9/7: Australian Poli Sci 101 & Last Post Ceremony

Reserved months ago online bus tickets for the 3.5 hour bus journey each way to and from Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory aka ACT. Canberra’s name is thought to mean ‘meeting place’ and derived from the Aboriginal word ‘Kamberra.’

Getting the Murray’s Coach from Sydney’s Central Station at 8 meant some pre-planning: we needed to leave my duffle bag (aka suitcase) with lots of Steven’s stuff in it in the hotel’s luggage room by 10:45 the night before as no staff would be at the front desk til after we left in the morning. Since we’d only be gone for the one night, Steven didn’t have to lug much of my stuff in his bag, thank goodness.

Arrived at Canberra’s Jolimont Center in the heart of the city at 11:30, dumped Steven’s duffle bag in the coach (bus to us!) station’s locker and set out to explore the city on foot of course. We had had a map but nothing ‘looked’ that far away to us but, boy, were we ever mistaken. We later discovered that the city was laid out in 2 concentric circles, like spokes on a wheel which are linked by the artificial Lake Walter Burley Griffin, the American who designed the city in the early 20^th century.

The city was laid out before any houses were built; all that to say, it meant that the city is not conducive at all to walkers. Furthermore, we discovered on the second day when it was too bloody cold to walk and the distances we wanted to travel were too far, that the bus system is very ‘unique.’ To go anywhere in the city, we found out we needed to get a bus in the city center right by Jolimont and take it to where you want to go, namely the National Gallery in our case. BUT, in order to go on to the National Botanic Garden, our next destination, we needed to return to Jolimont AND then take a bus to the Garden. Very convoluted and incredibly time consuming if you’re on a somewhat tight schedule, especially if the buses only run every 90 minutes in some cases!

I had done some research, mostly on Trip Advisor, our travel ‘bible’ for so much of our trip so we knew what we wanted to see in the 1.5 days we had in the capital.

Of course there we were our 1^st day, the 7th, blithely setting out to walk to Parliament Hill and all the way over to the Australian War Memorial at the far end of Anzac Parade (a major thoroughfare, not a parade as we know it), back to Jolimont to pick up Steven’s bag and then ‘just up’ Northbourne Ave., the same street Jolimont is on, to our hotel. Did we do all that? Oh, yeah, you can bet your bottom dollar we did but I would not recommend it again if the weather is as nasty as what we experienced. I can still feel the wind whipping off the lake as we trekked to the Memorial.

Surprise, surprise I digressed - sorry - back to the story and our visit to Parliament House (PH from now on) located on Parliament Hill. As it turns out though when we took the 1pm 30 minute guided tour minutes after arriving (what very lucky timing especially having to go through security, sign in at the info desk and get lanyards), the current PH is no longer situated on a hill. The hill was leveled to the ground so it would never appear to be above the people but rather on the same equal footing as the people. 

We asked why there were so many flagpoles on Federation Mall, i.e. the grassy area with no flags on them; she said flags are only raised when heads of state come. The area looked so forlorn and barren with the empty flagpoles in our opinion.

PH took over 8 years to build and replaced the former PH that had long outgrown its size and usefulness, we later discovered from a security guard at the National Museum. The building has a whopping 4,500 rooms – imagine having to clean all those! 

Interesting birds on the Freedom Lawn of PH.

The 1^st thing you see from the distance is not PH itself but rather the national flag, the biggest one in the country, and even larger than a double decker bus. The flag, which sits atop a glass pyramid, does not come down at night. It is checked for possible damage every 4-6 weeks. That was the 1^st time I remember knowing about a flag not coming down at sunset. Are any of you aware of flags not coming down at night?

Australia's Coat of Arms again.

Our guide pointed out that PH is set out so that the Prime Minister can sit 

in his office and look all the way through the Ceremonial Front Doors to the Anzac Memorial Parade and on to the Australian War Memorial, visually straight ahead (in the middle of the photo) but not in reality because of the curved streets AND the lake in between.

