Five months into a centenary year for Canberra

The naming of Canberra, the capital of Australia, turned 100 on March 12, with centenary events and exhibitions planned for the whole of 2013. The first half of the year, during summer and autumn, included many outdoor events and festivals. Now that the cooler months are coming, a winter theme will proliferate—but so too will events such as auctions.

Canberra Times has reported the results of the auction of the first set of the Centenary of Canberra number plates. Fifty car number plates will be made and distributed among local charities so that they can use them to raise funds. Why only fifty? I’m not sure.

However, the first one (C 100) went under the auction hammer online through PicklesPlus. Expecting a reserve price of $500, the winning bid was $9,350 placed by plasterer Stefan. The first auction was held at the Timor Leste Embassy with the funds going to the charity “Dollars for Dili” which is an official Centenary of Canberra project (in collaboration with the ACT government, Scouts Australia, and the Rotary Club of Dubbo South) to contribute to the capacity building of young people in Dili, the capital of Timor Leste. Timor Leste is the world’s second newest nation (second to South Sudan), and has a 90% youth unemployment rate. Therefore the organizers were extremely pleased with their fund-raising efforts from the auction of the car number plates. The plates can be officially used—for the next hundred years or so—but can only be fitted to ACT (Canberra) registered vehicles.

The second online auction of a set of number plates (C 001) will be held later in the year and will benefit the charity, “Boundless” – the all-abilities playground on the edge of Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra. The National Children’s Playground Project is a gift from the public servants of Canberra with the philosophy that the playground will foster inclusion, respect, and no barriers for all children.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/centenary-plates-go-for-more-than-9000-20130521-2jxnd.html#ixzz2TtdSRtrT

www.dollarsfordili.com.au and www.boundlesscanberra.org.au

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