Zombie Malcom Fraser
Sep. 10th, 2002 05:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hnpccI had a good weekend. I visited my brother and sister in Canberra. I haven't been to Canberra since 1986, so pretty much everything except the Telecom tower (now presumably the Telstra tower?) and the previous parliament house were new to me.
I flew up with Virgin, which was fun, even if the crew spontaneity occasionally seemed rather forced. Unfortunately Dean was sick, so he couldn't go and he got sick too late for us to cancel :-(. So up I went alone, 700km north and over the hills.
Canberra itself has grown since last I was there, although the bulk of the housing I saw is still stuck in the 1950s-70s fibro period. My sister's house is a fine example of 1970s housing - it has everything except the shag carpet. My brother eventually met me at the airport - it's a tiny airport, but we still managed to miss each other for 20 minutes. After that I programmed his, my sister's and my sister's boyfriend's mobile numbers into Dean's mobile. :-) My brother took me up Mt Ainslie to give me an idea of the layout - it's amazing how strange yet familiar Canberra is, a legacy of broadcasts of parliament and federal briefings. It also reminds me quite strongly of Washington DC - apparently Walter Burley Griffin was inspired by Pierre L'enfant, so that at least makes sense. The similarities end once you get out of the main Parliament - War Memorial - Lake drag though - no ghettos in Canberra! ;-)
Canberra is based on circles. It makes it very hard to find anything if you don't have some idea of the overall layout. My brother has lived there almost two years and got lost looking for the embassies (one of the tourist attractions - the PNG longhouse is really nice, the American Georgian Style compound is very amusing and quite huge, the NZ has corrugated iron cows on the front lawn, and for some reason there are lots of odd groupings - the Commonwealth countries huddle together facing the SE Asian nations around the corner from the Middle Eastern group who orient themselves around the mosque. Israel and South Africa had the most in your face security, although I'm willing to bet the US's compound has more than they're making obvious. The best bit though is the blank blocks of land with the signs "Embassy of Bangladesh/Iran/North Korea to be built here). My brother getting lost is even more amusing when you realise he works for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and has actually been to quite a few of these embassies for social functions. :-) (although come to think of it that could explain why he can't remember where they are...)
After wandering the streets of Canberra for a while we met up with my sister and her boyfriend, who promptly took me on a proper tour of the embassies and then on to the new Parliament house building. The last time I was in Canberra this was being built, so I'd never seen the inside before. The House of Reps and the Senate are very nice, although we did wonder a bit about the back supports clearly visible on some of the chairs. The House of Reps is green (a kind of light mouldy shade) with the shades getting lighter as you go up the rows. The overall effect - possibly not helped by the shape of the benches - is of a Dulex colour card. The Senate is a light salmony red to begin with, again getting pinker as you go up. Presumably this is meant to indicate that the press (in the lightest rows) are a bunch of left wing bastards, but I could be extrapolating.
After seeing the Prime Minister's Portraits (talk about incentive for taking the top job - you get your picture painted) we headed into the urban bit of the city again, via the National Gallery sculpture garden. I like sculpture gardens, and I quite happily would wander around them all day. If only they'd let you climb on them! Unfortunately I missed the fog sculpture by about 20 mins which I would really have liked to have seen - even without being able to climb it. It's a sculpture by a Japanese guy, and it makes fog (well, a fine mist spray) which rolls across a pond. I know I've seen similar things over the flood plains driving up to Whittlesea, but even so I'd like to see this one.
Anyway. In the city I met up with a friend who's only recently moved to Canberra and we headed off to Fyshwick. This is a suburb notorious for 3 things. Fireworks, Furniture and Pornography. Dean was very disappointed when I told him that we acutally went there to buy books from the large discount warehouse - and we went past at least 3 bulk 'Adult" shops on the way. Next time. ;-)
The next day we (my sister, her boyfriend and myself) headed off to the Old Parliament House building. This is fantastic, not least cos they now let you run around the former Corridors of Power. I was surprised at (a) how small the Prime Minister's office was (think average size lounge room) and (b) how close to the public it was. It was literally just a stone's throw away - someone heaved one at Bob Hawke when he was in office. Knowing him, he'd stuck his head out the window and abused them first. ;-) Apparently one of the main reasons (space being the other) for the move to the new building was security - protesters were about 10 metres away and one floor down from the former PM's office.
