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Canberry Tales: An Informal History
Long before there was Canberra, there was Canberry.
248 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 25, 2019
"Canberry" was the colonial property name said to be derived from local Indigenous language on a prominent ridge in what became The Nations Capital Canberra.
It's now the Acton Pennisilar in the shade of Black Mountain tower and on the foreshore of Lake Burley Griffin.
A fascinating early history in the early parts of the book are followed by perhaps a less fascinating history but one that is pocketed with my own memories of 50 years lived in Canberra.
The Ridge where early people gathered for "corroboree" to a colonial property to a hospital to The National Australian Museum. It's a place that has had many incantations.
I found it interesting if a little jumbled at times with anecdotes.
It's now the Acton Pennisilar in the shade of Black Mountain tower and on the foreshore of Lake Burley Griffin.
A fascinating early history in the early parts of the book are followed by perhaps a less fascinating history but one that is pocketed with my own memories of 50 years lived in Canberra.
The Ridge where early people gathered for "corroboree" to a colonial property to a hospital to The National Australian Museum. It's a place that has had many incantations.
I found it interesting if a little jumbled at times with anecdotes.
September 20, 2021
At page 147 out of 218 and honestly, I am done. This is just not enjoyable reading and most of the time it is not even comprehensible reading.
The author obviously has done a stupendous amount of research and knows so much about his subject, but it has not been well organised for anyone who knows so much less about it than he does.
I don't know Canberra or it's history that well, though obviously I have visited it a couple of times, and I looked forward to learning more about it. However after 147 pages I don't feel like I know ANY more about Canberra, really, than I did before. A little more about the early days, perhaps, a few fairly minor stories.... but I just read a random segment about a cricket team that came from England and played by some other rules that upset someone... I don't even like cricket, so this was the last nail in a coffin that already contained a great deal of them.
Lots of tiny, unconnected stories everywhere, but none of them have a beginning or an end and most don't have clearly defined characters. Sometimes timelines overlap and I can't follow that either.
I think the author knows the political history, the characters involved in it, the local geography and so forth so well, as well as all the HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of random white men who were involved, that these probably do seem like stories for him. If your history is so good that you know all these names, then you will probably enjoy it also. But for me it is largely meaningless.
This strikes me as possibly a valuable resource for a post graduate student in Canberran political history.
The author obviously has done a stupendous amount of research and knows so much about his subject, but it has not been well organised for anyone who knows so much less about it than he does.
I don't know Canberra or it's history that well, though obviously I have visited it a couple of times, and I looked forward to learning more about it. However after 147 pages I don't feel like I know ANY more about Canberra, really, than I did before. A little more about the early days, perhaps, a few fairly minor stories.... but I just read a random segment about a cricket team that came from England and played by some other rules that upset someone... I don't even like cricket, so this was the last nail in a coffin that already contained a great deal of them.
Lots of tiny, unconnected stories everywhere, but none of them have a beginning or an end and most don't have clearly defined characters. Sometimes timelines overlap and I can't follow that either.
I think the author knows the political history, the characters involved in it, the local geography and so forth so well, as well as all the HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of random white men who were involved, that these probably do seem like stories for him. If your history is so good that you know all these names, then you will probably enjoy it also. But for me it is largely meaningless.
This strikes me as possibly a valuable resource for a post graduate student in Canberran political history.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews