Skywhale. it has eight udders or breasts at Canberra Floriade. This is a giant hot air balloon lit up at night for the Floriade. Do whales have breasts and udders. Looks more like an Australian koala to me.
Once agreement had been reached between the states for a new federal government and Queen Victoria had assented to the act a search began for a site for the new capital of the nation. The long time rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne was resolved by a clause in the new constitution which stated the capital had to be in NSW but at least 100 miles (160 kms) from Sydney and that the new Federal parliament would decide the final location. Politicians then suggested potential sites taking into account closeness to Sydney, rail access, and a good water supply as Australia had suffered a severe drought in 1902-1904. The new territory for the national capital would be ceded by the NSW parliament to the new government, so NSW always was going to have the final say! Twenty three sites were considered and inspected by politicians travelling by train, camping and then moving around on horseback! The sites included Albury, Armidale, Orange, Yass, Lake George, etc. The new territory was to be at least 100 square miles in area. The politicians decided on Dalgety a tiny town near Lake Jindabyne and Bombala near the NSW Victorian border in 1903. NSW did not approve of this choice as it was too far from Sydney and closer to Melbourne and there was no railway to the site so in 1908 a final decision was made on the Canberra-Yass district. The new territory was going to be 912 square miles in area. In 1911 the NSW parliament ceded this area to the new federal government and an international competition was then held for a design of the new capital city. 137 entries were received and the winner was Walter Burley Griffin from Chicago who planned for a city of 75,000 people in the tradition of a “garden city”. His plan involved the damming of Molonglo Creek to form a large lake, and a series of octagonal focal points were to be aligned with natural features (the surrounding mountains) and be linked by large avenues. The main axis of his plan (and his wife Marion worked on it too) was to be from Capital Hill (the site of our present parliament) across to the War Memorial at the foot of Mt Ainslie. On the 12th March 1913 Canberra was formally named and construction was to begin on the new city. Walter Burley Griffin arrived a few months later to supervise the work. Unfortunately World War I broke out in 1914 and worked stalled as the government had insufficient funds. Conflicts occurred and Walter Burley Griffin left Canberra in 1921 and new architects were brought in to complete the city. A major milestone was achieved when the temporary Parliament House was opened in 1927 and the Federal government moved from its temporary accommodation in Melbourne to the city of Canberra. Worked progressed slowly in the 1930s, because of the Depression, and in the 1940s because of World War Two, yet some progress was made in these decades. Prime Minister Robert Menzies made sure Canberra forged ahead in the 1950s and the city has continued to grow ever since. It now has a population of 370,000 people and is the eight largest city of Australia.
The Canberra district has been settled by pastoralists in 1824 at Bungendore and Braidwood. Like these two towns Canberra too had been first discovered by ex-convict Joseph Wild in 1820. The earliest station was Duntroon set up by a good Scot called Campbell and another station nearby called Yarralumla was also set up by a Scot, named Murray. Another early settler Joshua Moore called his property Canberry, but the local Aborigines called the district Canberra so he changed his property’s name to Canberra. Moore’s original cottage was on land now occupied by the Australian National University. Much of his grazing land is now under Lake Burley Griffin! A tiny village or local focus emerged here in 1845 when St. John’s Anglican Church was erected on land donated by the Campbell family of Duntroon station. St. John’s remains as Canberra’s oldest public structure and Duntroon (1833) as its oldest building. These original settlers and other landowners were not happy about the creation of the Australian Capital Territory as their land was resumed and offered back on 99 year leases. All land in the ACT is still owned by the government and there is no freehold land only leased titles.
Floriade.
Floriade is a word used for a large international flower exhibition held in the Netherlands every ten years. It moves to a different Dutch city every time. It is also used by the ACT for its bulb and tulip festival each year. As a major world producer of flowers and bulbs the Netherlands also has a tulip festival annually at the Keukenhof Garden, the world’s largest garden. Keukenhof covers about 65 acres (32 hectares) and displays seven million bulbs, mainly tulips. In Australia we are lucky to have such a large tulip festival annually in Canberra saving us the expense of travel to Keukenhof! But there are other tulip festivals in Australia including ones in the Dandenongs in Victoria, at Bowral in the NSW Highlands and Wynyard in Tasmania. All regions produce tulips commercially as well as having festivals.
Tulips.
Tulips belong to the Lilly family and there 109 species of tulips and hundreds of garden hybrids or cultivars. Many tulips come from Turkey and Iran but some come from Europe, China and North America. The Netherlands is the world’s largest commercial grower of tulip bulbs and flowers. The flowers are popular with gardeners the world over. Most tulips are of a single colour but a virus carried by an aphid has led to multicoloured and variegated varieties. The cup shape of the tulip is easily recognisable. Some fancy species now have ruffled edges (called parrot tulips) and the most common variety grown in Australian gardens is the Monet Tulip which comes in a huge range of colours from red, yellow, orange, white and variegated. The Queen of the Night is a common “black” variety for gardens and it comes in the parrot form too.
