Welcome to Canberra in winter

Welcome to the winter issue of *This Week in Canberra*, with all the information you'll need about what's happening in and around the city during the coming months.

The onset of the cooler weather mean it's the perfect time of year to take stroll around this perfectly-planned city, with iconic tourist attractions, galleries and state-of-the-art buildings all within walking distance of each other.

The season, why not visit the National Archives, commemorating Constitution Day on 9 July with a series of events and activities. Help celebrate the birthday of the nation's government by visiting the Memory of a Nation exhibition and learn about the people who've shaped Australia.

At the National Library you can see iconic images by Max Dupain and documentary images by Hugh P Hall at the Ballet Russes in Australia exhibition. That's along with a sneak preview of the Treasures exhibition, due to open in 2010, which will bring together over 170 priceless artefacts from Australian libraries.

If you want to try some of the seasonal food and wine that the Canberra region is renowned for, take part in the Fireside Festival, which will see Canberra Symphony Orchestra musicians playing amongst the vines and a Fireside degustation menu. This winter, there's no better time to enjoy Australia's capital.

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Canberra - A Brief History

Canberra is a fairly young city and the majority of its history is tied to politics of Australia. Canberra was decided as the federal capital in the late 1880s for a very simple reason - that it was located roughly halfway between the two major cities of Melbourne and Sydney. Before this time there was very little in the Canberra region apart from a farming community. For thousands of years before white settlement, Aboriginal people lived in the region and Canberra received its name because the word means "meeting place' in the local Aboriginal language.

An international competition was held in 1911 order to find plans that would be suitable for a federal capital city. Many different plans were submitted, and a young American architect named Walter Burley-Griffin won the contest. He suggested Canberra be built with town centres in the hills and then linked by small arteries in a circular pattern and divided by a lake.

The Parliament was not built immediately when Canberra was established and its plans approved. Instead, a temporary Parliament was constructed in 1927 while plans for the current building were confirmed after a national competition in 1980. In 1988, the building was opened by Queen Elizabeth II to world acclaim. Over the years, Canberra has grown to be a diplomatic, educational, service and political hub of the nation.

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