166-558: The history of Canberra details the development of the city of Canberra from the time before European settlement to the city's planning by the Chicago architect Walter Burley Griffin in collaboration with Marion Mahony Griffin , and its subsequent development to the present day. Before European settlement, the area which eventually became the Australian Capital Territory was inhabited by Indigenous Australians , who spoke
332-560: A Skywhale family , an event marked by Skywhale-themed pastries and beer produced by local companies as well as an art pop song entitled "We are the Skywhales". In 2014, Canberra was named the best city to live in the world by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , and was named the third best city to visit in the world by Lonely Planet in 2017. Canberra covers an area of 814.2 km (314.4 sq mi) and
498-576: A dairy on the site in 1832, now regarded as the oldest standing European building in Canberra, followed by the imposing stone house that is now the officers' mess of the Royal Military College, Duntroon . The Campbells sponsored settlement by other farmer families to work their land, such as the Southwells of " Weetangera ". Other notable early colonists included Henry Donnison, who established
664-472: A 100-acre (40 ha) glebe . When the first rector was appointed the rectory was the rented Canberry Cottage, thus the church was referred to as being at Canberry in the parish of Queanbeyan. Later the lands south of the Limestone River were also called Canberry extending down to Canberry Hill, now Red Hill , with the road going over Church Crossing. When the district was further divided into parishes in
830-406: A Ngarigo dialect. Historical sources have identified them as different tribes with a range of names. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the region includes inhabited rock shelters, rock paintings and engravings, burial places, camps and quarry sites, and stone tools and arrangements. The evidence suggests human habitation in the area for at least 21,000 years. European exploration began with in
996-585: A Royal Commission in 1916 ruled his authority had been usurped by certain officials and his original plan was reinstated. Griffin's relationship with the Australian authorities was strained and a lack of funding meant that by the time he was fired in 1920, little work had been done. By this time, Griffin had revised his plan, overseen the earthworks of major avenues and established the Glenloch Cork Plantation. The Commonwealth government purchased
1162-605: A St. John's church history said the church location was named after the district of Canbury in Kingston upon Thames in England, while other sources suggest Canberry in north London and Canbury in Kent. There is also a theory the original intention was to name it Camberry after the River Cam, and Cambridge where the original owner came from. There are numerous unsubstantiated theories put forward for
1328-503: A bushranger was "an open villain who subsists by highway robbery, and will sooner be killed than taken alive". Over 2,000 bushrangers are estimated to have roamed the Australian countryside, beginning with the convict bolters and drawing to a close after Ned Kelly 's last stand at Glenrowan . Bushranging began soon after British settlement with the establishment of New South Wales as a penal colony in 1788. The majority of early bushrangers were convicts who had escaped prison, or from
1494-488: A convict uprising, declared martial law in an effort to suppress Howe's influence. Most of the gang had either been captured or killed by 1818, the year Howe was clubbed to death by a soldier. Vandemonian bushranging peaked in the 1820s with hundreds of bolters at large, among the most notorious being Matthew Brady 's gang, cannibal serial killers Alexander Pearce and Thomas Jeffrey , and tracker-turned-resistance leader Musquito . Jackey Jackey (alias of William Westwood)
1660-746: A corner on the Macintyre (1894) and Bailed Up (1895), both set in Inverell , the area where Captain Thunderbolt was once active. Although not the first Australian film with a bushranging theme, The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906)—the world's first feature-length narrative film —is regarded as having set the template for the genre. On the back of the film's success, its producers released one of two 1907 film adaptations of Boldrewood's Robbery Under Arms (the other being Charles MacMahon's version ). Entering
1826-405: A deed for a further 1,000 acres (400 ha) to the west was issued to Moore in consideration of £250. Moore was always an absentee landlord and took no interest in running the property. The station continued to be called Canberry/Camberry, from 1824 until 1843 when it was sold to Arthur Jeffreys, who renamed it Acton and built a more substantial homestead called Acton House. In 1825 James Ainslie,
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#17328521452851992-586: A dispute between Griffin and various Commonwealth bureaucrats. In 1917, a Royal Commission determined that these individuals had undermined Griffin's authority by supplying false data to him, which he had used in carrying out his work. Ultimately, Griffin resigned from the Canberra design project in 1920, when he discovered that several of these same people had been appointed to the Federal Capital Advisory Committee formed to oversee Canberra's construction. Initially almost all construction work in
2158-602: A fairly common occurrence. The drowning victims included the first rector of the Anglican Church of St John the Baptist, which was Canberra's first purpose-built place of worship. Blundells' Cottage was built in 1859 for William Ginn, the head ploughman for the Duntroon Estate. The cottage's second occupants where newlyweds George and Flora Blundell, after whom the cottage was named. The area's Aboriginal population dwindled as
2324-554: A few days earlier. Planned development of the city slowed significantly during the depression of the 1930s and during World War II. Some projects planned for that time, including Roman Catholic and Anglican cathedrals, were never completed. (Nevertheless, in 1973 the Roman Catholic parish church of St. Christopher was remodelled into St. Christopher's Cathedral, Manuka , serving the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn. It
2490-501: A grant of 100 acres (40 ha) for assisting in the capture of two bushrangers Tennant and Dublin Jack. Ainslie later returned to Scotland. In 1827 John McPherson was given a ticket of occupation for the land to the west of Canberry extending to include the now named Black Mountain . He called the station Springbank, with the homestead just to the east of the junction of the Limestone River with Canberry Creek. The first white child born in
