained until 1927 when it was City” concept of strict separation of functions within a
So why so much hype for this town that lies on a plain at relocated to the new capital in Canberra. community. He also adopted a geometric formalism to the
the foot of the 6,000-foot spur of the Australian Alps? Well, At the same time as the land purchase, the city plan. He planned that the functions of various buildings
to put it simply, it was the compromise location between Commonwealth launched an international architectural became independent hubs, from which streets radiated. These
Melbourne and Sydney when it was chosen for the site of competition for the design of the capital city. The contract main types of buildings form the Parliamentary Triangle, with
the national capital in 1909. This site was selected just eight to develop the plan for the city of Canberra was awarded the government buildings located within the triangle and the
years after the inauguration of the Commonwealth. to Chicago architect Walter Burley Griffin. Griffin Parliament House being one of the corners; the municipal center
It was the Australian Constitution that required the was born in Maywood, Ill., in 1876. He attended the and the commercial district are the other two. Major roadways
establishment of a territory, and so the Australian Capital University of Illinois in Urbana, and after graduation he have been established on the surrounding hills to provide lines
Territory was formed, much the same as Washington, D.C., interned with Frank Lloyd Wright in his Oak Park studio. of slight between these functions that are contained in the
which does not lie in any state. The 900 square miles of He started receiving independent commissions in the first
the territory lies within the Southern Tablelands district of decade of the 20 century, mostly residential, that were Canberra on page 11
th
New South Wales. Canberra itself is located in the upper
northeast corner of the territory.
time? Well, the earliest evidence of a settlement dates back Experience Dentistry with a Woman’s Touch
So what had been happening on this site before this

only 21,000 years. It was the aboriginal Wiradjuri tribe
that controlled the site when Europe was developing. This
tribe used to visit the site in the late spring to feast on a Cosmetic & Comprehensive Restorative Dentistry
mountain delicacy, the bogong moths. Charles Throsby
is said to have been the first European settler in the area, State of the Art & Same Day Restorations
arriving on the limestone plain in 1821. The land was
divided into tracks over the next 10 years. Nitrous Oxide/Oxygen Sedation Available

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