David Barber 5 Foot Photography
7 ways Canberra, Australia’s bush capital, is surprisingly like Washington DC
Whether you’re a vacationer who craves relaxation or a backpacker who delights in digging into history, one of the most enriching ways to understand a country is to visit its capital. Capital cities act as windows into a nation; they reveal what a country values, who has power, and how history intertwines with culture to birth a cohesive identity.
But not all capitals are the same: Some arise out of aspiration, like Brasília, which Brazil built to encourage inland expansion and grow the economy. Others accumulate around long-standing seats of power, like London’s monarch palaces, or build up around historic trade hubs, like Tokyo, which started as a small fishing village.
Australia’s capital, Canberra, and the United States’ Washington D.C., possess some remarkable similarities, despite being on opposite sides of the globe. Below, VisitCanberra explores seven surprising parallels between Australia’s capital and D.C.
VisitCanberra
They were both carefully planned
At the time of their construction, Canberra and D.C. were newly independent colonies. The U.S. was trying to unify northern and southern states after the Revolutionary War, while Australia, which gained independence from Britain in 1901, wanted to mitigate rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne.
In 1790, seven years after U.S. independence, Pierre Charles L’Enfant laid out D.C., carving out a federal district on swampy land along the Potomac River where two Native American villages—Nacotchtank, a major trading center, and Nameroughquena, on the river’s opposite bank—had thrived. L’Enfant imagined a modern capital reminiscent of his native Paris. He mapped out broad avenues, open public spaces, and a well-organized grid layout with the Capitol building at its heart.
Over a century later, in 1908, Australia selected Canberra as the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), on the homeland of the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples. After winning a competition, an American husband-and-wife architect duo named Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin earned the bid to design the city.
“The fact that Canberra was co-designed by a woman is remarkable—far as we know, no other capital city in the world can make that claim,” says Sita Sargeant of She Shapes History, a walking tour company that highlights women’s contributions to history.
VisitCanberra
They both give water the spotlight
In both capitals, water is a central focal point. Located along the mighty Potomac River, D.C.’s Tidal Basin and Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool frame some of the nation’s most recognizable landmarks. Similarly, Canberra’s Lake Burley Griffin is the city’s centerpiece, around which public parks and national attractions are laid out.
Like horses to a well, both cities attract outdoor enthusiasts and culture seekers who congregate around the water. In Washington, bikers cruise greenways like the Mount Vernon Trail while professionals and students from across the globe walk in clusters between museums and embassies. Joggers trace paths around monuments mirrored in the glassy reflection, and kayakers glide along the Potomac.
Canberra’s Lake Burley Griffin also draws cyclists, runners, and walkers along its shores. You might see families picnicking in parks while photographers catch reflections of the National Sculpture Garden. Around the lake, visitors can let kids run wild at the Boundless Playground, a fully accessible play space with slides, climbing structures, and swings, or visit memorials along the National Triangle, the city’s symbolic layout of the capital with the Australian Parliament House at its tip. You might also hear the resonant bells of the National Carillon, a towering landmark housing 57 bronze bells where weekly concerts are held outdoors. In late 2025, two Finnish-style wood-fired saunas opened on a pontoon in Lake Burley Griffin. Each Floating Sauna room holds six people and heats to 90 degrees Celsius (194 Fahrenheit) using traditional Finnish methods. After the sauna, visitors can jump into the lake or take a quick shower while looking out at nearby monuments and green hills.
VisitCanberra
They both reflect national ideals in their designs
In both D.C. and Canberra, you can see a nation’s priorities written in stone—or perhaps even grass. In Canberra, known affectionately as the “bush capital” for its surrounding forests, nature is part of the design. Australian Parliament House, for example, has a grassy roof visitors can walk on that blends into the environment. The unique, walkable roof is said to symbolize that people are above the government.
Washington, by contrast, borrows symbols of power from various European cultures. Irish architect James Hoban designed the White House, completed in 1800 and modeled after Dublin’s Leinster House. Its neoclassical style, with tall white colonnades and commanding symmetry, reflects the civic virtues of ancient Greece and the authority of Rome, a predictable combination for a young, secular democracy asserting both ideals and power.
VisitCanberra
They both come alive in spring (but during different months)
Spring comes at different points in the year between the two capitals. In Washington, it runs from late March through May. The National Cherry Blossom Festival transforms the Tidal Basin with fluffy pink blooms that make those long winter days seem almost worth the suffering.
Australia’s spring begins in September and lasts through November. While nearly 200,000 international visitors visit Australia for festivals, the biggest spring festival happens in Canberra with Floriade, Australia’s largest spring flower festival. The free event runs from mid-September to mid-October in Commonwealth Park. Visitors can see more than 1 million blooms, attend concerts, take part in workshops, and buy food at stalls.
