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Canberra is the capital city of Australia and with a population of just over 325,000 people, is Australia's largest inland city. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory, 300 kilometres (190 mi) southwest of Sydney, and 650 kilometres (400 mi) north-east of Melbourne. The site of Canberra was selected for the location of the nation's capital in 1908 as a compromise between Sydney and Melbourne, the two largest cities. It is unusual among Australian cities as an entirely purpose-built, planned city. Following an international contest for the city's design, a design by Chicago architect Walter Burley Griffin was selected and construction commenced in 1913. The city's design was heavily influenced by the garden city movement and incorporates significant areas of natural vegetation that have earned Canberra the title "bush capital". Although the growth and development of Canberra was hindered by the World Wars and the Great Depression, it emerged as a thriving city after World War II. As the seat of the government of Australia, Canberra is the site of Parliament House, the High Court of Australia and numerous government departments and agencies. It is also the location of several social and cultural institutions of national significance. The federal government contributes the largest percentage of Gross State Product and is the largest employer in Canberra. Canberra is also a popular destination for domestic and international tourists. Most Australians pronounce the city's name in two syllables as either or ('Can-bra' or 'Cam-bra'). It is also less commonly known as or . The inhabitants are referred to as ('Canberrans').
History
Geography Canberra covers an area of 805.6 square kilometres (311.0 sq. mi) and is located near the Brindabella Ranges, approximately 150 kilometres (93 mi) inland from Australia's east coast. It is located at altitudes that range from 550 metres to 700 metres (1,800 to 2,300 ft) AHD. The highest point is Mount Majura at 888 metres (2,913 ft). Other large hills include Mt Taylor, Mt Ainslie, Mt Mugga Mugga and Black Mountain. The surrounding bushland and the original bushland that Canberra was built in is a mixture of eucalyptus savanna, scrubland, swamp and dry eucalyptus forests. The Molonglo River flows through Canberra and has been dammed to form the body of water in the centre of the city called Lake Burley Griffin. The Molonglo then flows into the Murrumbidgee north-west of Canberra, which in turn flows north-west toward the New South Wales town of Yass. The Queanbeyan River joins the Molonglo River at Oaks Estate just within the ACT. A number of creeks, including Jerrabomberra and Yarralumla Creeks, flow into the Molonglo and Murrumbidgee. Two of these creeks, the Ginninderra and Tuggeranong, have similarly been dammed to form Lakes Ginninderra and Tuggeranong. Until recently the Molonglo had a history of sometimes lethal floods; the area was a flood plain prior to the filling of Lake Burley Griffin. Climate Because of its latitude, elevation and distance from the coast, Canberra has four distinct seasons. The climates of most Australian coastal areas, which include all the state capital cities, are moderated by the sea. Canberra experiences hot, dry summers, and mild winters with heavy fog and frequent frosts, with a rare spot of snow in the CBD and surrounding areas. The highest recorded maximum temperature was 42.2 °C (108 °F) on 1 February 1968. The lowest recorded minimum temperature is −10.0 °C (14 °F) on 11 July 1971. Light snow falls in the city in one out of approximately three winters but is usually not widespread and quickly dissipates. Thunderstorms can occur between October and March, with rainfall maximums in spring and summer. Urban structure
Governance Outside Canberra, the Australian Capital Territory has no settlements larger than a village. The Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly performs the roles of both a city council and territory government. The Assembly consists of 17 members, elected from three districts using proportional representation. The three districts are Molongolo, Gininderra and Brindabella, which elect seven, five and five members, respectively. The Chief Minister is elected by the Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) and selects another four MLAs to serve as Ministers to form, with the Chief Minister, an Executive (known informally as the cabinet.) At the 2004 election the Australian Labor Party, headed by Chief Minister Jon Stanhope, won nine of the 17 seats and formed the ACT's first majority government. The Australian national government retains some influence over the ACT government. In the administrative sphere, most frequently this is through the actions of the National Capital Authority which is responsible for planning and development in areas of Canberra which are considered to be of national importance or which are central to Griffin's plan for the city, such as the Parliamentary Triangle, major approach and processional roads, areas where the Commonwealth retains ownership of the land or undeveloped hills and ridge-lines (which form part of the Canberra Nature Park). The national government also retains a level of control over the Territory Assembly through the provisions of the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988. This Act of the national Parliament is the constitution for the ACT and limits the range of matters upon which the Assembly can legislate. The Australian Federal Police provides all of the police services of a state police force under a contractual agreement with the Australian Capital Territory Government. People who have been charged with offences are tried either in the ACT Magistrate's Court or, for more severe offences, the ACT Supreme Court. Prisoners can be held in remand at the Belconnen Remand Centre in the ACT; as at 2006 there is no prison in the ACT, so people who have been sentenced to