Tulip Mania.
It seems hard to credit but tulips once led to a mania and bulbs used to cost literally the equivalent of thousands of dollars. This occurred during the Golden Age of Holland in the mid 1630s. Tulips were a new introduction to Holland then. Within a couple of years and by 1636 tulip bulbs had become the fourth leading export of the Netherlands. Tulips became so fashionable with the wealthy in Holland and France that prices began to skyrocket in early 1636.At their peak a tulip bulb was costing ten times the annual income of a skilled craftsman in Holland. The high prices added to the frenzy as more and more people tried to buy bulbs. An investment “bubble” occurred and as we all known bubbles burst. Tulips were bought to demonstrate wealth and to decorate the fancy rural estates of wealthy Dutch merchants. The intensity of a single colour flower was greatly appreciated. The tulip was new and novel in Europe. At its height of price one merchant offered 12 acres of land for a single tulip bulb of a variegated kind. It was these striped tulips that were most highly prized. These bulbs were named after Dutch generals and aristocrats. The prices boomed as traders signed contracts (futures trading) to buy bulbs at the end of the season after they had flowered. If prices rose in the meantime traders made big profits. Often no bulbs changed hands, just money on contracts and future contracts. At other times some bulbs were sold or traded up to ten times a day! Thus the boom took off and prices spiralled upwards. Price surges had occurred in 1621, 1630 and finally the big surge in 1635-6. Suddenly prices fell in February 1636. Some sellers reneged on contracts. Fortunes were lost by some traders and buyers. Bulbs that sold for 5,000 Dutch guilders a few weeks before were suddenly worth only 50 guilders! The situation was exacerbated by bubonic plague around Haarlem the main bulb growing district in 1636. The mania, as it was properly called, has been told in several books, novels and Dutch painters of the times often depicted tulip flowers. Recent historical research has indicated that only a limited number of traders and merchants engaged in this trade and the “bubble” had no great economic impact on the Netherlands, although it did affect some traders financially. The bursting of the bubble was mainly provoked by a new Dutch law in 1636 that would remove the obligation on traders to actually buy bulbs in the future even if they had signed contracts to do so. How amazing that a beautiful flower could set off a mania and that “value” could be so unrelated to the actual object- a short lived bulb! Hans Bollongier painted this Still Life with Flowers in 1639 featuring one of the formerly prized striped tulips.
Skywhale. it has eight udders or breasts at Canberra Floriade. This is a giant hot air balloon lit up at night for the Floriade. Do whales have breasts and udders. Looks more like an Australian koala to me.
Once agreement had been reached between the states for a new federal government and Queen Victoria had assented to the act a search began for a site for the new capital of the nation. The long time rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne was resolved by a clause in the new constitution which stated the capital had to be in NSW but at least 100 miles (160 kms) from Sydney and that the new Federal parliament would decide the final location. Politicians then suggested potential sites taking into account closeness to Sydney, rail access, and a good water supply as Australia had suffered a severe drought in 1902-1904. The new territory for the national capital would be ceded by the NSW parliament to the new government, so NSW always was going to have the final say! Twenty three sites were considered and inspected by politicians travelling by train, camping and then moving around on horseback! The sites included Albury, Armidale, Orange, Yass, Lake George, etc. The new territory was to be at least 100 square miles in area. The politicians decided on Dalgety a tiny town near Lake Jindabyne and Bombala near the NSW Victorian border in 1903. NSW did not approve of this choice as it was too far from Sydney and closer to Melbourne and there was no railway to the site so in 1908 a final decision was made on the Canberra-Yass district. The new territory was going to be 912 square miles in area. In 1911 the NSW parliament ceded this area to the new federal government and an international competition was then held for a design of the new capital city. 137 entries were received and the winner was Walter Burley Griffin from Chicago who planned for a city of 75,000 people in the tradition of a “garden city”. His plan involved the damming of Molonglo Creek to form a large lake, and a series of octagonal focal points were to be aligned with natural features (the surrounding mountains) and be linked by large avenues. The main axis of his plan (and his wife Marion worked on it too) was to be from Capital Hill (the site of our present parliament) across to the War Memorial at the foot of Mt Ainslie. On the 12th March 1913 Canberra was formally named and construction was to begin on the new city. Walter Burley Griffin arrived a few months later to supervise the work. Unfortunately World War I broke out in 1914 and worked stalled as the government had insufficient funds. Conflicts occurred and Walter Burley Griffin left Canberra in 1921 and new architects were brought in to complete the city. A major milestone was achieved when the temporary Parliament House was opened in 1927 and the Federal government moved from its temporary accommodation in Melbourne to the city of Canberra. Worked progressed slowly in the 1930s, because of the Depression, and in the 1940s because of World War Two, yet some progress was made in these decades. Prime Minister Robert Menzies made sure Canberra forged ahead in the 1950s and the city has continued to grow ever since. It now has a population of 370,000 people and is the eight largest city of Australia.