The former House of Reps also has a very good sound and light show, which covers the 62 years that the building was used as the Parliament. It covers all the major incidents including the Depression, WW2, at least two people dying in the chamber, various political backstabbing incidents and, of course, The Dismissal. And part of it is narrated by Malcom Fraser. That would be fine, except they project a hologram of his face onto a glasses-wearing mannequin, which bursts through some side doors about 8 times in order to narrate. I haven't laughed so much in ages. It would even have been better had they left 'him' standing to one side while the other lights played, but no, they wheeled 'him' back and forth, bursting through the doors and shuddering to a stop each time. What Malcom Fraser actually had to say was very interesting - he did, after all, play a major role in both the Vietnam debates and The Dismissal, and his motives at times were quite interesting. But the zombie was just too funny and most of the audience started giggling whenever he came out. ;-)
After the sound and light show we met up again with my brother and had lunch at Parliament. Well worth it - you can usually find good food where politicans meet. ;-)
Afterwards my sister and I headed to the War Memorial, while her boyfriend and my brother bunkered down to watch the AFL finals. The War Memorial is very moving. The displays on WW1 in particular (we got through all of WW1 but only part of WW2 and later) were really good - I hadn't realised there was an entire campaign in Palestine for example. Or that the French were also at Gallipoli (no one ever mentions them or the Indians - or the British come to that, except in the context of "bloody idiots landed us on the wrong beach". Um, no, the navigators were the ones landing you on the wrong beach. The British were the ones a few beaches up, mostly where they were supposed to be.) It is interesting how in the Australian psyche it is (a) mostly forgotten that we were invading Turkey at Gallipoli and (b) that we bear no grudges as a nation towards the Turks. It's very much seen as an honourable defeat (possibly due to the eventual armistice at Versailles). But Turks march here on Anzac day and the Turkish and Australian governments generally enjoy good relations, even with an annual invasion of Australian/NZ backpackers around ANZAC day each year.
The WW2 things we saw were painful, particularly the SE Asia/Kokoda/general Japanese POWs displays. The things humans can do to one another when they forget that both sides are human are really quite hideous. True of all wars I think, but brought home with personal tales from any and all wars. Also I think because the WW2 stresses were more known to me and my family - we could see the effects of fighting in PNG on my grandfather, even 70 years on. There is still prejudice against the Japanese, although only those who would have been old enough to fight.
So that was my weekend in Canberra. Hardly a comprehensive study of all touristy places, but I did only have 2 days and at least some had to be spent catching up. :-)
Next time I'll hopefully go for longer and go with Dean. :-) Apart from anything else he has to see zombie Malcom Fraser.
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I flew up with Virgin, which was fun, even if the crew spontaneity occasionally seemed rather forced. Unfortunately Dean was sick, so he couldn't go and he got sick too late for us to cancel :-(. So up I went alone, 700km north and over the hills.
Canberra itself has grown since last I was there, although the bulk of the housing I saw is still stuck in the 1950s-70s fibro period. My sister's house is a fine example of 1970s housing - it has everything except the shag carpet. My brother eventually met me at the airport - it's a tiny airport, but we still managed to miss each other for 20 minutes. After that I programmed his, my sister's and my sister's boyfriend's mobile numbers into Dean's mobile. :-) My brother took me up Mt Ainslie to give me an idea of the layout - it's amazing how strange yet familiar Canberra is, a legacy of broadcasts of parliament and federal briefings. It also reminds me quite strongly of Washington DC - apparently Walter Burley Griffin was inspired by Pierre L'enfant, so that at least makes sense. The similarities end once you get out of the main Parliament - War Memorial - Lake drag though - no ghettos in Canberra! ;-)
Canberra is based on circles. It makes it very hard to find anything if you don't have some idea of the overall layout. My brother has lived there almost two years and got lost looking for the embassies (one of the tourist attractions - the PNG longhouse is really nice, the American Georgian Style compound is very amusing and quite huge, the NZ has corrugated iron cows on the front lawn, and for some reason there are lots of odd groupings - the Commonwealth countries huddle together facing the SE Asian nations around the corner from the Middle Eastern group who orient themselves around the mosque. Israel and South Africa had the most in your face security, although I'm willing to bet the US's compound has more than they're making obvious. The best bit though is the blank blocks of land with the signs "Embassy of Bangladesh/Iran/North Korea to be built here). My brother getting lost is even more amusing when you realise he works for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and has actually been to quite a few of these embassies for social functions. :-) (although come to think of it that could explain why he can't remember where they are...)
After wandering the streets of Canberra for a while we met up with my sister and her boyfriend, who promptly took me on a proper tour of the embassies and then on to the new Parliament house building. The last time I was in Canberra this was being built, so I'd never seen the inside before. The House of Reps and the Senate are very nice, although we did wonder a bit about the back supports clearly visible on some of the chairs. The House of Reps is green (a kind of light mouldy shade) with the shades getting lighter as you go up the rows. The overall effect - possibly not helped by the shape of the benches - is of a Dulex colour card. The Senate is a light salmony red to begin with, again getting pinker as you go up. Presumably this is meant to indicate that the press (in the lightest rows) are a bunch of left wing bastards, but I could be extrapolating.
