2024
Hello Canberra,
⛅️ Weather: 31° and mostly sunny.
📆 Today: It’s Wednesday 6th March
This is a previous issue of Canberra Digest. Get Canberra news, events, culture and more sent to your inbox every morning. Subscribe for free.
As part of the Enlighten After Dark Experiences, Strathnairn Arts is hosting one of Canberra's greatest light shows - a sunset over the Brindabella Ranges. It will be a relaxing night with live music, food and wine. You can BYO picnic or pre-order a woodfired pizza or grazing box from the team behind Café Stepping Stone. It's happening this Friday. Details here.
Every visitor to Questacon over the last 13 years has been welcomed by Robo Q the humanoid robot. Questacon has announced that Robo Q will retire on the 17th of March. There is no word yet on whether anything will be replacing the robot. More.
This Weekend, Marble and Grain are hosting a Wine Tour Masterclass. You'll start with a delicious 3-course lunch paired with wines from Clonakilla and The Vintner's Daughter. You'll then be transported to these wineries to tour and taste with the experts. It's happening this Saturday. Details here.
On this day in 1963, The Monaro Mall (which would later become The Canberra Centre) was opened by Prime Minister Robert Menzies. 15,000 people attended the opening. The Monaro Mall was Australia's first fully enclosed, air-conditioned shopping centre. In 1997, it was designated as an Australian Capital Historic Site.
When the Mall opened, it had two department stores, David Jones and Marcus Clark, and there was a Coles New World supermarket and 58 individual stores.
In 1969, The Monaro Mall gave Canberrans the chance to see colour television for the very first time, 6 years before the technology eventually came to Australia.
The Monaro Mall still stands today and was redeveloped in 2018, keeping many of the original design elements.
Stunt Double is a tongue-in-cheek dive into the absurd power dynamics of the film industry and the human cost of celebrity. Step inside the filming of a 1970s Aussie action flick and watch as extraordinary stunt doubles cycle through take-after-take of high-octane flips, fights and more, putting their bodies on the line while the actors reap the glory. Stunt Double is playing at the Canberra Theatre from the 14th to 16th March. Tickets here.
A glitch on the Ticketek website resulted in tickets being sold to the upcoming Socceroos match for $0. People were left wondering if the seats they had actually been booked or whether they would need to risk rebooking later. Football Australia has said Ticketek will contact the roughly 750 people who secured a 'free' ticket to complete the transactions. Aside from the glitch, ticket sales were strong, with 8500 tickets sold in a matter of hours. Tickets here.
The Raiders will be without veteran Elliott Whitehead for their season opener against the Knights on Thursday evening. He's out with a calf injury and is expected to miss the next 3-4 weeks. Whitehead is being replaced by new recruit Zac Hosking. The full lineup for the Knights game is here.
