Canberra

A small squatters’ settlement of stockmen, called Canberry or Canbury (a derivation of an Aboriginal term meaning “meeting place”), was made there as early as 1824. By 1836 the name had evolved to Canberra. Following the inauguration of the commonwealth in 1901, the site was chosen for the new capital in 1909, and the delineation of the ACT followed. A worldwide competition was launched in 1911 to find a design for a new federal capital, and the winning plan was submitted by the American architect Walter Burley Griffin. Construction began in 1913 but was interrupted by World War I. On May 9, 1927, ceremonies marked the official transfer of the federal Parliament from Melbourne to the new capital.

Canberra lies on a plain at the foot of 6,200-foot (1,900-metre) spurs of the Australian Alps, enjoying warm summers and cool winters and receiving considerably less rainfall than the surrounding highlands. The city has been expanding, and its population has grown steadily. Only the centre and inner suburbs have continued to conform to the original plans, which included Lake Burley Griffin, an ornamental water axis formed in 1963 by a dam across the Molonglo River. Residential development has been mainly in satellite towns, including Weston Creek (1962), Belconnen (1966), and Tuggeranong (1975). Planning for that growth was controlled by the National Capital Development Commission and was administered by the Department of Territories until 1989, when the National Capital Planning Authority was established.

Canberra

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