It was a big day for us here at Google Australia - the Governor-General, Ms Quentin Bryce AC, officially opened our new Google Australia headquarters at a ceremony in Sydney. Around 350 Aussie Googlers will be based in the 6-Star Green Star-designed Workplace6 building in Pyrmont.
Our new office contains a number of Australian-themed areas, including offices with picnic benches, fish tanks, Australian flora, the beach-themed "Cafe Esky" and a games room named "The Rissole". It's in an architectural style that can best be described as "Googley".
The new headquarters represent a milestone in the history of Google in Australia, which started with a single employee selling Google AdWords from her lounge! So we marked the occasion by announcing some new services in conjunction with local organisations ... we're working with Fairfax Media to digitise archival copies of newspapers, including the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, dating back to the late 1800s and early 1900s. This means that Australians can now get free access to Australia's rich journalistic heritage through Google News and Google Search.
We also announced that public transit information for Sydney's light rail and monorail network (Metro Transport)and Canberra's bus network (ACTION buses) will be available in Google Maps later in June. Users of Google Maps in these areas will be able to easily access public transport schedules, routes, and plan trips using local public transport options.
We've put together a video showing our move to the new office and some of the hard work that went into setting it up ... plus a very special finishing touch that we asked the Governor-General to sign to officially declare our office open. Enjoy!
Posted by Alan Noble and Karim Temsamani, Google Australia
