Discover another side of Canberra on this walking tour.
Canberra has a reputation - politics, roundabouts, a sea of public servants. But step away from the committee rooms and press conferences, and the city has something unexpected to offer.
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On a bright spring morning, I joined She Shapes History's Badass Women of Canberra: The Women Who Shaped the Capital walking tour, expecting a simple stroll past the usual political landmarks. Instead, I discovered a city built not just by power brokers in suits, but by bold, trailblazing women.
Our guide, Sita Sargeant, greets us with a warm smile and a question: "Who is a woman that inspires you?" It's a gentle nudge towards reflection, a reminder of how many women shape our lives - and our history.
I've visited Canberra countless times, but this tour helps me to see our nation's capital in a new light. And, like much of Australia, it's a city of contradictions. It was designed by a woman: Walter Burley Griffin's wife Marion Mahony Griffin was his senior when they met in an American architecture firm - and the original architect and driver of the Canberra design project.
"They would have assumed the competition entry had to be submitted by a man to win," says Sita. "It's the only national capital in the world designed by a woman. But we didn't learn this at school. Some locals still don't know." Indeed, Sita launched She Shapes History four years ago after discovering this hidden legacy. But what started as a spark of curiosity has grown into a business dedicated to reclaiming forgotten stories.
We begin outside Old Parliament House, where statues of Dame Dorothy Tangney and Dame Enid Lyons - the first women elected to federal parliament - were unveiled in 2023, 80 years after their election. Strangely, the statues seem to depict them as elderly, though they were in their 30s at the time. When the building was opened in 1927 it had no female bathrooms; they were finally introduced in 1974 when the boffins boxed up the urinals.
Next stop in the tour is the fountain, with mosaics coloured green, white and violet (an acronym for "give women the vote"), then through the Ladies Rose Garden to the National Portrait Gallery, National Library and High Court of Australia, where we learn about Mary Gaudron, the trailblazing barrister from Moree who became the first female justice in 1987. (She retired early at 60, after being passed over for chief justice.)
"Anyone can sit in on a High Court session," recommends Sita. "Just sit for at least five minutes so you're not being disruptive."
The tour is immersive, scattered with stories of suffragettes, journalists, parliamentarians and policy-shapers - women who pushed boundaries and demanded change. Sita also offers a separate tour, Spies in the Capital: Women and Espionage, which delves into these covert contributions and sounds fascinating.
We also visit Reconciliation Place to see the monument dedicated to three women instrumental in the 1967 Aboriginal rights referendum: Doctors Faith Bandler and Evelyn Scott, and Lady Jessie Mary Street.
Our final stop is the Museum of Australian Democracy, where we view the original Women's Suffrage Petition, a 260-metre-long scroll filled with signatures from women across the country.
Each stop adds another layer to the city's history - stories that deserve to be told but often aren't. Says Sita: "These stories are easy to find; people just aren't telling them."
As the tour wraps up, I feel as if I've walked through a different Canberra. Not the one dominated by policy papers and political theatre, but a city where battles for equality were fought and won by women who rarely made the headlines. If you're in Canberra, taking on this walk may change how you see the city; perhaps even the country.
Besides providing another side of Canberra in her walking tours, Sita's raison d'etre is to encourage conversation. "There is a genuine hunger for people to hear histories - Australia is a country of history nerds," she says.
VISIT: At Canberra's tiniest walk-in gallery, the colourful and eclectic Gallery of Small Things, you can browse the itty-bitty art and talk all things tiny with founder and ceramicist, Anne Masters. Conversely, this is where Australia's recent gift to the new Pope - a painting by South Australian artist Amanda Westley - was secretly purchased.
EXPLORE: The National Gallery of Australia's 13-tonne, $14 million Ouroboros is a thought-provoking immersive outdoor sculpture where the experience changes every time one visits.
LINGER: The National Portrait Gallery is often overlooked in favour of the other attractions, but it's worth devoting a serious chunk of time to ponder our national identity.
STAY: East Hotel has big rooms, chic design and friendly service. Don't miss the carbonara scrambled eggs at Agostinis for breakfast.
EAT: REBEL REBEL and Corella are both very special, very Canberra dining experiences that will have you dreaming about the food for weeks.
She Shapes History walking tours are $65 per person, see sheshapeshistory.com.au. The writer was a guest of Visit Canberra
This story has been updated to correct the year She Shapes History was launched (2021). Additionally, the tour does not visit the Australian War Memorial.