Our 1^st stop in PH was the Great Hall above used for ceremonial occasions, dinners when heads of state are visiting but also for table tennis tournaments, weddings, university graduations, etc!

The gorgeous tapestry took 14 women 2 years to weave. The guide said that there was one animal, a silver cockatoo in it as well as one comet. Did you know, Darlene, that it is the tradition of weavers to place a comet in their works? It was certainly news to me.

There are only 4 copies of the Magna Carta left in the world: 

2 in the United Kingdom and one each in the US and Australia.

Our guide emphatically stated The Reflective Pool (above) is not a wishing well

 and that people are told not to toss money in it as it’s very hard to clean the pool’s granite.

The glass pyramid from inside PH; the flag rises from atop the pyramid.

The Official Apology made by the Prime Minister to the Aboriginal people in 2008.

In the entryway, red Italian marble (marble is the only non-Australian product used in the building’s construction) represents the Senate (and painted red) which was built in the shape of a circle indicating the Senators have to work together. The House of Representatives, painted green, was built in a rectangular shape meaning its members tend to be confrontational, is marked by green marble in the entryway.

Australian Poli Sci 101 begins now! if you're not interested, just fast forward to the photos again!

I had known that both houses in Parliament were ‘sitting’ today, i.e. in session, but didn’t realize I should have ordered tickets ahead of time for us to attend the hour long Question Time in the HOR beginning at 2. Attending Question Time in one of the 3 176 seats visitors’ galleries would be a highlight of our stopover in Canberra, as I’m a former Poli Sci major from way back! Our guide thought we’d manage to get in but a nervous wait in the queue ensued (for me, not Steven who didn’t care as much) after we had to ‘cloak’ (i.e. store) our backpacks, the phone, camera etc. because the non-ticket line was so long. We had been so surprised that, after going through fairly minimum security upon entering the building, we were still able to wear our backpacks throughout the tour.

Lady Luck was on our side again as we were able to find seats in the gallery to watch Question Time - I was so thrilled! Each visitor was handed a large colored map printed for the day of the HOR with marked locations of who’s sitting in each chair from each party. That made it easier for us to follow who was speaking at any given time.

It is required that every member, including the Prime Minister (referred to as the PM from now on) of the HOR be in attendance at the Question Time unless he/she is out of the country.

There are 9 parties represented in Australia’s Parliament: Currently the Liberals have 73 members; the Labor, i.e. the official Opposition Party has 55 members; the Nationals have 15 members; the Independents have 2 and 5 other parties are represented by just 1 member each. Steven and I noted that the members generally appeared very young and that there was a greater representation of female members than there is in the US HOR.

During the hour long Question Time, 10 questions of the ruling party are asked by its own members and also by the Opposition Party or parties’ members. The latter are, of course, very confrontational in nature compared to the puff ones asked by the former. 

The Speaker of the HOR seems to wield incredible power: if he feels a member is making a statement and not answering the question, the Speaker notifies the member of that and tells him he must answer the question. The Speaker’s role includes keeping the members in order; when we were there, he regularly told some members who were making excessive noise and/or showed disrespect in his opinion to stop immediately or risk ejection. All those members wishing to comment need to gain the attention of the Speaker who recognizes them by the political area they represent, never by their personal names.

Each question must be answered within 3 minutes and the clock starts when the member or appropriate government minister (i.e. Department Secretary in the US) begins speaking. You could tell that each member talking kept one eye on the clock for their allotted 3 minutes: initially they used calm, measured tones but when the 3 minute clock was winding down, their voices rose in volume and in intensity. The Speaker shut anyone down from speaking more than the 3 minutes, including the PM. There are no long winded speeches tolerated here!

At the beginning of Question Time, both the PM and LOO made impassioned short speeches on the refugee crisis facing the world today. Tony Abbott, the PM, said that “it is the character of our nation to lend a helping hand wherever we can.” The LOO also spoke of the horrific photo of the 3 year old Syrian boy who drowned on the beach in Turkey. He said that “words of sympathy are not enough and that our compassion requires action.” He asked the government to approve of 10,000 additional humanitarian places on top of the 4,500 Syrians and Iraqi refugees who have already been accepted as part of Australia’s refugee program.

