Eight Best Things About Canberra

Eight Best Things About Canberra

We’ve teamed up with Heineken to discover the best new, old and must-visit hidden gems that are local favourites in each of Australia’s capital cities. Our in-the-know locals will unlock the secrets of their home town; find out what’s happening right now around you at openyourcity.com.au.

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Ah, Canberra. A city so full of hot air, we had to invent a ten-breasted floating whale to take it all in. The punchline of a thousand national jokes. And still, despite heavy job losses in the public service, a pretty great place to live. Especially lately.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about Canberra is just how long it took to get gentrified. Don’t get me wrong, there have always been places for those on stable salaries to empty their wallets, and as a University town, a big night out is forever achievable. But it’s taken a long while for anything that remotely smacks of ‘urban cool’ to come to town.

You’d think Canberra would have been reinventing itself ala its buddies across Bass Strait and the Tasman — Hobart and Wellington — years ago. But only in the last two years or so have there been stirrings of hip culture, largely concentrated in the inner city suburbs of Braddon and NewActon (yes, no space, that’s how trendy it is).

Now that the boutique, bespoke and micro-brewification has finally begun, it looks set to spread, fast. This new wave of dining and café culture is mingling nicely with Canberra’s somewhat shabbier, but deeply loveable, small town indie, gay and leftie heritage.

Given Canberra’s status as the centre of Australian power, today we’re going to concentrate on the city’s coolest institutions, new and old. Just not the ones with the flags flapping off them.

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Words by Sylvia Margoulis.

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