Canberra is the purpose built capital city of Australia, located in the Australian Capital Territory in the south-east of New South Wales. It is a planned city, with national monuments, museums, and galleries all built around large man-made lakes. A bush capital - Canberra is also a great place to enjoy the outdoors, with excellent cycling, gardens, parks, bushwalking and nature reserves. Canberra was established in 1913 as the capital for the newly federated Australian nation - this brought the rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne for national capital status to an end, after Melbourne had been the capital for the previous 12 years. The Australian Capital Territory was excised from New South Wales, and put under the control of the federal government. The artificial creation of the city was not without critics - cynics have said that it was a "waste of a good sheep pasture". Canberra is a highly planned city, its primary design conceived by the American architect Walter Burley Griffin, built on the shores of an artificial lake (Lake Burley Griffin). Populated at first largely by politicians and public servants, it took time to develop its own identity and culture. Extensive building of national facilities and a concerted effort to develop public institutions in the city have made it an interesting destination. Lake Burley Griffin divides central Canberra. The central shopping and commercial area, known as "Civic", on the north side and the parliamentary triangle and embassy area is on the south side. National institutions are likewise divided, examples being the National Museum of Australia and the Australian War Memorial on the north side and the National Library and National Gallery of Australia on the south side. There are suburbs surrounding central Canberra, and also suburbs surrounding several outlying town centres. These town centres are, Belconnen and Gungahlin to the north, and Molonglo Valley, Tuggeranong and Woden to the south. The Australian Capital Territory also has surrounding towns, such as Murrumbateman, which boasts a strong cool climate wine selection. The historic villages of Hall and Tharwa are also on the outskirts of Canberra. Many people who live in Canberra are not originally from Canberra, having usually moved there to study or take up employment with the Australian Government. A common pattern is that people from other parts of Australia move to Canberra, study or work for a few years and then return to their place of origin or move on to elsewhere. As this means a constant influx of new arrivals to Canberra, you should not be reluctant to ask for directions and the like from locals - they are more than used to it and usually only too happy to help. QUESTIONS? We would like to hear from you! If you have any comments or questions about this destination or just need some general travel advice, feel free to leave a comment below! SUBSCRIBE http://www.youtube.com/videovoyagetv?sub_confirmation=1 CONNECT Website: http://videovoyage.tv Google+: http://google.com/+videovoyagetv Twitter: http://twitter.com/videovoyagetv Instagram: http://instagram.com/videovoyagetv Tumblr: http://videovoyagetv.tumblr.com Facebook: http://facebook.com/videovoyagetv YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/videovoyagetv

• published: 17 Jul 2014
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