Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Victoria Square, Adelaide

The city of Adelaide is surrounded by a wide green belt of parklands, but also has a number of squares in the CBD. The largest and most central of these is Victoria Square. Victoria square was named after Princess Victoria, just a few months before she became Queen. The aboriginal name is Tarndanyangga. The Australian and Aboriginal flags fly here throughout the year. The fountain is meant to depict the three rivers from which Adelaide gets most of it's water, the Torrens, the Onkaparinga and the Murray. The square is in the absolute centre of the city and is a busy junction of the main north-south and east-west routes, and also a major public transport hub. There are a number of important, historical buildings around the square. This is the main post office. and this is the Catholic Cathedral of St. Francis Xavier. Around the square are also a number of statues commemorating great South Australians like the explorer Charles Sturt who whilst exploring from the east coast westwards discovered that all of the great rivers converged into the Murray. The main north-eastern highway from Adelaide towards Sydney is named after him. This is John McDouall-Stuart, who made the second crossing from the south to north coasts of Australia. He blazed the trail for the Adelaide to Darwin telegraph, and the main highway north from Port Augusta to Darwin is named after him. This is Charles Cameron-Kingston an early Premier of South Australia.

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