Quick Jump: Australian War Memorial | Parliament House
Our first major trip out of Sydney began in Canberra, the national capital of Australia. Like Washington, D.C., in the US, Canberra is located wholly within a special territory (not a state) that was created expressly so that the capital's location would not give any one of Australia's six states an advantage over the others. The "Australian Capital Territory," or "ACT," contains Canberra and its immediate surroundings, much of which has intentionally been left as "bushland" or something approximating it. (In 2003, this aspect of the capital territory led to near-devestation when bushfires burned through the area.)
Also like Washington, DC, Canberra is a planned city, though the fact that it is much younger than the US capitol makes the planned characteristics much more apparent. At the heart of the city is the straight, clear line that runs from Parliament House (visible above on the right), across the lake, down along ANZAC Parade (also visible on the right), and to the Australian War Memorial, shown in the photo on the left. (The building in the foreground on the left is Old Parliament House, which now houses an art museum.) The view to both Parliament House and the War Memorial is clear from anywhere along the Parade.
The boulevard divided by red gravel leading up to the War Memorial is ANZAC Parade, so named for the ANZACs: Australia-New Zealand Army Corps, who were instrumental to Australia's youth as a country not only in their military capacity but also for their influence on the nation's concept of itself. Since the turn of the 20th century (when Australia became a nation in its own right), additional branches of the military have developed, including the Air Force and the Navy. Each branch-- as well as many of the separate wars or actions-- has a separate memorial located along ANZAC Parade, each in a different style. One of our favorites was the Navy Memorial (left), though we were also amused to note that one of the memorials honored the general who led the Turkish forces against the ANZACS during WWI and eventually drove them away in one of the first and most famous battles in Australian history. Where in the States can you find a memorial honoring the people who beat us?
After walking up ANZAC Parade, we finally came to the War Memorial itself (right), an imposing stone dome that houses not only the courtyard of remembrance and the Roll of Honour (be there in a moment) but also an extensive below-ground museum detailing Australian military history all the way back to its colonial forces under England. A hallmark of the WWI section of the museum were the huge 3D panoramic models of trench locations at various battles, keyed, of course, to maps and written narratives explaining the events.
The centrepiece of the War Memorial is, unsurprisingly, the memorial itself. (For more detailed reflections on our visit here, see the excerpt from D's travel journal, 16 February. Above the museum is a reflecting pool with an eternal flame in a sunken open-air courtyard, with steps leading up at the far end to the domed hall which now houses the tomb of the unknown Australian soldier. Flanking the courtyard of remembrance on the level of the domed hall is the Roll of Honour (shown left), bronze plaques listing the name of each of the 100,000 Australians to die in military service up through the war in Afghanistan, 2002. The red poppies are placed as a sign of remembrance, after the fields of poppies which grew on French battlefields shortly after they were drenched in blood.
We visited the War Memorial on a Wednesday afternoon, 16 February, which just happened to be the day they scheduled the once-a-month ceremonial mounting of the honour guard on the tomb of the unknown Australian soldier (we had no idea this was scheduled to happen). A representative from each of the branches of the military service approached the tomb and stood before it for nearly 25 minutes, then being relieved by another honour guard. At 5:00pm, the honour guard closed the museum and the memorial for the day.
The next day, we got to see the other side of the capital (quite literally) with our visit to Parliament House. Like the city itself, Parliament House was designed by the winner of an international design competition, and supposedly built to last at least 200 years. The building incorporates symbols, styles, and materials of significance to Australia as both a self-sufficient nation with a native history, and as a member of the international community with a colonial history.
The herald, for example (shown above on the left), stands atop the front of the public entry to the Parliament House. Australia's coat of arms, with the kangaroo and the emu, forms the basis of the herald, but the "see-through" design is intended to echo the "X-ray" techniques used by aboriginals to represent animals for thousands of years. The foyer of Parliament House (shown above on the right) incorporates columns of rare marble imported from Italy (a trading partner of Australia) designed to resemble the ubiquitous gum trees (a type of eucalyptus tree) that dominate Australian native woodlands.
Above it all flies an immense Australian flag, which is visible through huge skylights between the Senate wing and the House of Representatives wing. Australia was young enough to have the luxury of picking and choosing their favorite parts of contemporary world governments when they were designing their own. Both the US system and the British one are heavily represented in the Australian system, alongside elements from other sources altogether. There is a strong emphasis on accountability and public service, symbols of which are built into both the building and the procedures of the Australian Parliament. 
The great hall, for example, with its beautiful tapestry (left), is reserved as an explicitly public space for state and ceremonial events, and anyone has the right to sit in on the daily proceedings of either the House or the Senate. When Parliament is in session, the Prime Minister and his (or her) government (made up of 15 or so ministers who are elected, along with the P.M., as a group) conduct a daily "Question Time," during which any member of Parliament can ask any question of the government and get a public answer. The public may watch this (as we did) from the galleries, and the lines to do so are long.
Visible from Parliament House and most places in central Canberra is the lake, with its fountain jet commemorating Captain Cook's landing and "discovery" of Australia (below). Though Canberra is landlocked, water plays an important role in the symbology of Australia, since virtually all of its large cities are coastal, the only way to get there is over sea, and even in the red desert centre, being able to locate water often makes the difference between life or death.
