I had a lovely run on a quiet Sunday morning in Canberra before we went down for our free hotel breakfast. Then we headed out to explore some of the free museums and government buildings, which we only looked at from across the river yesterday. It has been a mostly overcast day with highs in the upper 50s.
Our first stop was the National Library of Australia, which was about a 40 minute walk from our hotel. On the way we passed the Civic Library, which wasn’t open, as well as some other municipal and territorial government buildings.
The National Library of Australia is one of many free national buildings in what’s referred to as the Parliamentary Zone. Only the ground floor was open to the public, although we were there too early to get in the Reading Room. However, we still got to explore their current exhibit from which we learned quite a bit about Australian history.
The following are some of the important dates in the formation of Australia and its government that we learned from the library’s exhibit. 1768 — James Cook’s Endeavor voyage charts the eastern seaboard of Australia. 1788 — Sydney was formed as a penal colony. 1804 — Hobart formed, also as a penal colony. 1828 — Western Australia provincial government formed followed by South Australia in 1836 and Victoria in 1851. 1901 — Australia becomes a federation after application to and approval by Queen Victoria.
After leaving the library, we headed towards Parliament House. On the way, we passed the Old Parliament Building which has been converted into The Museum of Australian Democracy. Parliament met in Melbourne from the federation’s establishment in 1901 through May of 1927.
which served in this capacity from 1927 until 1988,
when the governmental work moved to the new building below.
The Parliament House opened in 1988. It is one of the largest buildings in the southern hemisphere, 300 meters by 300 meters and has 4,500 rooms. Australia has had 31 Prime Ministers since 1901, one of which has been female, so ahead of the US in that department.
From the Parliament Building, we headed to the National Portrait Gallery, which not surprising, didn’t have many portraits of people we knew.
Heading back into town, we walked along the waterfront where there are a number of flags displayed as well as an Australian of the Year Walk that honors Australians in different categories.
displayed throughout the Parliamentary Zone
and the Captain Cook Water Jet in the background
Peckish Travels 