After seeing the Prime Minister's Portraits (talk about incentive for taking the top job - you get your picture painted) we headed into the urban bit of the city again, via the National Gallery sculpture garden. I like sculpture gardens, and I quite happily would wander around them all day. If only they'd let you climb on them! Unfortunately I missed the fog sculpture by about 20 mins which I would really have liked to have seen - even without being able to climb it. It's a sculpture by a Japanese guy, and it makes fog (well, a fine mist spray) which rolls across a pond. I know I've seen similar things over the flood plains driving up to Whittlesea, but even so I'd like to see this one.
Anyway. In the city I met up with a friend who's only recently moved to Canberra and we headed off to Fyshwick. This is a suburb notorious for 3 things. Fireworks, Furniture and Pornography. Dean was very disappointed when I told him that we acutally went there to buy books from the large discount warehouse - and we went past at least 3 bulk 'Adult" shops on the way. Next time. ;-)
The next day we (my sister, her boyfriend and myself) headed off to the Old Parliament House building. This is fantastic, not least cos they now let you run around the former Corridors of Power. I was surprised at (a) how small the Prime Minister's office was (think average size lounge room) and (b) how close to the public it was. It was literally just a stone's throw away - someone heaved one at Bob Hawke when he was in office. Knowing him, he'd stuck his head out the window and abused them first. ;-) Apparently one of the main reasons (space being the other) for the move to the new building was security - protesters were about 10 metres away and one floor down from the former PM's office.
The former House of Reps also has a very good sound and light show, which covers the 62 years that the building was used as the Parliament. It covers all the major incidents including the Depression, WW2, at least two people dying in the chamber, various political backstabbing incidents and, of course, The Dismissal. And part of it is narrated by Malcom Fraser. That would be fine, except they project a hologram of his face onto a glasses-wearing mannequin, which bursts through some side doors about 8 times in order to narrate. I haven't laughed so much in ages. It would even have been better had they left 'him' standing to one side while the other lights played, but no, they wheeled 'him' back and forth, bursting through the doors and shuddering to a stop each time. What Malcom Fraser actually had to say was very interesting - he did, after all, play a major role in both the Vietnam debates and The Dismissal, and his motives at times were quite interesting. But the zombie was just too funny and most of the audience started giggling whenever he came out. ;-)
After the sound and light show we met up again with my brother and had lunch at Parliament. Well worth it - you can usually find good food where politicans meet. ;-)
Afterwards my sister and I headed to the War Memorial, while her boyfriend and my brother bunkered down to watch the AFL finals. The War Memorial is very moving. The displays on WW1 in particular (we got through all of WW1 but only part of WW2 and later) were really good - I hadn't realised there was an entire campaign in Palestine for example. Or that the French were also at Gallipoli (no one ever mentions them or the Indians - or the British come to that, except in the context of "bloody idiots landed us on the wrong beach". Um, no, the navigators were the ones landing you on the wrong beach. The British were the ones a few beaches up, mostly where they were supposed to be.) It is interesting how in the Australian psyche it is (a) mostly forgotten that we were invading Turkey at Gallipoli and (b) that we bear no grudges as a nation towards the Turks. It's very much seen as an honourable defeat (possibly due to the eventual armistice at Versailles). But Turks march here on Anzac day and the Turkish and Australian governments generally enjoy good relations, even with an annual invasion of Australian/NZ backpackers around ANZAC day each year.
The WW2 things we saw were painful, particularly the SE Asia/Kokoda/general Japanese POWs displays. The things humans can do to one another when they forget that both sides are human are really quite hideous. True of all wars I think, but brought home with personal tales from any and all wars. Also I think because the WW2 stresses were more known to me and my family - we could see the effects of fighting in PNG on my grandfather, even 70 years on. There is still prejudice against the Japanese, although only those who would have been old enough to fight.
So that was my weekend in Canberra. Hardly a comprehensive study of all touristy places, but I did only have 2 days and at least some had to be spent catching up. :-)
Next time I'll hopefully go for longer and go with Dean. :-) Apart from anything else he has to see zombie Malcom Fraser.
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Bryson
Date: 2002-09-10 08:58 am (UTC)And BTW I think it sounds like you fit a whole lot into a short space of time.
Re: Bryson
Date: 2002-09-10 07:49 pm (UTC)I'll have to re-read "DownUnder" - I read it in 2000 before giving it to my Dad as a birthday present, so I can't remember huge tracts of it.
I did try and fit a fair bit in... still lots that I want to go back and see again though! I imagine it's like trying to 'do' London in a week - you're never quite going to make it through everything you wanted to see