A2ZACT With Brent Ford – Capital Hill

Capital Hill is home to Australia’s Parliament House. It was formerly known as Kurrajong Hill. Brent Ford continues his running journey.

Capital Hill was previously named Kurrajong Hill and is around 2.5 km², surrounded by State Circle. Until the construction of the current Parliament House, the hill was covered with scrubby native bushland. It has a stunning view back towards Mt Ainslie. #A2ZACT pic.twitter.com/jOsv8CPMbN

— Brent Ford (@BrentFord26) January 19, 2021

A view from above.

Within the bounds of State Circle, you will find the suburb of Capital Hill. In the early plans for Canberra, it was known as Kurrajong Hill, and that’s where all the ceremony happened back in 1913. Aside from all the action within the halls of parliament, they have squash courts, tennis courts, libraries and various other facilities, including a large art collection.

You can see a bit more of the inside of Parliament House in this video.

It took about 60 years to build the “new” Parliament House after the Old Parliament House was set up as a “temporary” site. Once again, the design was put out to competition, won by Italian architect Romaldo Giurgola.

Here’s the thoughts on the suburb from the Feel The Power blog. You can see a bit about life inside the press gallery here.

Within the bounds of the suburb you can find the Surveyor’s Hut, which is where Charles Scrivener set up shop when mapping what was to become the capital. You can still see the old hut, though you can’t go inside.

Tags: A2ZACT, Canberra, running