CANBERRA
I have been to Canberra a number of times. The first time was in 1953. I went with my parents. And my mother’s sister and her daughter. Two cars. We were driving from Moyhu to Dalby in Qld. We must have made a detour from Gundagai. I distinctly remember stopping and looking at the Dog on The Tuckerbox. There were a lot of other people doing the same thing. It was a tourist attraction at the time. In Canberra we parked in front of Parliament House. It was gleaming white. A large building seemingly out in the middle of an empty paddock all on its own. There was recently cut bales of hay in the paddocks. No other buildings were visible. We did not go inside the building. Later on around 5.30PM we drove through Civic. The only buildings were the Melbourne and Sydney buildings. The workers had knocked off at 5.20 and were queuing up at three or four points in Northbourne Ave waiting for buses to take them home. The road was unpaved. Dusty. My mother and her sister (who was travelling with us in her own car with her daughter) both expressed critical comment at how easy a life public servants had. Their work finished at 5.20. How soft. In 1965 I went to Canberra by myself. I stayed in a cabin at a caravan park a short way out of town on the road towards Sydney. I must have arrived on a Wednesday or Thursday. The town was working. I would go into town at about 8.30 every day as if I was working. I would sit in the square with the public servants as they had morning tea or lunch. The weather was sunny. I listened to a Policeman on the radio advising people how to get home on Friday night. I tried to go to where there were people but there were not many about at night. On the weekend in Civic there was only one Coffee Bar open. This was the only place open in all of Civic. Not that Civic was very big at the time. This was called the Lemon Bitter. A rock group had recently played there. There were still notices on the walls and on the tables advertising this. They were called the Bitter Lemons. The playbill said The Bitter Lemons at the Lemon Bitter. It had a Photostat copy of 5 young men on it with the exciting news that they were shortly coming to the Lemon Bitter. I spent some time over the weekend in the Lemon Bitter but I didn’t see much that was exciting. The Coffee Bar was not overwhelmed by customers. I felt slightly ashamed at taking advantage by sitting in the place for all afternoon and only buying one coffee. There must have been some connection between the Bitter Lemons and the Lemon Bitter but I was too shy to ask the owner how the concert went and when they would next be playing. I drove from Melbourne via the Princes Highway taking the Sluggin Buggin road to Jindabyne. It’s a long road and I did most of it at night. I didn’t enjoy it. I tried to sleep in my car but could not as it was too small. A Mini. I had a vague idea that this was the site of the Snowy Mountain Scheme and in one small town I saw a group of men walking together along the street – maybe 50 – and I concluded that they had to be workers. On reflection I don't know who or what they were. The Snowy Mountain Scheme was wound up by this time. But they conformed to stereotype. When it got light after Jindabyne the road was flat and straight. I drove on to Canberra. At the time I was suffering from insomnia and had come away from Melbourne deliberately without any medication. This trip cured me. I have never suffered from it again. I went to all the tourist attractions. The Mint. The Turtle shaped Science building. Parliament House. I saw question time where Arthur Caldwell questioned Harold Holt. I went into the Senate. The Liberals were in the ascendancy. The Labor members had this defeated hang dog apologetic look about them. I did see Gough Whitlam for a few moments. He seemed to be the only Labor member who held his head high. During a speech to a mostly empty chamber a Liberal member accused Gough Whitlam of doing something and the Labor whip went and got Gough. Gough strode in for only a few seconds and shouted “I told the Truth” which set the Liberal speaker back on his feet and Gough left the chamber. Frank Crean was one who tried to make reasoned arguments but to any Labor point the Liberals would always shout – “what’s your Vietnam Policy”. Their comeback to any Labor person was “what’s your Vietnam Policy”. The Vietnam War was very popular at this time. The Labor Party alone were against it. To me this was depressing childish stuff. Especially as I already knew the Vietnam War was wrong. I was already convinced that the Liberal Country Party government and anyone who voted for them were immoral. I looked at the Embassy area. The American embassy looked like it was designed by George Washington. It did not have a fence around it at this time. It had a little hut out the front with a guard in it. The Japanese Embassy certainly looked Japanese. There were only limited embassies at this time compared to today. There was not as much vegetation as there is in 2017. It was easier to see new buildings. Most buildings were new. Northbourne Avenue was only about 1km long. It ended at the first intersection. The Mint was virtually out in the country. Canberra has been planned. Of that there is no doubt. At that time the Civic area was surrounded by enormous carparks. In time these carparks have been built on to the point where now it is difficult to find a car park. In each successive round of building the buildings have got bigger. And higher. Civic is now at a point where there cannot be any new buildings. Old buildings will have to be rebuilt. The Melbourne and Sydney Buildings remain intact. But Civic has moved towards the north with each successive new building project. I am an admirer of Canberra. I think it took people out of their misery and gave them something inspirational. It showed that the public service could be a good thing. Canberra is socialism with a human face. Socialism has always been a dirty word in Australia. Not enough has been made of Canberra. Or socialism. Canberra shows that planning is good and I don’t know why Australians see planning as something to be resisted. Compare the difference between Gundagai and Canberra. It is not just a matter of money. It is the way people think. It is an example of the pettiness and small mindedness of conservative people and how they hate to do anything different. You can tell by looking at them that people who live in Gundagai are the opposite of the free thinking people of Canberra. I would not like to live in Gundagai. I know instinctively how they vote. We went to Canberra to go to Derry McPhail’s funeral ceremony. It was well run and everyone who spoke expressed their devotion to him. He deserved it. I had emailed what I wanted to say to Christina and I half expected that she would disapprove and when James phoned me I wasn’t surprised. But I was determined to say something so I made sure I was on the list of speakers. I have to say that the list was very impressive. Except maybe for me. Everyone expressed their admiration and devotion towards Derry. Some were deeply emotional. But Derry did deserve all that was said. One person sang one of Derry’s favourite song. I admit to being the weakest and least impressive speaker. I was the odd person out and I’m sure no one understood what I was trying to say. But I had my say and I don’t regret it. I genuinely liked Derry and wanted to make some statement in public. You can see it on youtube. We stayed in ANU student accommodation. The furniture was pure PWD. I loved it. All wood. We discovered an historic building within the ANU area which was the First Administrators Home. I think this was code for the British Administrator before he was termed High Commissioner. There was a time when Australia had no foreign policy of its own. We didn’t do much touring. We went to the National Library and looked at the display of Cook’s log. Cook wrote a lot but always to the point. And not always interesting. Nothing about himself. Never panicked when in trouble. You can read the one time he gave a seaman so many lashes punishment. Very matter of fact. When did he write the log? Every night? You find the time they arrived at Australia thinking he might make some comment out of the ordinary but there is no great revelation. I wonder what he was like as a man. Would have seen right through me I suppose. Also on display were 50 fashion photographs which were not worth looking at. Athol Shmith has a reputation which he doesn't really deserve. All he did really was photograph his model wife. But maybe there were not many others who did this and that is why his work has endured. The Library normally has good displays and this was out of character.
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