So that was your Centenary

MyDee said :

So, for the centenary we have second rate entertainment, arts and events usually provided by someone who will never make it or has long since past it being elevated to something worthy of attention.

I disagree! We had The Church play here!! they had a hit single. Thirty years ago.

MyDee said :

In essence the whole year was just one long boring exhibition of self aggrandizement by the organisers of this extravaganza.

Boy, did they aim low then.

Seeing the Church play live by the lake, for free, and the excellent bikes & sound at Spin were two good Centenary things for me.

“Everyone has a unique and interesting story to tell but the consistent message in most of those stories is the pride we have developed for our city.”
Judging by the stories in this forum, pride is taken in the quality of our roads, the excellent facilities for cycling, fantastic public transport system and its expansion, the job security offered by the unique local public service, the friendly manner in which our citizens share the roads and how we enjoy spending lots and lots of money on giant pieces of art. I for one love hearing about these and other issues we take pride in, as residents of the capital city of Australia. [I love sarcasm, so much more fun to write…]
“We live in one of Australia’s most diverse communities and I was pleased to see that the program for the centenary provided opportunities for all Canberrans to take part in a festival or event that aligned with their unique interest”. Summernats hasn’t happened yet, so my interests haven’t been satisfied thus far, sorry to say. [Yup, sarcasm was much better than the direct approach.]

What I really love about Canberra, particularly over the centenary year, was the hubris. I think Canberra does hubris better then anywhere else in Australia, perhaps even the world. Although I think North Korea probably pips us on this score.

So, for the centenary we have second rate entertainment, arts and events usually provided by someone who will never make it or has long since past it being elevated to something worthy of attention. In essence the whole year was just one long boring exhibition of self aggrandizement by the organisers of this extravaganza.

But of course Canberra has a long history of hubris, From the start the opening of the Parliament 26 odd years after Federation surpassed anything to follow. So many endangered species were sacrificed to both feed and cloth the representatives of an empire in decline.

And over the course of the years we have been treated to many visions of Costa dal Burley Griffen- I still await the seaplane terminal and surf beach and our state of the art light rail which will materialize immediately after the umpteenth feasibility study.

Ah Yes Hubris and Canberra our contribution to the Commonwealth

A total flop. Every good event was an annual event or a coincidence (e.g. NGA exhibitions). A few minutes of extra fireworks are about all I can give a tick too.

I particularly liked how she thanks Robyn Archer at the end for her “flare” rather than her “flair” – flares and platform heels would be quite in keeping with the quaintly daggy, retro feel of what we’ve had over the past year.

RA said on the radio this morning that ‘success to her in 5 years time would be uplift in the cultural landscape. Not just from people outside Cbr, people inside’…..
I’m not really sure what that means, but it seems like a strange way to measure centenary celebrations – a later increase in culture?!? WTF? hahaha!

Even the Canberra 100 digital radio station changed over early to Elf radio (Xmas songs 24/7) in late November…

Gungahlin Al said :

If complainers reckon they didn’t see anything worthwhile, they really weren’t looking. And whose problem is that again?

I don’t think anyone would say there was nothing worthwhile. For me, the cricket was good, as was the rugby, both of which would have happened in any case. It just wasn’t anything like a “celebration of a centenary”.

It was far too heavily biased towards the alleged “arts” and aimed squarely at the hipster/leftie./greenie brigade, not you average Joe Canberran.

Gungahlin Al said :

Some leveraged things that have already been happening like Enlighten, which was wonderful. Others were one-offs that I wish were annual.

Ditto. I remember thinking that at the Village Festival at Glebe Park. That was just a delightful little family festival. And the Spiegeltent of course. I’d be happy for them to bring that back every year too. (Though I did walk out of one gig there)