Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00408:front:0:p167
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00408
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 540010–545163

The central national area, particularly Parkes Place in front of Old Parliament House, has been used for countless demonstrations (Criterion G.1).

The landscape spaces are important for social activities of visitors and Canberra residents and these include Canberra festivals, water events, national events and parades such as Anzac

Day Parade and the Dawn Service, and other commemorative services (Criterion G.1).

Aesthetic Value

The place has high aesthetic significance due to the visual impact of the extensive open sweeping vista along the land axis that can be experienced in two directions, the designed axes set within natural features of forested hills, patterns and textures of architectural massing accentuated by planned open spaces, water planes and tree plantings that are arranged across the area. The vista is significant for its visual drama with its ability to engage viewers in the visual perspective of the sweeping vista to the terminal features. The aesthetic significance is also a result of the large scale qualities of the axes, including the open green spaces, combined with patterns and symmetrical characteristics of the road networks and numerous designed smaller attributes. These include the rose gardens, the Old Parliament House Gardens, Commonwealth Park, the street tree plantings, the lake-land interface and the Sculpture Garden of the National Gallery, and many intimate spaces rich in texture, colour, fragrance and in some cases, art works and water features (Criterion E1).

Associational Value
The central national area has a special association with its designer, Walter Burley Griffin. Griffin is an important figure in Australia's cultural history for his overall design of Canberra as the Nation's Capital. The special association between the central national area and Griffin results from the area being the centrepiece of the planning geometry for Canberra and perhaps the only part of his Canberra plan to survive relatively intact. The area has a strong association with Marion Mahoney Griffin who prepared the perspective drawings of the Vista. The Vista area has a strong association with numerous architects and planners, in particular John Smith Murdoch, Chief architect of the Commonwealth Government, and Thomas Charles Weston, Superintendent of Parks, Gardens and Afforestation in Canberra, and notable planners of the National Capital Development Commission such as Sir John Overall, Peter Harrison and Paul Reid (Criterion H.1).
Official Values:
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Criterion: A Processes
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              The central national area of Canberra is strongly associated with the history of politics and government in Australia and the development of Canberra as the Australian National Capital. It is significant as the home of the Commonwealth Parliament, the focus of the Federal Government since 1927, initially in the Old Parliament House and from 1988 in the new Parliament House. The various government buildings in the area reinforce the association