Can-Canberra

On my flying visit to Canberra, I was thinking about the fact that my concept of Australia is one part 90s/Noughties (Sydney Olympics, Strictly Ballroom, Neighbours, McLeod’s Daughters) and one part 1950s (A Town Like Alice, Miroslav Sasek’s This is … Australia,

the School of the Air and the Flying Doctor Service.)

(www.powerhousemuseum.com)

My information on the last two came from a book in my school library that I encountered at a tender age (8 or 9, I think) and it described the wonders of Australia, including – and this is important – its modern, planned capital, Canberra.

So when I got to Canberra I was delighted to discover it looks exactly as you would imagine someone in 1955 would design a ‘modern’ city. All it lacked was the monorail.

Here's my portrait of Canberra - I decided the blinds were a metaphor for the planned city. (That's what we call retrospective interpretation in the trade.)