Mount Ainslie
Walter Burley Griffin's axis, from the war memorial to Parliament, seen in one line.
Duration
1 hr – 2 hrs
Difficulty
●●●○○
Best time
At sunset
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
Mount Ainslie rises eight hundred and forty-three metres and it is the point from which Canberra makes sense. The city was designed entirely on paper in 1912 by Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin, two Chicago architects, winners of an international competition.
Their plan rests on geometric axes keyed to the landforms: from the lookout you see the axis run dead straight from the war memorial below to Parliament House on the far side of the artificial lake. None of it is accidental, and it only reads from here.
Getting there
Road up from Fairbairn Avenue, ten minutes by car. A path climbs in forty minutes from behind the war memorial.
What to bring
- Walking shoes
- Headlamp
Rules on site
The path from the memorial is steep and unlit: do not walk down it after dark without a torch. Kangaroos are plentiful on the road at dusk — drive slowly.