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TALKING TOADSTOOL SCRIPT NO.5 GOVERN1\'1EJJ'r HOUSE VIEWING POINT

Il'IT'RO 5 SBJ S. MUSIC 'J'Hfi!lif DOWI\f N m UNDER FOR ••.. NATIR : The large cream coloured house seen from this viewing point is 's most celebrated home, Government House, official r esidence of the Queen's representative, the Governor- General. The first building on this site was a small hunti ng lodge for absentee landowner Francis Mowatt who used it to entertain friends during visits from . Among those who visited was New South Wal es Gover-nor Bourke in eighteen- thir ty- five. The first actual building on the property was a shepherd's hut which sifbod between the present Government House and the Wool s hed behind this lookout across Lady Denman Drive to the south. The s hepherd's hut, built in eighteen- twenty- s even, l1 a s long s ince vanished but the woolshed, built much later, remains as a visible link with Yarralumla' s early pastoral days.

NIUSIC UP FOR 3 SECS. THEN OOWN FOB. •••• NARR: The original pastoral property was given the name Yarralumla by its second owner, Terence ( later Sir Terence) Aubrey Murray, who purchased it from .M:Owatt in eighteen- thirty-seven in partnership with Thomas Walker. The name Yarralumla is derived from an aboriginal place name for the area which is believed to mean "where the cry comes back from the mountain". Contrasting with one of 's other early ! l andovmers, :l:obert Campbell of Duntroon Station, Murray employed or ~- was assigned mostly Irisl1 convicts. Campbell of Dw1troon, on the other hand, gave preference to free settlers, most of whom were Scottish ,. ~ shepherds. I, r· :MUSIC UP FOR 3 SECS. THEN DOWN FOR ••.• ~ u ~'TAl@: Murray was rather a remarkable figure in Australian history. r He c ame to Yarralumla when only twenty-seven years old and bec ame i· l' presiding Magistrate for the Southern Area of New South Wales. In t this capaci ty, he dispensed justice to convicts and free settlers !J twice his a,:;;e. Despite his relative wealth he was no text book landowner \' ~

living only a life of l UQQ

eighteen days later having covered eight- hundred miles or one-thousand­ r.' two-l1und.:ced- and-ei ghty-ei ght kilometres in the s addle. Murray was 1.. ir i I lJ l~ .!;.: _,.~ ---t•,...... ,...... ,....,,...-...._... ___...... __~=~---.--~...... ;:;:::;;;;:;;:;:

Government Ho~ "' , . '-·(

elected as representative for the District in the Colony's first Legislative Assembly i n Sydney in eighteen- forty-three. Two of his sons achieved eminence in other fields, Sir Hubert Mur:ray as Lieutenant ­ Governor of Papua-New Guinea'and Gil bert Murray as an Oxford classical scholar.

MUSIC UP FOR 3 SEXJS. THllT DOWN FOH •• ..

NJI..RR: Murray, v1ho died in eig ~1t een-seventy-t h ree , had earlier lost control of Yarralumla to the executors of his first wife's estate. The property was acquired in eighteen-ei ghty- one by Frederick C:=.tJllpbell of Duntroon who demolished the original house and built what is now the central portion of Government House in eighteen-ninety- one. He also

added a clock tower, a s~a:b l e-and tl1e woolshecl. The Campbell fami ly, ho wever, was fated to have both its Canberra properties acquired by the emer ging Federal Government. Duntroon was taken over as tr1e site for the Royal N'd.li tary College in nineteen-hundi:ed-and- ten and YaL'ralwnla for the Governor- General's r esidence less than three years l ater. Prior to its acquisition by the Australian Government, Camp bell' s Yo;rralumla property covered some twenty- five-thousand acres or ten- thousand-one­ hundred-an.d- twenty- four hectares.

TIITJSIC uP FOR 3 SECS. TI-IF:N DOWH Ji'OH ... . NARR: Yarralumla 's first official function as the property of the Australian government was to act as a Hostel for visiting Members of Parliament on inspection tours of the new capital, a role it fulfilled until nineteen-twenty-seven. In nineteen- twenty-eight the Government spent one-hundred-and-forty-five-thousand dollars to renovate the building in readiness for its first permaDent Vice- Regal occupant. Lor d Stonehaven, Australia's Governor- General from nineteen-tv1enty-five to nineteen- thirty- one, stayed at Government House on visits from Melbourne. But the remodelled Ya.rralumla had to wait until nineteen­ thirty- one before the next incumbent, Australian born Sir Isaac Isaacs, moved in and it was desi gnated the of the Governor­ General. lj

1J.P 3 :OOVM j_i'QR •••• '! MUSIC FOR SECS. 'l'Hl!::N I• t' l\IP.RB: Government House today is the scene of many of the official ,, and ceremonial occasions associ ated with the Governor-General 1 s office as the Queen's representative in Aus t ralia. Included among these are the Commissioning of a new Government after general elections, the giving of the Royal Assent to Bills passed by Parliament, investing the

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recipients of Royal honours with their awards, formally r eceiving Credentials of Ambassadors accrcdi ted to Australia , and enter t aining distinguished over seas visitors and Australi ans .