imprisonment serve their sentence in NSW. Courts such as a Small Claims Tribunal and a Family Court exist for civil law actions and other non-criminal legal matters. Economy As of July 2006, the unemployment rate in Canberra is 2.8%, well below the national unemployment rate of 4.8%, The major public-sector employers in Canberra include the parliament, government departments such as Department of Defence, Finance, Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Treasury. A number of Australian Defence Force establishments are located in or near Canberra, most notably the Australian Defence Force headquarters and HMAS ''Harman'', which is a naval communications centre that is being converted into a tri-service, multiuser depot. The former RAAF Fairbairn, adjacent to the Canberra International Airport was sold to the operators of the Airport, but the base continues to be used for RAAF VIP flights. Property and business services, construction, health and community services, and education are other significant contributors to the economy of Canberra. A large amount of Australian and international visitors make tourism a significant contributor to the economy. The most popular seasons are spring and autumn; the annual Floriade spring flower display in September is a major attraction. Demographics As of 2003, the population of Canberra was 323,004 people, and the city has a population density of 401.0 persons per square kilometre (1,038.6/sq. mi), which is dense with respect to other Australian cities. The 2001 census showed that 1.2% of Canberra's population were of indigenous origin and 21.6% were born overseas. Between 1996 and 2001, 61.9% of the population either moved to or from Canberra, which is the second highest mobility rate of any Australian capital city. As of 2002 the most common crimes in Canberra are property related crimes, unlawful entry with intent and motor vehicle theft. They affect 1,961 and 630 of every 100,000 persons respectively. Homicide and related offences affect 1.5/100,000 persons which is below the national average of 4.9/100,000 persons. Rates of assault and sexual assault are also below the national average. Education The two main tertiary institutions are the Australian National University (ANU) in Acton and the University of Canberra (UC) in Bruce. The ANU was established as a research university in 1946; it continues to have a strong research focus and is ranked among the best universities in the world in The Times Higher Education Supplement and the Shanghai Jiao Tong World University Rankings. Both ANU and UC also have campuses interstate and overseas. There are also two religious university campuses in Canberra: Signadou in the North Canberra suburb of Watson is a campus of the Australian Catholic University; St Mark's Theological College adjacent to the Parliament House is a campus of Charles Sturt University. The Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) and the Royal Military College, Duntroon are near the suburb of Campbell in Canberra's inner north-east. ADFA teaches military undergraduates and postgraduates and is officially a campus of the University of New South Wales; Duntroon provides Australian Army Officer training. Tertiary level vocational education is also available through the multi-campus Canberra Institute of Technology. In February 2004 there were 140 public and non-governmental schools in Canberra; 96 were operated by the Government and 44 are non-Government. Most suburbs are planned to include a primary school and a nearby preschool, and schools are usually located near open areas for play and sports. Preschool is not a compulsory year, but many children attend for the government-funded 10.5 hours a week (12 from 2006). Primary school consists of seven grades: kindergarten and years 1 to 6. From years 7 to 10 children attend high school and in years 11 to 12 attend a college, unlike the rest of Australia where high school comprises year 7 to year 12. The ACT has the highest retention rate in Australia with 89% of students who were enrolled in year 7 in 1999 being enrolled full-time in year 12 in 2004. This retention rate has declined from a peak in 1994 when the rate was nearly 5% more, probably because of poor job prospects for young people at that time compared with 2004. Arts and entertainment
Media As Australia's political centre, Canberra is an important centre for much of Australia's political reportage and thus all the major media organisations, including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the commercial television networks, and the metropolitan newspapers maintain local bureaus. Many news organisations are represented in the "press gallery", a group of journalists who report on the national parliament. The National Press Club of Australia in Barton has regular television broadcasts of its weekly lunches at which a prominent guest, typically a politician, delivers a half-hour speech followed by a question-and-answer session. Canberra has a daily newspaper, the Canberra Times which was established in 1926, and some free weekly suburban and special interest publications. Canberra has free-to-air analogue television stations including two government funded (ABC and SBS) and three commercial stations (Prime, WIN and Southern Cross Ten) as well as two free-to-air digital services ABC2 and SBS News. Subscription (pay) television services are available from Foxtel via satellite service, and cable by local telecommunications company TransACT who also offer telephone and broadband internet services on their optical fibre cable network covering many suburbs. A number of community radio stations broadcast in Canberra, including Radio 2XX FM, which offers a multicultural radio broadcast featuring weekly programmes in twenty languages as well as community service and specialty music programmes. There are a number of other commercial AM and FM radio stations including Austereo Radio Network, ABC networks, Valley FM 89.5 based in Tuggeranong, and Radio 1RPH which offers broadcasts for the print handicapped. Due to more relaxed censorship legislation which exists within the Australian Capital Territory, a significant pornography industry has emerged in the suburb of Fyshwick. This area is commonly visited by interstate visitors seeking pornography commonly illegal in other states. Sport
