Frog

Found above the street gutter drains at the ANU campus.

Sullivans Creek runs through the middle of the university grounds, and the willow trees lining it in parts are the reason one of the residential buildings was given the name Toad Hall (in reference to The Wind in the Willows).

Originally named Canberry Creek, and flowing into the Molonglo River (part of which became Lake Burley Griffin, where the creek now empties), its name was changed to Sullivans Creek after the Sullivan family, who owned much of the surrounding land in the late 19th and early 20th century. Parts of the creek are now sealed, and carry stormwater from the urban area out to the lake.

Speaking Australian

Hands up who knew there was such a thing as the Australian National Dictionary Centre? I certainly didn't, but here it is, located on the ANU campus.

According to their website:

The Australian National Dictionary Centre conducts research into Australian English, and provides Oxford University Press with editorial expertise for their Australian dictionaries. It was established in 1988, and is jointly funded by The Australian National University and Oxford University Press Australia.

If you're new to Australian English, you night like to check out Aussie English for Beginners - you'd have to be a stubby short of a six-pack not to!

Open Day

More from the ANU Open Day on Saturday. Gorgeous weather, the pink and white blossoms of ornamental cherries and plums, music, food and plenty to see and do! This is the main student services area, with the student union, food outlets, a pharmacy and plenty more.

Beware the dragon

Yesterday was the annual Tertiary Open Day, when Canberra's five big tertiary institutions hold their coordinated open days. This year I happened to be at the Australian National University, and spotted this fellow when wandering around after my seminar. I did some searching online today, and discovered that the dragon is the mascot of Bruce Hall, one of the student residences on campus, and when I zoomed in on the logo on his friend's shirt, it confirmed that they were promoting the Hall to prospective students.

In The Tank

Despite the gorgeous end-of-winter day we've had, I spent most of the day in a small windowless lecture theatre at the Australian National University (ANU). I did get a chance to wander around a little a lunchtime and after we'd finished for the day, and I'll bring you some more photos of the university over the coming days.

This building, for obvious reasons, is known as 'The Tank'. It's more properly known as the Haydon-Allen Lecture Theatre. According to the ANU website, the building is named for 'J.F.M. Haydon (1882-1967) [and] Dr L.H. Allen (1879-1964) ... the first lecturers appointed full-time to the teaching staff of Canberra University College. Mr Haydon, who was a Senior Lecturer in Modern Languages, had previously been Professor of that discipline at the Royal Military College, Duntroon, while Dr Allen, Senior Lecturer in English and Latin, had been Professor of English at Duntroon.'

Hall Showgrounds

Just to the north west of Canberra, but still within the ACT border, is the village of Hall. Named after Henry Hall, who settled in the area in 1833 - just seven years after the first European explorers came through. The Hall family actually lived in a homestead in what is currently the suburb of Fraser, and their property was named 'Charnwood' - now the name of another Canberra suburb.

The village was gazetted in 1882, although there had been a hotel since 1864.

Today's photo is looking from Victoria Street across part of the Hall Showgrounds, with the barbecue shed in the background. I don't know how old the shed is, but with it's rough-hewn poles and corrugated iron roof, it would have been typical of early buildings in the area. The local show was held annually at Hall Showgrounds between 1925 and 1964, when it moved to the Exhibition Park in Canberra. Today the grounds are used for various sports, National Sheepdog Trials, functions and the very popular monthly Hall Markets.

Scrivener Dam

Scrivener Dam is what holds back the waters of the Molonglo River to form Lake Burley Griffin. It was closed to start the lake filling in 1963, but because of a drought it took nearly seven months to go from a trickle of water and a few mosquito-breeding ponds to a proper lake, but when the drought eventually broke, it only took a few days to fill.

The dam was named after Charles Robert Scrivener, the surveyor who recommended the site for Canberra in 1909. It wasn't his original choice - we could have been in the Snowy Mountains, and the ACT might have included Australia's highest peak, Mt Kosciusko. Apparently he didn't get on too well with Walter Burley Griffin, the winner of the design competition for Canberra, and Scrivener had the influence to change the design for three connected lakes, at different levels, into the single lake we have today.

The dam itself is 33 metres high and 319 metres long. It holds back 33 million cubic metres of water, in a lake with a 40.5km shoreline. It was built to withstand a 5000 year flood event, and the flood gates are tested every three months. If you're interested, there's more information on a fact sheet from the National Capital Authority.

In the background is part of the National Arboretum, and on the far side of the dam, to the left, is the National Zoo and Aquarium.

City reflection

The side of the AusAID building in London Circuit reflecting the back of the Forum Apartments.

CIT sculpture

I was over at the CIT (Canberra Institute of Technology) campus in the suburb of Bruce yesterday, and came across this sculpture in the courtyard enclosed by A, B, C and J blocks. I haven't yet been able to find out who designed and made it, or even its name (if it has one), but I like how it's set amongst native trees and bushes, almost as if it's old machinery, adandoned to rust and be absorbed back into the earth.

There's a lot of construction going on around town, and much of it is in the most northern area of Canberra - Gungahlin. Some brand new just-moved-into suburbs, some still under construction, and some just starting out. This photo was taken from Horse Park Drive, heading back into Gungahlin. I think it's part of the suburb of Harrison, but I'm afraid I've lost track of which new suburbs are where, exactly!