The Captain James Cook Memorial was built by the Commonwealth Government to commemorate the Bicentenary of Captain James Cook's first sighting of the east coast of Australia. The memorial includes a water jet located in the central basin and a skeleton globe sculpture at Regatta Point of Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra, showing the paths of Cook's expeditions. On 25 April 1970, Queen Elizabeth II officially inaugurated the memorial.[1]
The water jet is driven by two 4-stage centrifugal pumps capable of pumping up to 250 litres per second against a head of 183 metres. The water velocity at the water nozzle is 260km/h. While running both pumps simultaneously the main jet throws approximately six tons of water into the air at any instant, reaching a maximum height of 152 metres. Alternatively the jet can be run on a single pump reaching a lower height of 114 metres. During special occasions it can be illuminated, often with coloured lights.[2] The design of the jet is based on the Jet d'Eau in Geneva, Switzerland as a result of high-level diplomatic negotiations.[3]
The water jet operates daily from 11am to 2pm.[3] In periods of high wind, the jet is automatically disabled as water landing on the nearby Commonwealth Avenue Bridge can be a hazard to traffic. The water jet must also be occasionally shut down when drought lowers the water level of the lake.[4]
Captain James Cook Memorial water jet with the National Carillon in the background and a darter (Anhinga melanogaster) in the foreground.
The Australian Capital Territory, known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. It is located in southeastern Australian mainland as an enclave completely within the state of New South Wales. Founded after Federation as the seat of government for the new nation, the territory hosts the headquarters of all important institutions of the Australian Government.
Aoraki / Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand. Its height, as of 2014, is listed as 3,724 metres. It sits in the Southern Alps, the mountain range that runs the length of the South Island. A popular tourist destination, it is also a favourite challenge for mountain climbers. Aoraki / Mount Cook consists of three summits: from south to north, the Low Peak, the Middle Peak and the High Peak. The summits lie slightly south and east of the main divide of the Southern Alps, with the Tasman Glacier to the east and the Hooker Glacier to the southwest.
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory at the northern tip of the Australian Alps, the country's highest mountain range. As of June 2021, Canberra's estimated population was 453,558.
The Snowy Mountains Scheme or Snowy scheme is a hydroelectricity and irrigation complex in south-east Australia, Near the border of NSW and Victoria (Australia). The Scheme consists of sixteen major dams; nine power stations; two pumping stations; and 225 kilometres (140 mi) of tunnels, pipelines and aqueducts that were constructed between 1949 and 1974. The Scheme was completed under the supervision of Chief Engineer, Sir William Hudson. It is the largest engineering project undertaken in Australia.
The Jet d'Eau is a large fountain in Geneva, Switzerland and is one of the city's most famous landmarks, being featured on the city's official tourism web site and on the official logo for Geneva's hosting of group stage matches at UEFA Euro 2008. Situated where Lake Geneva exits as the Rhône, it is visible throughout the city and from the air, even when flying over Geneva at an altitude of ten kilometres (33,000 ft).
Lake Burley Griffin is an artificial lake in the centre of Canberra, the capital of Australia. It was completed in 1963 after the Molonglo River, which ran between the city centre and Parliamentary Triangle, was dammed. It is named after Walter Burley Griffin, the American architect who won the competition to design the city of Canberra.
Hindmarsh Island is an inland river island located in the lower Murray River near the town of Goolwa, South Australia.
The Australian–American Memorial is in Canberra, the national capital of Australia, and commemorates the help given by the United States during the Pacific War.
The Wivenhoe Dam is a rock and earth-fill embankment dam with a concrete spillway across the Brisbane River in South East Queensland, Australia. The dam wall is located about 80 kilometres (50 mi) by road from the centre of Brisbane. The primary purpose of the dam is the supply of potable water for the Brisbane and Ipswich regions. The dam also provides for flood mitigation control, hydroelectricity, and recreation. The impounded reservoir is called Lake Wivenhoe and the dam, the lake and a narrow strip of surrounding land forms a locality also called Lake Wivenhoe.
Googong Dam is a minor ungated earth and rock fill with clay core embankment dam with concrete chute spillway plus a nearby 13 metres (43 ft) high earthfill saddle embankment across the Queanbeyan River upstream of Queanbeyan in the Capital Country region of New South Wales, Australia. The dam's purpose includes water supply for Canberra and Queanbeyan. The impounded reservoir is called Googong Reservoir.
The Ffestiniog Power Station is a 360 megawatts pumped-storage hydroelectricity scheme near Ffestiniog, in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. The power station at the lower reservoir has four water turbines, which can generate 360 MW of electricity within 60 seconds of the need arising. The scheme has a storage capacity of around 1.44 GWh (5.2 TJ) at maximum output for four hours, and the capacity to power the whole of North Wales for several hours.
Scrivener Dam is a concrete gravity dam that impounds the Molonglo River in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The dam creates Lake Burley Griffin, which was established for recreational and ornamental purposes. Named in honour of surveyor Charles Scrivener, the dam was officially inaugurated on 20 September 1963 and the official filling of the lake commemorated on 17 October 1964 by the Prime Minister, Robert Menzies.
Reconciliation Place is an urban landscape design in the Parliamentary Triangle Canberra, Australia dedicated to reconciliation between Australia's Indigenous peoples and the mainly European settler population. Reconciliation Place was opened by Prime Minister John Howard in 2002.
A river rapids ride is an amusement ride that simulates whitewater rafting.
The history of Lake Burley Griffin, an artificial body of water in Canberra, the capital of Australia, is a long one. Following its initial design in the 1910s, extensive political disputes occurred until it was finally built in the 1960s.
Sullivans Creek, a partly perennial stream of the Murrumbidgee catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, is located in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
The Immigration Bridge was a proposed footbridge in Canberra, the capital of Australia. It was proposed that it be built between the National Museum of Australia and Lennox Gardens on the south shore of the West Basin of Lake Burley Griffin, in the centre of the city.
The Cotter Dam is a concrete gravity and rockfill embankment dam across the Cotter River, located in the Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Both the dam and river are named after early settler in the area Garrett Cotter. The impounded Cotter Reservoir is a supply source of potable water for the city of Canberra and its environs.
Oakey Hill is a hill near Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. It rises 80 metres (260 ft) above the adjacent south Canberra suburbs of Lyons, Curtin and Weston, and its 66 hectares is one of 33 areas which form Canberra Nature Reserve. The highest point of the hill, 684 metres above sea level, is marked by a survey station.
PS Enterprise is an 1878 Australian paddle steamer, currently owned by the National Museum of Australia in Canberra. It is still operational, and one of the oldest working paddle steamers in the world. It is listed on the Australian Register of Historic Vehicles.
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