Page 1006 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 19 March 2013
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We wear the criticisms of our city with a mixture of frustration and, sometimes, defensive pride—frustration because we see that much of the criticism is misdirected and a little unfair, or is delivered by commentators who have only ever visited our city to engage with the federal parliament, or perhaps not even visited at all. Pride, because we know that, in spite of what people say, living in this city brings joy to our lives in many different and varied ways, and even if others cannot see that until they rest here long enough to experience it, there is something about living here that gets under your skin. It is that something that often keeps people here if they have moved from other places. More and more, it is the definition of home that those born here carry with them as they travel further afield.
I suspect that in another hundred years we will not feel the need to defend our city and speak so passionately about its attributes. Those attributes will shine ever more brightly, and the pride we have in our city will be more readily understood by those from other places. We Canberrans love this city for its big blue sky and for the clean air. We love it for the native bush landscape and the abundance of urban parks. We love it, in spite of our sometimes frequent complaints, for its ease of living, access to schools and services, the ability to get across town relatively easily and its urban amenity.
We love it for its emerging culture and entertainment. Restaurants abound; coffee shops are increasingly prolific; we have a rich and varied music scene, from classical to alternative and folk and jazz. We have dancers of all genres, and plenty of local and imported theatre. We love this city for its sporting and recreational opportunities. Canberra is a place that inspires health and activity, with our parks, our bike paths, and our lakes, as well as our proximity to the beach, snowfields and many national parks. We share the highs and lows of our sporting teams and athletes, especially those competing on the national and international arena.
We love it simply because it is our home, where we build our memories of good times with family and friends, of picnics and birthday parties on the side of the lake, events at the botanic gardens, running into neighbours at the local shops, riding through our forests, or playing sport on a Saturday morning. The Canberra that the people of this town are celebrating is the Canberra that we live in, not just the Canberra that is graced with national institutions and home to the federal parliament, though we know and understand that these things form an important part of our identity also.
Indeed, many of us love Canberra because we have so much immediate access to the wonderful national institutions that are here: the National Gallery, the National Library, Questacon, the National Museum and the War Memorial, to name but a few. Many of us work for the federal public service. This forms a unique part of our economy as well as a reason for many people to come here in the first place. But while employment is important, it is not the only reason people stay here. They stay because Canberra is a great city to live in.
At the heart of any great city are its people. Canberra is full of groups and individuals who have contributed their time and energy to building not just the physical environment, but also the cultural and social environment that we enjoy today. There
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