Blossoms are also on display across local parklands, celebrated with the likes of the Canberra Nara Candle Festival at Lennox Gardens in October each year. And like D.C.’s Cherry Blossom Festival, the Nara Festival commemorates Canberra’s diplomatic relationship with Japan via its sister city, Nara.
VisitCanberra
They both make culture easy to access
For travelers, both capitals reward a full day of culture. Washington offers 17 free Smithsonian museums near the National Mall; Canberra clusters 13 national attractions within easy walking distance. At the center is the National Gallery of Australia, where First Nations art anchors a collection spanning contemporary Australian work and one of the largest holdings of American art outside the U.S.
“We have the base of our First Nations culture, which is the longest surviving culture of more than 65,000 years,” explains Director Dr. Nick Mitzevich. Sergeant says she also notes Aboriginal history during her walking tours: “We talk about Pat Etock, who was the very first Indigenous woman to ever run for Federal Parliament in Australia. She ran in 1972, but it wouldn’t be until 2013 that the first Indigenous woman got elected.” That woman was Linda Burney, who became one of three Indigenous Parliamentarians.
Nearby attractions—including the National Library of Australia, the National Museum of Australia, Questacon: National Science and Technology Centre, and the Royal Australian Mint—expand on the cultural enrichment you’ll get after a visit to the National Gallery. “Start at the National Gallery and work your way west,” says Mitzevich. “Within about a mile, you can see a dozen cultural attractions.” Most are free, making Canberra’s rich cultural marathon as accessible as it is ambitious.
VisitCanberra
They both are melting pots
Washington and Canberra present their multiculturalism on the plate. In D.C., restaurants serving Ethiopian injera and Peruvian ceviche reflect a city stamped by global migration. In Australia’s capital, Southeast Asian and European influences define the dining scene, from modern sushi at Raku to omakase at Mu, alongside pan-Asian marketplace Tiger Lane and Verity Lane Market, an upscale dining hall where you can find everything from mouthwatering Latin restaurants to the authentic Indonesian operation Rasa Rosa.
“Australia is such a multicultural melting pot,” says Mitzevich, who says he splits his loyalties between Italian & Sons on Lonsdale Street and Ottoman, a Turkish restaurant less than a mile from the gallery. In both capitals, a walk between neighborhoods doubles as a world food tour—proof that identity lives as much in the kitchen as in the museum.
VisitCanberra
They are both a short drive from nature (only one has kangaroos)
Washington’s visitors can often find white-tailed deer and red foxes at Rock Creek Park, the U.S.’s third federally designated national park. And just a short ride beyond D.C.’s limits, bald eagles and great blue herons soar above the Potomac at Great Falls, while black bears and rattlesnakes emerge in Shenandoah National Park, roughly two hours out.
Shortly beyond the bush capital, Canberra’s largest wildlife reserve is 40 minutes away—though nature is seen well throughout the city. “The capital is nestled into a rural setting,” says Mitzevich. “We regularly have a high number of bird life and kangaroos in the inner city, which makes Canberra so distinct,” he says. He added that he recently saw a mob of “about 30 kangaroos in the front yard of the vice-regal residence of the governor general.”
About 40 minutes outside Canberra at Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, kangaroos, multiple wallaby species, koalas, platypus, potoroos, and bandicoots live across 24 trails, including the Sanctuary Loop—a paved 2-kilometer path accessible to wheelchairs and strollers.
“Every time you go out to the bush, you’re going to see something different,” says Jessica Ward, manager of the Tidbinbilla Visitor Centre. “That’s the magic of it.”
Ward says the southern brush-tailed rock wallaby, Canberra’s critically endangered mammal and one of the only breeding populations in Australia, also lives there alongside the northern corroboree frog, estimated at just 50 individuals remaining in the wild. The reserve has maintained active conservation programs since 1936, which has, over the years, increased the number of animal sightings visitors can expect.
“The wildlife really reveals itself when you’re patient, when you’re observant,” she says.
For more nature adventures near Canberra, Australia’s alps—known as the Snowy Mountains region—are about 2.5 hours away, and Mount Stromlo Observatory, some 30 minutes from Tidbinbilla, puts on regular public stargazing sessions. A bit closer to the city, visitors can also soak in a view of the stars along the tranquil Murrumbidgee River, which runs diagonally, from northwest to southeast, through the ACT.
So, there you have it. For travelers used to skipping capital cities on the itinerary, places like D.C. and Canberra make a compelling case for reconsidering the habit—starting with the mob of kangaroos hopping around the front lawn.
This story was produced by VisitCanberra and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
