Well, as I planned, my first few days in the country of kangaroos I spent in the capital – Canberra. Canberra is located about 3 hundred km from the most popular I guess among tourists city – Sydney. If you are interested in the Australian history like me, you should know a few facts.
European colonisation of the area of today’s capital started only on the beginning of XIX century. It is said that that was Joshua John who has purchased the colony settlement, then set up a farm and called it Canberry. Year by year, the european population was growing larger and larger. But Sydney and Melbourne were developing quickly as well! Finally, these three cities started to compete fiercely against each other for the name of the country capital.
However, that was Canberry that chosen to be the capital. That was in 1927. Today the city is very important industry and cultural centre. However it is also very significant science centre on the Australian map. Unquestionably, my very favourite place in the capital is National Gallery of Australia (NGA) which is the biggest museum of art all over the continent of Australia.
You may see there over 166 thousand exposits. Those really interested in the country’s history will certainly be delighted with the whole great exposition devoted to Aborigines. And now good news, there is no entrance fee, so all the more should you visit this place. But as I have said before, Cranberry is also very important science centre with famous Australian National University (ANU) which according to Times Higher Education magazine is the only Australian universities included into the list of 20 best universities in the world!
And yes, it’s a public university. Obviously, it’s very hard to get to this university, but unquestionably Australian National University is the most desirable and beleaguered university in the country!
I was there on student exchange. I recommend! Amazing time in my life 🙂
If you are travelling around Australia, don’t miss Canberra! I was visiting New Castle, Central Coast, Sydney, then we went to Canberra, Albury and later- Melbourne. It was on our route anyway. Smaller cities can surprise you quite a lot!
Thanks for your article. I will consider Canberra in my plan of sightseeing Australia. Sounds great!