Australians of The Year Walk
The "Australians of the Year Walk" in Canberra was designed by the National Capital Authority and comprises a series of plinths, seats and lighting. Incorporated in the pathway are five metal strips set flush in the concrete, representing the five music stave lines. The plinths are placed in musical note position to the score of Advance Australia Fair (Australia's national anthem). Fixed to each plinth is an anodised aluminium plaque containing the names and images of the Australians of the Year. There is one plaque for each year of the award. The plaques are arranged chronologically, starting at the western end of the path near Commonwealth Avenue Bridge. The lake side is bordered by white paving stones, the land side by a white paved walkway.
The Walk is situated along a straight section of shoreline on Lake Burley Griffin between the National Library of Australia and the Commonwealth Avenue Bridge( 35°17′42″S 149°07′44″E / 35.295°S 149.129°E / -35.295; 149.129 (Australians of the Year Walk)Coordinates: 35°17′42″S 149°07′44″E / 35.295°S 149.129°E / -35.295; 149.129 (Australians of the Year Walk)).
The Walk was opened by the then Prime Minister of Australia John Howard, on Australia Day, 26 January 2006.
In December 2007 journalist Mark McKenna visited the Australian of the Year Walk and interpreted it as a highly symbolic form of national memorial. The empty bollards stretching into the distance particularly intrigued McKenna:
These blank plaques – memorials to the future – stand as if waiting for the years to pass before they can be filled in and become whole. Yet strangely they seem more intriguing than the plaques that precede them. It is possible to imagine the line of blank plaques stretching on endlessly, and their emptiness begs the question: What sort of nation will Australia become over the next few decades? —Read more about this topic: Australian Of The Year
Famous quotes containing the words year and/or walk:
“But I must needs take my petulance, contrasting it with my accustomed morning hopefulness, as a sign of the ageing of appetite, of a decay in the very capacity of enjoyment. We need some imaginative stimulus, some not impossible ideal which may shape vague hope, and transform it into effective desire, to carry us year after year, without disgust, through the routine- work which is so large a part of life.”
—Walter Pater (1839–1894)
“Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment, and walk by the way.
They that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of
drawing water, there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the
Lord,”
—Bible: Hebrew Judges (l. V, 10–11)