Meander among Canberra's museums

By JILL HOCKING

In his book Down Under travel writer Bill Bryson describes Canberra as an extremely large park with a city hidden in it. I'd wager that within that large park are more museums for every public servant than any other city in the world.

Walter Burley Griffin's design for the city incorporated a space for parliamentary buildings and museums set in parkland on the shores of the lake that bears his name. The following 10 attractions, mostly free, are part of Burley Griffin's National Triangle.

Australian War Memorial

More than 102,000 Australian servicemen and women have died in wars and at the award-winning Australian War Memorial military hardware such as Japanese midget submarines, tanks, Iroquois helicopters, Lancaster bombers and trucks can all be seen. The historic boat that carried the diggers ashore at Anzac Cove on April 25, 1915 is on show, and there are many humble and touching displays as well: a Welcome Home tea cosy, slouch hats, a book of psalms and a nurse's poignant World War I diary entry: "I must not think or my nerve will go and I will be useless".

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ScreenSound Australia

What have Rolf Harris' wobble board and Judith Durham's overcoat in common? Both are on display at the national film and sound archives. ScreenSound Australia chronicles Australia's screen and sound milestones, including the 1940 war film Kokoda Frontline, which won an Academy Award, the final episode of Gwen Meredith's radio soap Blue Hills, which went to air in 1976, and Australia's first CD in 1986. In the State Theatrette view grainy silent films from the early 1900s and black and white newsreels.

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Parliament House

With its 81m flagmast and grass-topped roof, Parliament House burrows into Capital Hill in a direct line with Old Parliament House below it and the War Memorial across the lake. Visitors can stroll around the expansive public areas, gaze at the gigantic tapestry in the Great Hall based on the painter Arthur Boyd's bush at Shoalhaven and at the portraits of governors-general and prime ministers.

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Old Parliament House

The Old Parliament House now lives on as a museum of political history. Visitors can stride the corridors of power where, between 1927 and 1988 business was transacted.

The building was designed to accommodate 200 politicians and staff. In the 1950s back benchers were allotted a couple of lockers to store their parliamentary kit. Poke your nose into the broom-cupboard offices where more than 3000 people worked in the 1980s.

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National Portrait Gallery

Portraits of Captain Cook, Weary Dunlop, Don Bradman and Kylie Minogue stare from the walls.

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National Museum of Australia

The striking and much-heralded National Museum of Australia opened in March 2001 at the tip of the Acton Peninsula, with views across Lake Burley Griffin to blue-green hills.

Wander around the many galleries, check out the bark hut from Framlingham Aboriginal Mission, the Torres Strait Island outrigger canoe and popular symbols such as the quarter-acre block and the Hills Hoist.

Outside in the Garden of Australian Dreams is the world's biggest map. In a created landscape of folding sand dunes, English-language maps are interwoven with tribal maps. One step on the map takes you 100km across the continent.

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High Court of Australia

The lofty walls of glass and cascading water steps of the High Court of Australia featured as a backdrop in the 1997 movie The Castle. The High Court of Australia sits for a fortnight in every month except January and July and the three courtrooms are open to visitors.

When the courts are in recess attendants are on hand with the finer points of the courtrooms, the murals in the Public Hall, and the portraits of the Chief Justices and the Justices of the High Court.

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National Gallery of Australia

No visit to the national capital would be complete without a viewing of Blue Poles. Former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam created quite a kerfuffle in 1973 when he snapped up Jackson Pollock's masterpiece for around US$2 million. Other must-sees include paintings from the desert and works in bark in the standout indigenous collection. Allow time for the Australian Impressionists and primitive art from Africa and the Pacific.

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National Archives of Australia

Anyone tracing their family tree would find the National Archives the ideal place to start. The National Archives cares for Commonwealth government records and makes them available to the public. In the Federation Gallery you can study the nation's birth certificate, signed by Queen Victoria.

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National Science and Technology Centre

Canberra is packed with space domes, observatories, space communication complexes, science education centres and organisations. Questacon, the National Science and Technology Centre, caters for children of all ages. The approach is interactive, fun, hands-on and minds-on.

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National Library of Australia

Join a behind-the-bookstacks tour (see the robotic trolley at work), or go to one of the many special events, concerts and talks organised by the library.