Incredible cultural attractions you can only experience in Canberra

Two days in Canberra to visit a handful of national institutions under the direction of expert guidance. No, you're not on a school excursion - you're all grown up and on a quick getaway to go behind the scenes at some of the country's most significant locations. Sure, you can take yourself on your own wander and come away with stories to tell: self-guided audio tours include great insights. But you'll leave not knowing how much you've actually missed.

This time, we're visiting the National Gallery of Australia, the Australian War Memorial, the National Museum of Australia and Parliament House. For some of the most moving and heartwarming moments these institutions have to offer, Cultural Attractions of Australia has it figured out. They've done an incredible job pulling together private, guided opportunities led by experts with untouchable passion and knowledge, and, in several cases, with options not usually available to the public.

Standing inside the foyer at Parliament House, one of the most apparent features of the building is its grandeur. Great expanses of marble. Mirrored grand staircases; not soft and sweeping, instead linear and purposeful. Marble columns stretching up to a two-storey ceiling, busy second-floor hallways disappearing into the building beyond. A space large enough that you immediately become aware of your own rather small imprint on the world. And that's quite intentional.

Everything in this building is quite intentional, I come to find out. Our guide, Rosemary, takes us up those enormous stairs, explaining the building's "colour story" as we pass Shawn the Prawn (if you know, you know. If not, no trip to Canberra is complete without finding him - and buying a magnet with his likeness as you leave). Muted marble, green from Italy and pink from Portugal, symbolic of the landscape and foreshadowing the palettes of the Houses we will soon stand in. The marquetry panels of Australian flora and fauna. The ornate attention to detail is exactly what you'd expect of a vast building that harbours the political minds which govern our nation.

But what I don't expect is how much I come to care about the hidden features of the architecture. The way the floor has an "aural purpose" - some sections absorb the noise of footfalls while others create an echo. On we go. Padding, clicking, clacking. Past the metres-long paintings and sculptures. Past an original Arthur Boyd hidden beyond the "private area - staff only" sign - part of a collection of more than 6500 artworks in the building, more than 600 by Indigenous artists. Such are the perks of a "Signature Tour". Oh, and a high tea. Yum.

We're led to the symbolically named Reflective Pool in the Members' Hall, a running-water feature situated in the very centre of the building between the Senate and House of Representatives. But it's not just there to remind politicians to be transparent in their advocacy for the people. "It's only the floor above us that's a public viewing area," Rosemary explains from our behind-the-scenes vantage point. "So the function of the fountain is actually to mask the discussions of politicians as they move from one chamber to another, with the public above able to see the parliamentarians at work, but not hear them." A building designed to always welcome the people but protect the functions of government. Clever. At this junction, our guide highlights double doorways to our left and right, which in fact run along the building's entire north-south axis. When each subsequent doorway is opened there is a direct line of sight from the PM's desk through the building, over the front lawns, down Anzac Avenue to the Australian War Memorial at the bottom of Mount Ainslie. Why? The PM, and all in government, Rosemary explains, should carefully weigh the consequences of their decisions and remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

Read more on Explore:

Preserving the memory of which, when we arrive at the War Memorial, is evidently an honour each staff member and volunteer holds deeply sacred. Of those I talk to, all have worked at the AWM for years and have a fire in their eyes when they tell the stories of the men, women, service animals and - as highlighted by one particularly moving account which left this writer a teary mess - the families they left behind.

I went with a full, but perhaps hollow, academic understanding of the history the landmark represents. The sacrifice. The commemoration. But standing alongside a 3D replication of a battle scene, Henry, a volunteer who's crafted his tour for several years, shared vignettes of individual Australians. The AWM itself houses the memory of a collective sacrifice. But as Henry led our Soul of the Nation private tour, he unravelled the individual threads of humanity in that fabric. He spoke gently and clearly against a soundscape of incoming gunfire. Explosions sounded. Soldiers groaned. My stomach clenched. We heard the names and stories of Australians who, without volunteers like Henry, or the serving personnel who read at The Last Post ceremony each day, may not have had their names spoken in decades. Together they built portraits of Australian mateship and sacrifice. To leave there carrying a small portion of that history feels a true privilege.

Threads of stories which connect our culture and history were also waiting in the National Gallery of Australia, where the principal exhibition during our visit put front and centre the traditions of our First Nations people. Emily Kam Kngwarray's early explorations of painting woven batik welcomed us. Walking through the exhibition space gave a somewhat chronological meander through the striking developments in her work. "Do you see the paw prints?" our guide Julia, an artist herself, asked as we stood in front of the final piece in the exhibition. A dog had wandered across the work as Emily Kam Kngwarray worked on her design, the eight metres or more of canvas draped over her lap. Standing in front of Jackson Pollock's Blue Poles, Julia pointed out tiny shards of glass, "from when his turkey baster shattered".

Cultural Attractions of Australia is a collective of leading cultural sites offering exclusive experiences. Its four-hour Signature Tour of Parliament House is from $330 per person. Private tours of the Australian War Memorial start at $75. At the National Musuem of Australia, tours including lunch start at $62. culturalattractionsofaustralia.com

The writer was a guest of Cultural Attractions of Australia.

Pictures: VisitCanberra