A Canberra man is taking city pride to the next level by embarking on a towering challenge—attempting to photograph the 195.2-metre-high Telstra Tower from all 117 suburbs.

Michael Bennett’s epic journey—dubbed “124 views of Black Mountain” on his website—is entering its sixth month and his car is due for a service due to the mileage. He’s only got four suburbs to go.

Before you correct the obvious numerical discrepancy, Michael named his project “124 views of Black Mountain” after a Roger Zelazny short story called 24 Views of Mount Fuji, by Hoksai.

“Do notexpect precisely 124 of anything,” Michael said. “I don’t know how many views of the Tower I’ll end up with, if it is 124, that’s just a coincidence. “

Michael is also tackling the urban villages of Hall, Oaks Estate, Pialligo and Uriarra Village (and the sub-suburb of Swinger Hill) but the final four suburbs are proving elusive (Oxley, Gowrie, Chisholm and Greenway).

So, the question remains, why?

“It started with my job,” Michael explained, who works in the public service. “I work in a land-based organisation, where districts and suburbs are very important. I was looking at them for work-related reasons a few years ago and I slowly figured out I’d been to almost all of them.

“I decided to go to each of the rest, which I did over the next few weeks, only, I had nothing to show for it. In some of those suburbs, I never even got out of my car. Since I’ve recently got into taking geotagged photos, I decided I could get one from each suburb. That’s how I started.”

When Michael realised he could spot Black Mountain from Banks – as far away as you can get without leaving Canberra – he decided to use Telstra Tower as a reference landmark.

Ironically, when he seeks out the highest point in each suburb to glimpse the tower, it’s usually the lowest point where it’s visible from.

“It’s actually visible from about the lowest point in Banks because Drakeford Drive points directly to it,” he said. 

Funnily enough, Michael’s only ever visited Telstra Tower once in his life. His fascination with the tower, like most Canberrans, is that it symbolises your arrival home, after a long drive down the Federal Highway.

“I don’t think I’m back in Canberra until I’ve seen it,” Michael said. “It’s iconic. It’s a symbol of our city and it’s what tells me I’m home.”

What’s even more Canberran about this pet project is that for every photograph of Telstra Tower, Michael also photographs a passing magpie in the same location (he also once photographed a passing Eastern brown snake).

This has all the makings of a coffee table book, and many followers of Michael on Reddit have suggested the same (his handle on Reddit is Tower_Watch). Michael’s also inviting the public to help him complete the final four.

Greenway may require some lateral thinking (plus Google Maps, Street View and Google Earth) such as photographing from a high rooftop garden of an apartment building (if anyone would like to grant Michael access, email [email protected]).

“I’m pretty sure it’s not visible at all from Chisholm because of Farrer Ridge, Isaacs Ridge, and Mount Taylor, depending on which angle you’re at,” Michael said. “I’ve thought about climbing a tree, but I’d have to find the right tree at the right place. I actually tried to climb a tree once in Greenway, but I checked a map later on and realised it was never going to work.”

Perhaps another underlying reason for Michael’s earnest quest is the impermanence of everything – one moment it’s there, the next it’s gone.

“I’m always worried that something might happen to the tower and the reason is because I was at a church youth group years ago and we did a scavenger hunt, a photographic one,” Michael said. “One of the things to take a picture of was that globe of the Earth outside the National Gallery. It got destroyed by lightning that very night.”

So far, Michael’s favourite photo is from Banks “Because it’s just so insane that you can get that.”

Once the tally is complete, Michael plans on maintaining the website and updating older photos with better ones.

“It wasn’t really about the tower per se, just the love of your hometown,” he said.

To read more about the project, visit 124viewsofblackmountain.wordpress.com