IvTIJSIC UP FOR 3 SEeS. THEW DOWN FOR •••• NA.RR: The Queen first st ayed at Government House in nineteen-fifty­ four. Her suite is on the first floor. Its sitting r oom is directly above the private entrance doors which can be seen from this viewing point. From the window of the sitting room she had a panoramic view of the gardens and the Brindabella Ranges to the south. The grounds and gardens, kept in immaculate order by a special staff attached to Government . House, stretch right down to on the · northern side of the building· where a special wb.arf was built at the bottom of a series of terraced steps in front of the main lawn area.. In nineteen-seventy the Queen departed from this jetty by Royal Australian Navy barge to inaue;urate the Captain Cook Memorial Water Jet and the Canberra Carillon.

MUSIC UP FOR 3 SEDS. THEN OOWH FOR ••.• NA.R.R,: Government House is not open to casual visitors but the grounds are opened on occasions during tl1e year for charity fetes, including the annual Scout Fete. The Prime IVIinister' s Lodge is simil arly opened each year for a Guide Fete. This lookout is one of four vantage points from which this historic home on its grounds can be seen. The closest view of the gardens leading to the house is at the end of Du.nrossil Drive which runs parallel to tbe road bebind you, Lady Denman Drive, and can be reached via Dudley Street which runs off the main Capital Hill arterial expressway, . Incidentally, Lady Denman Drive is nam ed after the v1ife of the Governor- General at the time of Canberra's inauguration in nineteen-thirteen, and Dunrossil after the Right Honourable William Shepherd, Viscount Dunrossil, who was Governor- General from nineteen- sixty to nineteen-sixty- one. Viscount Dw1rossil died in office and is buried in the churchyard of St. John the Baptist Anglican church which was built by Rob ert Campbell, •I

the or i ginal ovmer of Dllntroon Sta tion. A different view of Gov er nm e n~ :-

I House is obtained further along Lady Denman Drive beyond Scrivener r~· around the northern lalce shore . But perhaps the best one is from the deck of a Lak e cruise vessel passing directly in front of the jetty en route to .

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Government Hous K

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MUSIC UP FOR 3 S.EDS. 'l'HE!f :OOVlfif FOR •••• NARR: The importance of Government House, of course, goes far

beyond its Australian pastoral homestead architec tu r~. Its tru.e significance lies in the fact. that it is the residence in Canberra of Her Maj esty the Queen's personal representative- the Governor-General. His Excellency, acting on the Queen's behalf at1.d in accordance with the Commonwealth Constitution, has t he power and duty of calling together . members of the Australian Parliament, which makes laws for the government of the Commonwealth . The Governor-General, in the name of the Queen and with the advice of his Mini sters, assents to, or may withhold assent to , Acts of the Parliament; he may prorogue or clissolve the Parliament and order elections to be.. held; he has the power to gro.nt pardons or remit sent ences imposed .i:Y.Cou.rts under Commonwealth Acts; and he

makes appoint ments to the Cormnonwealth judiciary, t~1e armed forces, the Commonwealth Public Service and certain statutory bodies. The Governor-General i s aiso Commander-in- Cl1i ef of the armed forces.

MUSIC UP FOR 3 SF:I::S. TH EH DOWN FOR •••• NARR: It is to Government House that new 1\llinisters come to be sworn in by the Governor-General as members of the Federal Executive Council and :Ministers of State in the Australian Government; it is here that the Governor-General and his Ministers hold meetings of the Federal Executive Council; and it is here that Prime Ministers of Australia come to receive and resign their commissions as the Governor-General's chief adviser and head of the Government. Thus Government House, Canberra, is today a focal point in Australia's constitutional and 1.; political history.

MUSIC UP FOR 3 S.EDS. THEH DO WN AlfD UNDER FOR •••

NA.Rit: li'or more information about Canberra's attractions and the I ' :· 1 visiting t imes for various public buildings obbin a free copy of the t brochure "Canberra Points of Interest with :tvhp Guide" from tl1 e A.C.T. Tourist Bureau, London Circuit , Canberra City (PAUSE)

NARR: This has been a 'roads tool Automatic Advisory Service

presentation ( BEAT PAUSE) •.. Post Office Box Sixty-three, Mu.dgee, ;. ~ New South Wales. Thank you fo :r.· your patronage.

:MUSIC UP FOR 5 SECS. THEH DOWliT AND FADE OUT.

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