page_title: Australian of the Year
section_title: Australians of the Year Walk
hierarchical_section_title: Australian of the Year / Australians of the Year Walk
caption_attribution_description: English: "Australians of the Year Walk" at Lake Burley Griffin, Canberra. With Captain Cook Memorial Jet.
context_page_description: The Australian of the Year is an award conferred on an Australian citizen by the National Australia Day Council, a not-for-profit Australian Government–owned social enterprise.
context_section_description: 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 the national anthem "Advance Australia Fair". Fixed to each plinth is an anodised aluminium plaque containing the names and images of an Australian 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 (35.295°S 149.129°E).
  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 him.
  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?
  — Mark McKenna in The Monthly, March 2008.
caption: Australians of the Year Walk
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