When you think of Australia’s capital city – Canberra – you straight away think of Parliament House, and the exit out of the area. But the city itself has many beautiful and iconic buildings and locations, that other than being a political nerd, you’ll love the National Botanic Gardens, War Memorial, Questacon, National Museum, National Film and Sound Archive… the list goes on.
One iconic landmark sits on top of Black Mountain – Telstra Tower. Opened in 1980 by at-the-time Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, the concrete and steel structure was built to help boost and improve telecommunications for the entire Canberra region.
The tower has been known as the Telecom Tower, Black Mountain Tower, and Telstra Tower, adapting to Australia’s largest telecommunications company name change in 1993. The tower itself was designed to be a working tourist attraction too, making it a scenic viewing point with a coffee lounge, revolving restaurant, and convention meeting rooms. Upon entry, you would walk into a small museum display showing the evolution of telecommunications technology, and a looped documentary video projected to the wall on how the tower was constructed.
The video itself – made in 1980 – had been running for years (including 2014, when I attended the tower myself while living in the area at the time). Enjoy the time capsule that is – Telecom / Telstra / Black Mountain Tower / people wearing slacks.
The revolving restaurant was closed down in 2013, half the ‘outside drums’ are obsolete – just too expensive to take down, and all the items in the display cabinet for the small museum display are relics of yesteryear. But, the video still remains part of the heart of the tower. The tower overall is still in 100% operation, just the technologies have changed.
For a more researched and indepth detail on the tower itself, visit the official site: Telstra Tower.
