This week I am enjoying the company of our Year 7 students in Canberra. Together we have been participating in many great experiences and learning about our nation’s capital and government. One thing that was of particular interest to me was the design and layout of Canberra and Parliament House.

Canberra is unique as it is the only capital city to have been built from the ground up to an overall master plan. Walter Burley Griffin won the competition to design the city. He prepared his design with the help of his wife Marion, also an architect. Griffin's design saw the heart of the city laid out around a large triangle on two major perpendicular axes, a water axis that today stretches along Lake Burley Griffin, and a ceremonial land axis stretching from Parliament House on Capital Hill north-eastward to the Australian War Memorial at the foot of Mt Ainslie.

Romaldo Giurgola won the competition to design the new parliament house. As a student he had studied Griffin’s design of Canberra and admired what he was trying to do. So, in keeping with Griffin’s vision, Giurgola’s design made sure that the current parliament would not be built on top of the hill, as this would symbolise government imposed upon the people. He said the building should nest within the hill and symbolically rise out of the Australian landscape. He didn’t want the parliamentarians to rule above the people. He wanted them to come down to their level and stand proudly WITH the people of the country.

So parliament was built into Capital Hill, not above the city. One million cubic metres of earth and rock were removed from the hill to make way for the building. The central zone of Parliament House was placed within the two curved walls and covered over with grass to recreate the shape of the hill.

This concept of parliamentarians ruling with the people prompts me to think. As we head towards Easter, have you every reflected why Jesus came down to earth? He came and lived on earth and was tempted and tried every day. He didn’t stay in Heaven and rule from above, rather, He came down to our level and took our sin on the cross. All we have to do is accept Jesus' sacrifice and claim eternal life.