It's hard to imagine there was ever a time in which Canberrans desperately wanted a community Christmas tree that didn't really resemble a Christmas tree in any way.
And yet, this would seem to have been the case four years ago, when the City Renewal Authority unveiled the bold and brave tree we never knew we wanted.
Made of steel, concrete and perspex, the conical structure had a fiery glow and, if you squinted, a vaguely tree-shaped demeanour that may or may not have been supposed to look as though it was made of stained glass.
The structure came about after the city centre was left without a tree for a year or two.
Only a few years before, Canberra had risen excitedly to the yuletide challenge of meeting the world record of the most lights on one Christmas tree, thanks to a several-year stint of fundraising initiated by the Richards family to raise money for SIDS and Kids ACT research.
That tree was a perfectly Nordic fake fir thing that rose a blazing 22 metres and reigned over Civic, bringing heartwarming Christmas cheer to anyone who would open their hearts to it.
And who wouldn't? Those were the days.
Just three years later, it seemed we had tired of something so bourgeois and traditional, and so the Very Special Kaleidoscope Christmas Tree was unveiled.
According to the City Renewal Authority's director of place, experience and communications Jennifer Ramsay, the authority, at some stage, committed to "creating a modern tree".
This "tree" - it was tall and pointy, after all - was also, at the time, described as "Nordic flavoured", but surely only in the quaint, foreign-but-not-all-that foreign sense, like the traditional European decorations that Ikea sells alongside all the usual tinsel, lights and stars.
Ms Ramsay was diplomatic and understated when describing the reaction to the tree designed by Keith Courtney from Creative Production Services.
"We received very strong community feedback over the years that people would like their Christmas tree in the city centre to look traditional," she said.
Meaning, presumably, that all we had ever wanted was an actual tree. You know, with branches, lights and a star on top.
"They want to see a Christmas tree look like a Christmas tree, and we really appreciated that," Ms Ramsay went on.
"So we worked with local providers to convert the tree into a traditional tree so that we could reuse what we had because that's important to us. Sustainability is important to us.
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"We've introduced tree-like garlands around the original steel and concrete structures. So it is a 16-metre tree shaped like a tree, and we've put red and gold decorations on it. We will look to evolve those decorations. We'd be happy to hear feedback about what people like."
But are fir garlands and baubles enough to erase the original "Kaleidoscope"? Maybe not, but almost as if to distract us, this year, the authority has also incorporated in the structure a snowglobe containing Black Mountain Tower in a flurry of, ahem, snow, just to localise it a bit further.
The Kaleidoscope Tree cost around $280,000 over a three-year period, and the ACT government now owns it. Each year's Christmas campaign - including marketing, lights, music and events - comes in at around $380,000.
"Installing the tree is part of that," Ms Ramsay added.
Let us know what type of tree you prefer in the comments lower on the page, or send a letter to the editor using the form immediately below.
As features editor at The Canberra Times, I love telling people things they didn't know - or even things they've always known - about the city we live in.
As features editor at The Canberra Times, I love telling people things they didn't know - or even things they've always known - about the city we live in.
It's the bold and brave tree we never knew we wanted. Because we don't
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04.12.2023
It's hard to imagine there was ever a time in which Canberrans desperately wanted a community Christmas tree that didn't really resemble a Christmas tree in any way.
And yet, this would seem to have been the case four years ago, when the City Renewal Authority unveiled the bold and brave tree we never knew we wanted.
Made of steel, concrete and perspex, the conical structure had a fiery glow and, if you squinted, a vaguely tree-shaped demeanour that may or may not have been supposed to look as though it was made of stained glass.
The structure came about after the city centre was left without a tree for a year or two.
Only a few years before, Canberra had risen excitedly to the yuletide challenge of meeting the world record of the most lights on one Christmas tree, thanks to a several-year stint of fundraising initiated by the Richards family to raise money for SIDS and Kids ACT research.
That tree was a perfectly........
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