Canberra

Canberra is the capital of the Commonwealth of Australia and, with a population of just over 323,000, is also Australia's largest inland city. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory, 300 km southwest of Sydney, and 650 km northeast of Melbourne. Unique in Australia as an entirely purpose-built, planned city, Canberra was selected as the location of the National Capital in 1908. Following an international contest for the city's design, a design by Chicago architect Walter Burley Griffin was selected and construction commenced in 1913. The city's design was heavily influenced by the garden city movement and incorporates significant areas of natural vegetation that have earned Canberra the title "bush capital". Although the growth and development of Canberra was hindered by the World Wars and the Great Depression, it emerged as a thriving city post-World War II.

Infrastructure

Health

Canberra has two large public hospitals, the 500 bed Canberra Hospital located in Garran and the smaller 174 bed Calvary Public Hospital located in Bruce. Both public hospitals are also teaching hospitals. The largest private hospital in Canberra is the John James Memorial Hospital Hospital in Deakin, Calvary Private Hospital in Bruce and The National Capital Private in Garran are also major healthcare providers. The city has 10 aged care facilites. Canberra's hospitals receive emergency cases from throughout southern New South Wales. The ACT Ambulance Service s operated by the ACT Government's Emergency Services Agency.

Related Topics:
Hospital - Garran - Deakin

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Transport

The car is by far the dominant form of transport in Canberra, partly due to the city's urban structure and partly due to the high income levels of its residents. Past planning policies have resulted in well developed good quality roads and a low population density spread over a relatively large area of the city. Canberrans enjoy excellent travel times over relatively large distances in comparison with other Australian capital cities. Traffic jams are few and 'peak hour' congestion generally does not last longer than twenty minutes. Canberra's districts are generally connected by 'parkways' - limited access dual carriageway roads with speed limits generally set at 80km/h or 90km/h, The best example is the Tuggeranong Parkway which links Canberra's CBD and Tuggeranong, and bypasses Weston Creek. It is considered more a Freeway, then a dual carriageway road. In most districts, discrete residential suburbs are bounded by access roads.

Related Topics:
Canberra's districts - Tuggeranong Parkway

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A publicly run bus service?ACTION, the Australian Capital Territory Internal Omnibus Network?provides comprehensive public transport throughout the city; a well-designed network of cycle ways has been established as another alternative to the car. Only 4.6% of the population use the bus system however, and 5.5% walk or cycle to work.{{mn|2001census|6}} There is no urban rail network in Canberra.

Related Topics:
ACTION - Omnibus - Public transport

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A private bus service operates between Canberra and Queanbeyan, an adjoining town in New South Wales. An interstate CountryLink railway service connects Canberra to Sydney. Canberra's railway station is in the inner south suburb of Kingston. Train services to Melbourne are provided by way of a CountryLink bus service which connects with a rail service between Sydney and Melbourne in Yass, about one hour's drive from Canberra. Plans to establish a very fast train service between Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney have been contemplated, but not implemented, mainly because the large distances, modest populations, and cultural and political preference for road transport make the investment difficult to justify.

Related Topics:
Queanbeyan - New South Wales - CountryLink - Sydney - Kingston - Melbourne - Yass - Train

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Canberra is about three hours by road from Sydney on the Federal Highway, which connects with the Hume Highway (National Highway 23) near Goulburn, and seven hours by road from Melbourne on the Barton Highway (National Highway 25), which joins the Hume Highway at Yass. It is a two hour drive on the Monaro Highway (National Highway 23) to the ski fields of the Snowy Mountains and the Kosciuszko National Park. Batemans Bay, a popular holiday spot on the New South Wales coast, is reached via the Kings Highway.

Related Topics:
Sydney - Federal Highway - Hume Highway - Goulburn - Melbourne - Barton Highway - Monaro Highway - Snowy Mountains - Kosciuszko National Park - Batemans Bay - Kings Highway

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Canberra International Airport provides direct domestic services to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, with connections to other domestic centres. There are direct daily flights to Albury and Newcastle in New South Wales. Regular international flights have been considered, but to date only chartered international flights have connected Canberra directly with overseas destinations. The civilian airport shares runways with RAAF Base Fairbairn, which regularly receives international dignitaries and handles VIP flights such as those carrying federal ministers.

Related Topics:
Canberra International Airport - Sydney - Melbourne - Brisbane - Adelaide - Perth - Albury - Newcastle - RAAF Base Fairbairn

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Utilities

The ACT government owned ACTEW Corporation manages Canberra's water and sewerage infrastructure. ActewAGL is a joint venture between ACTEW and AGL, and is the retail provider of Canberra's utility services including water, natural gas, electricity, and also some telecommunications services via a subsiduary TransACT. Canberra's water is stored in four reservoirs, the Corin, Bendora and Cotter dams on the Cotter River and the Googong Dam on the Queanbeyan River. The Googong Dam is in New South Wales but it is managed by the ACT government. ACTEW Corporation owns Canberra's two wastewater treament plants, located at Fyshwick and at Lower Molonglo on the Molonglo River.

Related Topics:
ACTEW Corporation - ActewAGL - AGL - Cotter River - Fyshwick - Molonglo River

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Electricity for Canberra comes from the national power grid through substations at Holt and Fyshwick (via Queanbeyan). Some limited local renewable power is produced via a hydro generator on the main water supply pipeline for Canberra at Mount Stromlo and methane plants at waste landfill sites at Belconnen and Mugga Lane. The first domestic power supply in Canberra was in 1913 for the suburb of Acton. Unlike most Australian cities, the power poles in Canberra's older suburbs are located along the rear boundaries of residential housing lots rather than on the street front. In newer areas the power supply and communications cabling are located underground.

Related Topics:
Holt - Fyshwick - Queanbeyan - Belconnen - 1913 - Acton - Australia

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