The Canberra district has been settled by pastoralists in 1824 at Bungendore and Braidwood. Like these two towns Canberra too had been first discovered by ex-convict Joseph Wild in 1820. The earliest station was Duntroon set up by a good Scot called Campbell and another station nearby called Yarralumla was also set up by a Scot, named Murray. Another early settler Joshua Moore called his property Canberry, but the local Aborigines called the district Canberra so he changed his property’s name to Canberra. Moore’s original cottage was on land now occupied by the Australian National University. Much of his grazing land is now under Lake Burley Griffin! A tiny village or local focus emerged here in 1845 when St. John’s Anglican Church was erected on land donated by the Campbell family of Duntroon station. St. John’s remains as Canberra’s oldest public structure and Duntroon (1833) as its oldest building. These original settlers and other landowners were not happy about the creation of the Australian Capital Territory as their land was resumed and offered back on 99 year leases. All land in the ACT is still owned by the government and there is no freehold land only leased titles.
Floriade.
Floriade is a word used for a large international flower exhibition held in the Netherlands every ten years. It moves to a different Dutch city every time. It is also used by the ACT for its bulb and tulip festival each year. As a major world producer of flowers and bulbs the Netherlands also has a tulip festival annually at the Keukenhof Garden, the world’s largest garden. Keukenhof covers about 65 acres (32 hectares) and displays seven million bulbs, mainly tulips. In Australia we are lucky to have such a large tulip festival annually in Canberra saving us the expense of travel to Keukenhof! But there are other tulip festivals in Australia including ones in the Dandenongs in Victoria, at Bowral in the NSW Highlands and Wynyard in Tasmania. All regions produce tulips commercially as well as having festivals.
Tulips.
Tulips belong to the Lilly family and there 109 species of tulips and hundreds of garden hybrids or cultivars. Many tulips come from Turkey and Iran but some come from Europe, China and North America. The Netherlands is the world’s largest commercial grower of tulip bulbs and flowers. The flowers are popular with gardeners the world over. Most tulips are of a single colour but a virus carried by an aphid has led to multicoloured and variegated varieties. The cup shape of the tulip is easily recognisable. Some fancy species now have ruffled edges (called parrot tulips) and the most common variety grown in Australian gardens is the Monet Tulip which comes in a huge range of colours from red, yellow, orange, white and variegated. The Queen of the Night is a common “black” variety for gardens and it comes in the parrot form too.
Tulip Mania.
It seems hard to credit but tulips once led to a mania and bulbs used to cost literally the equivalent of thousands of dollars. This occurred during the Golden Age of Holland in the mid 1630s. Tulips were a new introduction to Holland then. Within a couple of years and by 1636 tulip bulbs had become the fourth leading export of the Netherlands. Tulips became so fashionable with the wealthy in Holland and France that prices began to skyrocket in early 1636.At their peak a tulip bulb was costing ten times the annual income of a skilled craftsman in Holland. The high prices added to the frenzy as more and more people tried to buy bulbs. An investment “bubble” occurred and as we all known bubbles burst. Tulips were bought to demonstrate wealth and to decorate the fancy rural estates of wealthy Dutch merchants. The intensity of a single colour flower was greatly appreciated. The tulip was new and novel in Europe. At its height of price one merchant offered 12 acres of land for a single tulip bulb of a variegated kind. It was these striped tulips that were most highly prized. These bulbs were named after Dutch generals and aristocrats. The prices boomed as traders signed contracts (futures trading) to buy bulbs at the end of the season after they had flowered. If prices rose in the meantime traders made big profits. Often no bulbs changed hands, just money on contracts and future contracts. At other times some bulbs were sold or traded up to ten times a day! Thus the boom took off and prices spiralled upwards. Price surges had occurred in 1621, 1630 and finally the big surge in 1635-6. Suddenly prices fell in February 1636. Some sellers reneged on contracts. Fortunes were lost by some traders and buyers. Bulbs that sold for 5,000 Dutch guilders a few weeks before were suddenly worth only 50 guilders! The situation was exacerbated by bubonic plague around Haarlem the main bulb growing district in 1636. The mania, as it was properly called, has been told in several books, novels and Dutch painters of the times often depicted tulip flowers. Recent historical research has indicated that only a limited number of traders and merchants engaged in this trade and the “bubble” had no great economic impact on the Netherlands, although it did affect some traders financially. The bursting of the bubble was mainly provoked by a new Dutch law in 1636 that would remove the obligation on traders to actually buy bulbs in the future even if they had signed contracts to do so. How amazing that a beautiful flower could set off a mania and that “value” could be so unrelated to the actual object- a short lived bulb! Hans Bollongier painted this Still Life with Flowers in 1639 featuring one of the formerly prized striped tulips.