Black swans

Black swans on Lake Ginninderra.

Black swans are native to Australia, and European explorers and settlers were quite astonished when they first saw them, being used to the white swans of home. The breeding season in the south of Australia is from June to September, so the cygnet in this photo (taken in April) would probably be between seven and 10 months old - still quite grey and fluffy, but almost as big as the parent in the foreground. 

The black swan is featured on Canberra's Coat of Arms, representing Australia in its native state. According to the designer, he originally wanted to include two black swans as supporters in the coat of arms, but this device had already been granted to Perth in Western Australia, so one of them was changed to a white swan, representing European settlement.

If you want to feed the swans, please don't feed them bread! Bread attracts pest birds like starlings and mynas, doesn't have the nutrients required for healthy birds, and has additives that aren't good for them. Try taking along some lettuce, spinach or silverbeet instead.

Waiting patiently

Evatt Newsagency, Saturday afternoon. The woman he's waiting for is inside - perhaps she was buying a newspaper, a magazine with pictures of the Royal Wedding, or a Mothers' Day card for the following day. I'll never know - we were gone before she emerged.

Saturday sports

On Saturday mornings all over Canberra, teams of children are meeting on sporting fields. This photo was taken in May 2007, when my daughter was five years old and the only girl in her rugby union team (you'll have to indulge me - it's Mother's Day!). There were some very cold mornings for parents and grandparents, cheering from the sidelines!

Back doors

Still in Tocumwal Lane in Civic. It was starting to get darker, and the lights were starting to come on. This is the service area behind the shops and offices of the block bounded by Petrie Plaza, City Walk, Garema Place and Bunda Street. Cars and vans, bins, exposed pipes, back doors, air conditioning units, discarded furniture - all the stuff you don't want your customers to see. And Batman. He's on the back wall of Impact Comics.

Not a great quality image - sorry about that - but the only one I have up closer.

Volcano!

Who would have thought a little lane in the city would be so interesting? This volcano mural is on the wall opposite the motorcycle parking in Tocumwal Lane, Civic, featured on Wednesday, and to the left of yesterday's image.

Wall art

The other side of Tocumwal Lane. I have no idea what it says, but I like it as an image. Notice how the only graffiti tagging on the whole wall is on the parking signs.

Scooters in the city

I was wandering around in Civic (the city centre) yesterday and spotted this brightly painted wall and line-up of motor scooters. Scooters (and bigger motorcycles as well) have become more popular as petrol and parking prices rise. Tocumwal Lane, off Petrie Plaza, allows motorcycle parking only (free), and leads into a carpark/service area in the centre of a block of buildings.

To ride any sort of motorcycle in Canberra, you need to complete a 10 hour pre-learner's course, and if you don't already have an ACT driver's licence you also need to complete a Road Ready Course and a Road Rules Knowledge test. Once all that is in order you can obtain a learner's permit (L plates), which you hold for at least three months (and up to two years) before you can have your riding skills assessed and (hopefully) obtain a provisional licence. The provisional licence (P plates) applies for one to three years before you qualify for a full motorcycle licence. So the owner of the red scooter is somewhere in the early stages of the process.

Both sides of Tocumwal Lane are covered in really colourful graffiti-style paintings. Not only do they brighten the place up, they tend to keep the 'real' graffiti levels down. I'll show the other wall tomorrow.

9pm in Evatt

There's not a lot happening in Evatt at 9pm on a Monday night. It's quiet and dark, and most people are at home. Maybe they're watching a movie from the local video shop - nothing else is open at this time.

Evatt Shops is one of the small local shopping centres. It has an IGA supermarket, a takeaway, a newsagency, a hairdresser, a butcher, a bakery, a pharmacy and the video shop. The suburb is named after H V Evatt, a Labor politician, High Court judge, author, and he also played a significant role in the founding of the United Nations. In fact, he was President of the UN General Assembly in 1948-49 and his achievements include helping draft the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and involvement in the negotiations which resulted in the state of Israel.

Searchlight

Bomber Command [Neil Dawson, 2005, stainless steel, glass and granite]

One more image from the Australian War Memorial. Bomber Command is a sculpture by Neil Dawson. Made of stainless steel, glass and granite, it was acquired by commission in 2005. This is a World War II Royal Australian Air Force memorial - the 16.5 metre column represents a searchlight reaching into the sky. Neil Dawson is the same artist responsible for Diamonds at the National Gallery of Australia.

Dancers

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Dancers on a Lakefront [Konstantin Dimopoulos, 2010,
high performance composite rods]

The Belconnen Arts Centre, opened in August 2009, sits in a prominent position on the edge of Lake Gininderra, across the road from Westfield Belconnen. It's hard to miss with this bright yellow kinetic sculpture out the front, especially at night. There are seven groups of rods, each between five and seven metres tall, that move in the wind.

According to the artist:

In this instance the water, the architecture of the building and the vertical lines echoed in the fabric of the building, suggest a celebration of movement. The sculpture develops this theme and is like a ballet in which these lines of different characters have their own part, choreographed and moved gently by the wind. Like music in dance, wind is the critical element in this production, shaping and forming with its influence.

Belconnen Arts Centre
118 Emu Bank, Belconnen
Open Tuesday–Sunday 10:00am–5:00pm