Health Canberra has two large public hospitals, the 500 bed Canberra Hospital - formerly the Woden Valley Hospital - located in Garran and the smaller 174 bed Calvary Public Hospital located in Bruce. Both public hospitals are also teaching hospitals. The largest private hospital in Canberra is the John James Memorial Hospital Hospital in Deakin. Calvary Private Hospital in Bruce and Healthscope's National Capital Private in Garran are also major healthcare providers. The city has 10 aged care facilities. Canberra's hospitals receive emergency cases from throughout southern New South Wales. The ACT Ambulance Service is one of four operational agencies of the ACT Emergency Services Authority. Transport The car is by far the dominant form of transport in Canberra. Past planning policies have resulted in well developed good quality roads and a low population density spread over a relatively large area of the city. Canberra's districts are generally connected by 'parkways' - limited access dual carriageway roads with speed limits generally set at 80 km/h to 100 km/h. An example is the Tuggeranong Parkway which links Canberra's CBD and Tuggeranong, and bypasses Weston Creek. In most districts, discrete residential suburbs are bounded by access roads. A publicly run bus service,the Australian Capital Territory Internal Omnibus Network (ACTION), provides public transport throughout the city. A very good and widepread network of cycleways has been established. Only 4.6% of the population use the bus system. Another 5.5% walk or cycle to work, a higher proportion than in any other Australian capital city. There is no urban rail network in Canberra, although the Griffin's original plans contemplated both a heavy rail line servicing the north of the city and trams servicing other areas. A private bus service operates between Canberra and Queanbeyan, an adjoining town in New South Wales. An interstate CountryLink railway service connects Canberra to Sydney. Canberra's railway station is in the inner south suburb of Kingston. Between 1920 and 1922 the train line crossed the Molonglo River and ran as far north as the city centre, although the line was closed following major flooding and was never rebuilt. Train services to Melbourne are provided by way of a CountryLink bus service which connects with a rail service between Sydney and Melbourne in Yass, about one hour's drive from Canberra. Plans to establish a very fast train , or TGV service between Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney have been contemplated, but not implemented by both government and private enterprise, as various proposals have not been deemed economically viable. Canberra is about three hours by road from Sydney on the Federal Highway (National Highway 23), which connects with the Hume Highway (National Highway 31) near Goulburn, and seven hours by road from Melbourne on the Barton Highway (National Highway 25), which joins the Hume Highway at Yass. It is a two hour drive on the Monaro Highway (National Highway 23) to the ski fields of the Snowy Mountains and the Kosciuszko National Park. Batemans Bay, a popular holiday spot on the New South Wales coast, is also two hours away via the Kings Highway. Canberra International Airport provides direct domestic services to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, with connections to other domestic centres. There are direct daily flights to Albury and Newcastle in New South Wales. Regular international flights have been considered, but to date only chartered international flights have connected Canberra directly with overseas destinations. Until 2003 the civilian airport shared runways with RAAF Base Fairbairn. On 27 June of that year, the Air Force base was decommissioned and from that time the airport was fully under civilian control. Utilities The ACT government owned ACTEW Corporation manages Canberra's water and sewerage infrastructure. ActewAGL is a joint venture between ACTEW and AGL, and is the retail provider of Canberra's utility services including water, natural gas, electricity, and also some telecommunications services via a subsidiary TransACT. Canberra's water is stored in four reservoirs, the Corin, Bendora and Cotter dams on the Cotter River and the Googong Dam on the Queanbeyan River. The Googong Dam is in New South Wales but it is managed by the ACT government. ACTEW Corporation owns Canberra's two wastewater treatment plants, located at Fyshwick and at Lower Molonglo on the Molonglo River. Electricity for Canberra comes from the national power grid through substations at Holt and Fyshwick (via Queanbeyan). Some limited local renewable power is produced via a hydro generator on the main water supply pipeline for Canberra at Mount Stromlo and methane plants at waste landfill sites at Belconnen and Mugga Lane. The first domestic power supply in Canberra was in 1913 for the suburb of Acton. Unlike most Australian cities, the power poles in Canberra's older suburbs are located along the rear boundaries of residential housing lots rather than on the street front. In newer areas the power supply and communications cabling are located underground. As in other parts of Australia, terrestrial and mobile telecommunications services are provided by a range of competing companies. The majority of the infrastructure is owned by Telstra but some is owned by TransACT (a Canberra-based communications company) as well as other providers. The ACT has the highest rate of computer use and internet connection in Australia.• | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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