Joshua

=// Australian Capital Territory // =

History
**//Aboriginal History//** Aboriginal people have lived in the A.C.T for 21,000 years, but the first 15,000 years they had an ice age. There were three main language groups in the A.C.T. They consisted of 30-40 people. Their names were Walgalu, Ngunawal and Ngarigo. By the time Europeans had arrived these groups had about 500 people in them. The committees moved around so that way the food such as animals never died out. On May 13th 1813 Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson managed to find a way across the Blue Mountains. The first person to explore A.C.T was a Naval Surgeon called Charles Thorsby who was accompanied by Joseph Wild and James Vaughan. On the way they were also looking for Murrumbidgee River. In 1821 Charles Thorsby finally found the river in 1821.
 * //European History//**

**Government and Laws in A.C.T** There are three levels of government in A.C.T State, Federal and Local. Federal are in charge of taxes and defence. State are in charge of health and education. Local are in charge waste management, local events and roads. Australia is in charge of the states but the territories are looked after by the Commonwealth government. People need to feel safe and their houses need to be too. The A.F.P Australian Federal Police are responsible for keeping peace in the A.C.T. They are also in charge of solving federal crime. None of this would be here eight years ago, until an arrangement was made in 1990. One of the most important landmarks in the A.C.T is the New Parliament house, it was built into a hill and the roof is covered with grass to make it blend in with its surroundings. An unknown Australian solider returned from W.W.1 in 1943 and laid to rest in a hall, near the hall there is a reflection pool, with the names of 102,000 dead war men. The Black Mountain Tower is located on The Black Mountain its 195∙2 metres above the Black Mountain summit.
 * Landmarks and Attractions**

Australia has the highest rate of species extinction of any developed nation. Almost one in five of our mammal species are facing extinction, there are currently 788 Australian plants and animals which are listed threatened. All native animals (mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians) and many native plants are protected in N.S.W. Once a plant or animal is listed as a threatened species then their protection shifts to the Threatened Species Act 1995.
 * Native Plants and Animals**

It is 650KM from Bendigo to Canberra; the time is 7 hours and 45 minutes at an average speed. The directions from the centre of Canberra to Parliament House are; head north along Vernon Cir towards Northbourne Ave then a slight left into Commonwealth Ave, turn left at London Cct and then another slight left Northbourne Ave, at Vernon Cir take the 1st exit onto Commonwealth Ave, turn right at State Cir, turn left at Commonwealth Ave, turn right at Parliament Dr, turn left to stay on Parliament Dr. The latitude of Canberra is 35® and its longitude is 149®. A.C.T spans over a total of 2,358 square kilometres.
 * Mapping and Directions**

Some of the major yearly festivals in Canberra are The Royal Canberra show, Autumfest and The Canberra Festival of Drama. The A.C.T flag was adopted by the Legislative Assembly on the 25th of March 1993. The floral emblem features two Gang-gang Cockatoos. The coat of arms features a black and a white swan, triple towered castle and the swords of justice. The capital city of A.C.T is Canberra, with as much as 340,800 people in total it was counted on the 30th of June 2007. The time zone they are in is the Australian Eastern Standard time zone, which makes cool to cold winters and warm to hot summers.
 * Facts[[image:http://z.about.com/d/goaustralia/1/0/9/K/royalbluebell.jpg width="200" height="135" align="right" caption="Royal Blue Bell "]]**



**// References //** Google Australia [|http://google.com] /, [] Edo staff [] wikipeadia foundation Inc. [] Maps of the World ,[| http://www.mapsofworld.com/lat_long/australia/australia-lat-long-c.html] Gott, R 1997, Australian Capital Territory, Heinemann Library, Melbourne.