My Town Series: Lake Burley Griffin

I thought I would end the week by sharing with you some photos of Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra.  My cousin, her husband and children spent Monday in Canberra and we had a picnic and walk along this beautiful lake.  Here are some of the photos I took.

To give you an idea of the lake, here is a satellite photo (no, I didn't take this!!) of the lake and the city of Canberra.  In case you were wondering, the population of Canberra is 330,000 and is the  Australian nations capital (like Washington in the USA).

Below is a view of Lake Burley Griffin looking towards Commonwealth Bridge, one of 2 bridges that cross the lake.  This road takes you straight to the Australian Parliament) building.  Lake Burley Griffin is an artificial (man made) lake in the centre of Canberra and was completed in 1964. It was named after the American architect who won a competition to design the city of Canberra. (which I will talk about in another part of this series).  The lake is 11kms long and has an average depth of 4 metres.  You can't swim in it, its pretty "yuk" however it is very popular with boats and birds.

Commonwealth Bridge: Between the spans on the southern side are two granite stones from the 1817 Waterloo Bridge  across the River Thames in London. These were presented to Australia after the 1817 bridge was demolished in the 1940s and replaced by a modern structure. A plaque reads, in part, "Stones such as these from the bridge were presented to Australia and other parts of the British world to further historic links in the British Commonwealth of Nations."

The fountain in Lake Burley Griffin - this is based on the "Jet d'eau" in Geneva.

Along the Lake are a number of important buildings, including the High Court of Australian, the National Art Gallery and The National Library of Australia. (below)   The Library is the country's largest reference library opened in 1968.  In total it houses 8 million books and around 26 million individual items within the manuscript collection.

The building to the right is the High Court of Australia and the tall thin building (50 metres high) to the left is the Carillion (bell tower).  The Carillion was a gift from the British Government and was officially open by the Queen of England in 1970.  With 53 bronze bells, the National Carillon is large by world standards.

 The lake also contains a number of water birds including these majestic Black swans. 

What is now such a beautiful spot for picnickers, walkers and bike riders - once looked like this.  This was taken during the early days of the creation of Canberra and it's lake.  It took over a year to fill Lake Burley Griffin - due to drought.

There are many parks along the lake, perfect for picnics - here are the children having a great time in the leaves.

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Have a happy weekend in your part of the world.