Skywhale no longer stands alone as the most whimsical celebration of Canberra's centenary year.
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Gang Gang believes that title should now be shared with the garden gnome-powered dragon boat that will feature at Floriade, which opens a week on Saturday.
The manager of the Canberra Griffins dragon boat club's ''gnome project'', Shelley Carruthers, said she had come up with the idea while wondering how to make the idea of dragon boating more accessible to the broader community.
Canberra has about 12 dragon boat clubs, all of which operate under the umbrella of the local dragon boat association.
''The reason I thought of this was that when people come to ask about taking part in dragon boating they will often say they have seen us out on the water or near the lake, and just didn't have the courage to approach us at the time,'' Ms Carruthers said.
The gnome project is a direct offshoot of Rotary's ''Gnome Knoll'', a Floriade project where people can buy and paint their own gnomes for display.
The gnome boat is about 3½-metres long and 30-centimetres wide. It was not designed to cross the lake unassisted and will be ferried to Gallipoli Reach aboard a full-sized dragon boat.
It will then be portaged overland to the knoll by grunting and sweating Griffins members. Each of the gnomes has been painted by a member and reflects the character of the artist.
''The gnome uniforms don't quite adhere to the strict regulations for a formal regatta, but they are representative of the eclectic personalities in our club,'' Griffins president Joe Murphy said.
It's the marque of a golden era
The National Museum was so enthused by Thursday's report on this Saturday's ACT Holden Day that team members contacted Gang Gang to remind Canberrans the national treasure houses some of the rarest and most valuable examples of the marque in the country.
These include prototype No. 1, the only survivor of three hand-built vehicles that were used as testbeds before the original 48/215 went into production; the car Holden gave to Essington Lewis and the FJ owned by Tharwa's Mary Goodall from 1955 to 1980.
Essington Lewis, who oversaw Australia's World War II industrial and armaments production, had encouraged the Holden project in the latter years of the conflict.
Car manufacture was recognised as a strategic capability and the government also recognised the need to have a vehicle ready to go to meet the demands of the post-war world.
The BHP managing director took delivery of his wheels on February 24, 1949 - the day before the 48/215 went on general sale.
It was restored in 1987 and joined the museum collection in 2004.
The Mary Goodall car, the updated FJ model, is one of the most original examples of the model in the country.
The museum is hoping that people who visit the Holden Day, to be held in the west gardens of Old Parliament House, will find the time to duck across the lake to see some rare originals.
