All in a day's work

We needed to get a plumber out for a blocked drain recently (turns out the problem was in the main sewer line, so it's ACTEW's problem - ACT electricity & water). The registration plate on the plumber's ute caught my eye ...

Eating out in Jammo

Lawry Place, Jamison, on a rainy Thursday evening. We were there for dinner at the Dumpling Inn (to the right of where I was taking the photo), but there's also a good Turkish restaurant tucked in here behind the shops (the place with the oval signs in the photo). For the non-Australians, the Salvos are the Salvation Army, who raise money through op (opportunity) shops.

Mr Badger

Today I took the children to the new Gungahlin Library to meet Mr Badger (from Wind in the Willows, of course!). He told us all about his adventures with Mole, Ratty and Toad of Toad Hall; of Toad's (mis)adventures with motor cars; and the battle against the weasels, ferrets, stoats and foxes to regain control of Toad Hall.

Mr Badger comes from the Splash Theatre Company in South Australia, and has been travelling around telling his stories for nearly two years.

Globe on Moore

This is the globe at the top of the Globe on Moore apartment building, on the corner of Barry Drive and Moore Street, Civic. We've driven past it many, many times, but until today I had no idea what it was! You learn something new every day.

The Abbey

The Abbey is a function centre, often used for weddings, at Federation Square in Nicholls. It's not an abbey, it looks nothing like an abbey, and it's not my style at all, but it seems popular, and it does have one very interesting feature inside - a huge pipe organ case from a London church, said to be carved from 800-1000 year old oak timbers retrieved from shipwrecks and old manor houses. The Abbey's website claims the organ is 19th century, although this isn't clear - the Organ Historical Trust of Australia says it was attached to a 1911 organ in its original location in the Third Church of Christ, Scientist, Curzon Street, Mayfair, London. The organ case was brought to Australia in the 1980s and installed in the Woodoak Museum in Junee, NSW in 1988, before being transferred to The Abbey in 1995.

There are some photos of how the organ case is displayed now on The Abbey website gallery, and more information (including a photo of the case in its original location, with the two parts one on top of the other as they were designed to sit) on the OHTA site.

Southern Cross Club, Woden

Inside the foyer of the Southern Cross Club, Woden. We were there yesterday for the free movie - it's school holidays!

There are two Southern Crosses in this photo - one is the club, but can you spot the other?

Emergency Services

I had to spend a few hours in Accident & Emergency at Calvary Hospital on Saturday night (everyone's fine :) ), and as I was leaving, I noticed that all three emergency services - ambulance, police and fire - were represented in the carpark. A busy night!

From left to right: ambulance bay, the entrance to A&E, police car and (a little hard to make out because of the lights) a fire engine.

Tent Embassy

On the lawns in front of Old Parliament House is a ramshackle arrangement of tents - the Aboriginal Tent Embassy. Far removed from the official embassies and high commissions in Canberra, the Tent Embassy began on Australian Day - January 26 - in 1972 as a beach umbrella stuck in the grass with people protesting for Aboriginal land rights. The issues, and the embassy, have expanded since then. Until 1992, it was an intermittent site, destroyed, dismantled, and relocated at various times, but since then there has been a permanent (although controversial) presence. The Tent Embassy celebrates its 40th anniversary next year.

Filled beyond capacity

This is a model of Old Parliament House, so you can get an idea of the structure and complexity of the building. The two taller sections are the House of Representatives Chamber (on the left) and the Senate Chamber (on the right), with the lower roof of King's Hall between them. The Prime Minister's office is in the corner closest to the bottom of the photo.

By the time the building closed, it contained almost 3000 people - far more than had ever been planned for, even with various extensions over the years. The House of Representatives was originally 76 members, and had grown to 148. The Senate had also more than doubled, from 36 to 76 members. Then there were political staffers, administration and other general staff, and the media to be accommodated. One new members was literally given an office in a broom cupboard!

House of Representatives

This is the House of Representatives Chamber in Old Parliament House. I was standing in the press gallery to take this photo, with the ornate timber Speaker's Chair immediately below me. Members of the Government sat on the right of the Speaker, and the Opposition on the left. The seats at the centre table were for the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. Hansard reporters, who recorded all parliamentary sessions (originally by hand) were seated at the central table on the Opposition side.

The Senate Chamber is in a mirror position on the other side of Old Parliament House. It has a very similar layout to this chamber, but has a red colour scheme (similar to the British House of Lords, although our Senators don't have any connection to any sort of peerage system).