The LOO continued, saying that “Europe is dealing with these issues and Australia has a role to play in this crisis. Bipartianship is important here; let us speak with 1 voice and line up to aid…let us be known as the home of the fairgo (??) for all.”

Abbott stated “We (i.e. Australia) always want to do the right thing and it’s the Australian way to look after people in trouble. We need to work as a collegial Parliament as far as we can with 1 voice and respond as 1 nation.” He mentioned that “The Minister of Immigration and Border Protection is now talking with the UK Commissioner of Refugees and that it was important to hear his report before we finalize a response.” (PS: 3 days later, the government stated that they would accept a further 12,000 refugees from the Middle East, particularly families, women and children in camps.)

Between the questions, there were prolonged statements by both the PM and LOO about 2 famous Australians who had recently passed. Both times, the Speaker called for everyone to stand and pay their respects in a moment of silence.

The Speaker told 1 member from ... district to cease and desist and tat the member is hereby warned and centered (??).

Steven discovered firsthand that visitors must sit back in their seats and not place their elbows or arms on the seats in front.

There were additional questions about Australia’s financial and humanitarian commitment to Iraq, the Government’s job plan and also Australia’s recent trade agreement with China.

To me, as I am sure you must realize by now, the entire experience was engrossing, fascinating and I was so thrilled that we were able to be part of that experience.

PH was built on the lands of the Aboriginal people. Over 90,000 granite pieces 

make up the Aboriginal design in the courtyard of the PH, our guide said. 

The design symbolizes the island’s makeup of land surrounded by water.

The Carillon Tower.

Departing the warmth of PH, we again braved the chilly 10 degree C. weather to walk toward the Australian War Memorial (the AWM from now on) via Memorials of Anzac Parade. Eleven memorials line the striking boulevard commemorating Australia’s war efforts in the 20^th C.

Lake Burley Griffin, an artificial lake created by damming a river in 1963, was central to the city’s design of Canberra by the previously mentioned Griffin. I bet you can almost feel the chilly, choppy waters we walked beside after leaving PH en route to the AWM.

The New Zealand Memorial - it reminded us of the Arch in St. Louis.

Royal Australian Navy Memorial.

The Vietnam War Memorial.

View of Anzac Parade with the memorials and PH in the background,

Steven in front of the Australian War Memorial.

The AWM, designed by Charles Bean, is the nation’s tribute to its 102,000 men and women war dead and was envisioned as a place that all Australians could mourn their loved ones who had served in the armed forces and given their lives for their country. 40,000 Australians died in WW II in service for their country.

Knitted poppies,

Our aim was to reach the AWM in time for its incredibly moving Last Post Ceremony held daily throughout the year at 5. We found out that one veteran is singled out to be honored at each ceremony. Today 27 year old Pvt Mervyn James Denton who died at the battle of Tobruk in December of 1941was so honored. 

The MC asked everyone to stand and join him in singing the Australian national anthem. 

Everyone seemed to participate, I noticed. 

Daily different members of the Armed Forces are represented by the co-MC. Today, the Navy was represented by a female officer who spoke with great emotion while bringing to life Pvt Denton’s early years in the WA and his decision to join the Army. After reading his biography, all those in attendance at the Ceremony must surely have felt that he was no longer simply a name on the wall but someone who lived and breathed and gave the ultimate sacrifice for Australia.

Pvt. Denton's family laid wreaths at the Reflecting Pool
during the very somber 20 minute ceremony. 

Wreaths were also placed by representatives of schools in attendance. 

I was so impressed and moved that there was complete silence during the entire ceremony 

and all the school children acted respectfully throughout. 

All stood while the bugler played a final salute and then the MC and 

most in attendance said ‘Lest We Forget.’  

Believe me, it was hard not to be teary at the conclusion of the ceremony and also deeply appreciate anew the enduring hardships given by service members and their families back home.