Nelson Mandela left his mark on Canberra long ago. Aung San Suu Kyi left hers right underneath, days before his death. A Michael Leunig angel looks down from above, while the Dalai Lama's words lurk nearby.
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As Australia's capital, Canberra frequently hosts guests of international and national significance from all walks of life – leaders, dignitaries, academics, artists, musicians. Most of them leave a lasting impression, but a few of them also leave a permanent reminder of their visit.
Tucked away in the greenroom beside the Llewellyn Hall at the Australian National University's School of Music is a wall of scrawled signatures, dating back about 13 years, which includes Mandela, whose name was one of the earliest of the current batch on the wall and is protected by a plastic guard.
There's also Gough Whitlam, Paul Kelly, Andrew Denton, Claire Bowditch and many more.
Head of the School of Music Peter Tregear said there's an element of poetry to the backstage tradition.
“It's quite a common thing for musicians to do in a green room, to say 'I was here,'” he said.
“Music is so transient and intangible, this is of course something they do leave, otherwise it's just a memory.”
Llewellyn Hall is much more than a music venue - it hosts graduations, lectures, and more - and its greenroom wall is made up of more than just musicians.
Mr Tregear said the wall has become a shrine to some of the great visitors to the capital, like when Ms Suu Kyi received her honorary doctorate in November this year and was allowed to sign below Mandela's name just days before he died.
“Because of [Ms Suu Kyi's] significance, we took the plate [protecting Mandela's signature] off … there's probably only a few other people in the world who would get to sign under his name,” Mr Tregear said.
“When Mandela died, for the next few days there were a lot of people coming in specifically to have a look at it – it's like a little piece of him here.”
Signature walls are dotted around Canberra in varying degrees, documenting visitors in many forms. Just down the road from Llewellyn Hall is the much smaller Teatro Vivaldi cabaret-style restaurant with signed photos of Australian performers adorning the walls, including Rhonda Burchmore and Caroline O'Connor.
On a more international scale, the corridors of the AIS Arena are lined with signed gig posters from big-name global stars who have played the venue, including Whitney Houston, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers.
Over in Griffith are walls covered with messages from celebrities of a different kind. Canberra's flock of migratory politicians have left many permanent marks on the city, from pieces of infrastructure to unveiled plaques, but few are as personal as the scribbled-on sheets of paper stuck to the walls in Griffith Vietnamese Restaurant.
Owner Tan H. Nhan said the tradition began in 2002 when Liberal parliamentarians Alex Somlyay and Warren Entsch came in for a meal and wished to cheekily mark their territory, as well as leave behind a more permanent thank you to the restaurant staff.
Since then the collection of signatures has grown, but Mr Nhan has kept a sense of order by organising the names into groups, including a lower house split into parties, and a Senate wall, then separate areas for other local and national notables.
He said it means he has to keep up to date with names and faces when the politicians come to visit, and occasionally reshuffle his own cabinet as appropriate.
“I have to recognise them, sometimes you can't mix up from Labor to Liberal or Liberal to Labor, you have to recognise them,” he said with a laugh. “I'm running the whole nation.”
Mr Nhan said he can't afford to have favourites, but happily points out some of the more well-known (including current and former prime ministers, speakers, and even foreign ambassadors) and entertaining contributions. There is a note supposedly from former MP Craig Thomson (Mr Nhan swears it was him) which jokes about “only cash payment” and a message from Scottish-born Senator Doug Cameron which favourably compares the Vietnamese fare to haggis and black pudding. Former ACT Greens senate candidate Simon Sheikh wrote the food was so good that he “almost passed out”.
But it's not just household names of the influential or famous dotted on signature walls around the city. Less well-known people have also had a chance to leave their mark.
Elaine's Pies in Dickson has a wall covered in tributes to the shop's pastries. Lovers are encouraged to leave their mark on some love heart wallpaper pasted up outside Lonsdale Street Traders.
Then, at some point, there is a line once crossed which turns a signature wall into a graffiti wall – like the one which once existed in the Department of Foreign Affairs, littered with colourful messages.
At the School of Music, Mr Tregear said staff are wary of the line, and keep an eye out for people who try to add names or notes to their greenroom wall who, arguably, don't yet belong in such esteemed company. There is an “informal preservation plan” which involves not washing or painting over the wall, and encouraging invite-only signatories.
Mr Tregear said the wall was a part of Canberra's history, and could easily become a part of the tourist trail as well with a bit of proactive advertising – he hoped the School would find the time to properly document it and put it online to encourage people to come.
“It's one of those things on the list to do, which is to get probably a panoramic shot of it and then put it on the web and have it so you can then actually get the Wikipedia links of the various people that are on it,” he said.
One challenge would be identifying all the names. Staff at the school said it was easy to lose track of time gazing at the wall, discovering something new each time. It's a nice reminder of just how many people have come and a left personal, hopefully permanent mark on Canberra.
Do you know of a signature wall in Canberra we haven't mentioned? Have an anecdote about one of Canberra's signature walls? Leave a comment below.
