The VIEW ACROSS THE MOLONGLO FLOODPLAIN TO PARLIAMENT
HOUSE. Here, the tourist prepared to stray from the well-worn path can
find the real Canberra. So much of the city is designed for set-piece
views, to be taken in if one stands in the RIGHT spot. Here the Lonely-Planet-Guide-toter
will note that the casual intrusion of power-lines and the gleaming apartments
that loom above the lake at Barton lend a gritty realism to the national capital,
appropriately obscuring the familiar parliamentary centrepiece.
From another perspective, the student of rural economics
will understand the market forces that have led to the replacement of the
lowing Friesians (Holsteins to North Americans) by beef cattle, destined for
who knows what corner of the global marketplace. The small flock of flying
birds in the centre is of Australian Wood Ducks, themselves grazers and the
commonest duck in these parts. The soaring raptors are Whistling kites,
which nest in this area.
[TRANSMISSION OF THE GRAPHIC HAS BEEN TEMPORARILY DEFERRED
TO ENABLE THE CHATLINER TO FORM HIS OR HER OWN IMAGE OF THE SCENE DESCRIBED.
THE AUTHOR IS CONSIDERING REPRESENTATIONS TO THE EFFECT THAT ALL GRAPHICS IN
THIS SERIES BE PERMANENTLY DEFERRED.]