2656-435: A grid. Griffin's proposal had an abundance of geometric patterns, including concentric hexagonal and octagonal streets emanating from several radii. However, the outer areas of the city, built later, are not laid out geometrically. Lake Burley Griffin was deliberately designed so that the orientation of the components was related to various topographical landmarks in Canberra. The lakes stretch from east to west and divided
2822-693: A group of armed locals in Bobin, NSW , and the death of his brother, Joe Governor, near Singleton, NSW a few days later. Jack Underwood (who had been caught shortly after the Breelong Massacre) was hanged in Dubbo Gaol on 14 January 1901, and Jimmy Governor was hanged in Darlinghurst Gaol on 18 January 1901. The final phase of bushranging was sustained by the so-called "boy bushrangers"—youths who sought to commit crimes, mostly armed robberies, modelled on
2988-469: A half years, one of the longest careers of any bushranger. He sometimes operated alone; at other times, he led gangs, and was accompanied by his Aboriginal 'wife', Mary Ann Bugg , who is credited with helping extend his career. The increasing push of settlement, increased police efficiency, improvements in rail transport and communications technology, such as telegraphy , made it more difficult for bushrangers to evade capture. In 1870, Captain Thunderbolt
3154-478: A justifiable claim to host the new nation's Federal polity. Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria, Melbourne's state of location —supported Melbourne. However, New South Wales (the largest colony) and its neighbouring northern state, Queensland, favoured Sydney. Perhaps one or another of the two colonial capitals might have eventually been acceptable to the smaller states, but the Sydney–Melbourne rivalry
3320-619: A long dispute over whether Sydney or Melbourne should be the national capital, a compromise was reached: the new capital would be built in New South Wales , so long as it was at least 100 mi (160 km) from Sydney. The capital city was founded and formally named as Canberra in 1913. A plan by the American architects Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin was selected after an international design contest, and construction commenced in 1913. Unusual among Australian cities, it
3486-632: A particularly influential group in the area's early history. The Campbells were Scottish and brought many other Scots to the district as workers. The land that they owned included Duntroon House that is now the Officers Mess at the Royal Military College, Duntroon , Yarralumla and the Oaks Estate . The latter most got its name from a mansion built there by Campbell called the Oaks. When the Campbell family later sold
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#17328521452853652-461: A picturesque capital would "obscure the nation's youth and…register its membership within the British Empire ". Hence, although Canberra is undoubtedly Australian with respect to its landscaping and wider location, the underlying motivations for these aspects "remained colonial" and "rooted" in the "Old World". Utilising and capturing the picturesque of the landscape was essential to the success of
3818-502: A purported Waterloo veteran, herded sheep down to the district for Robert Campbell. He occupied land at the base of Mount Pleasant near the Limestone River, which he called "Pialigo". A stone cottage was built, Limestone Cottage, which later was expanded to become Duntroon House and the property named Duntroon when the Campbells took up residence and acquired land extending down to Queanbeyan. Ainslie, who remained there till 1835, also received
3984-502: A self-made book of kangaroo skin and written in kangaroo blood. In it was a dream diary and plans for a settlement he intended to found in the bush. Sometime bushranger Francis MacNamara, also known as Frank the Poet , wrote some of the best-known poems of the convict era. Several convict bushrangers also wrote autobiographies, including Jackey Jackey, Martin Cash and Owen Suffolk . Jack Donahue
4150-636: A shootout with the police. Ned Kelly, the only gang member to survive, was hanged at the Melbourne Gaol on 11 November 1880. In July 1900, the Governor brothers—a trio group consisting of an Aboriginal fencing contractor named Jimmy Governor and his associates, Joe Governor and Jack Underwood—perpetrated the Breelong Massacre, wounding one and killing five members of the Mawbey family. The massacre sparked
4316-423: A small country town than a capital before World War II. It was noted for being more trees and fields than houses. Cattle grazing near Parliament House was a common occurrence, something which amazed General Macarthur when he visited Canberra during World War II. The responsible government minister, King O'Malley, drove the first survey peg in the Canberra area on 20 February 1913 to mark the commencement of work on
4482-529: A ten-year sentence in HM Prison Pentridge . Within a year of his release in 1879, he and his gang held up the town of Wantabadgery in the Riverina . Two of the gang (including Moonlite's "soulmate" and alleged lover, James Nesbitt) and one trooper were killed when the police attacked. Scott was found guilty of murder and hanged along with one of his accomplices on 20 January 1880. Among the last bushrangers
4648-513: A theoretical Aboriginal name for a Black Mountain peninsular camp site as Ng-aan-bira, of unknown or no meaning, in the local Nyamudy peoples dialect of the Ngarigu language. However, there is no contemporary recorded Aboriginal use of the word until after the name Canberry was used for the area around St John the Baptists Church. The Molonglo River was recorded as the "Yeal-am-bid-gie" in 1820 by
4814-637: A trooper in 1830. That same year, west of the Blue Mountains , convict Ralph Entwistle sparked a bushranging insurgency known as the Bathurst Rebellion . He and his gang raided farms, liberating assigned convicts by force in the process, and within a month, his personal army numbered 80 men. Following gun battles with vigilante posses, mounted policemen and soldiers of the 39th and 57th Regiment of Foot , he and nine of his men were captured and executed. Convict bushrangers were particularly prevalent in
4980-405: A village and its disorganised collection of buildings was deemed ugly. Canberra was often derisively described as "several suburbs in search of a city". Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies regarded the state of the national capital as an embarrassment. Over time his attitude changed from one of contempt to that of championing its development. He fired two ministers charged with the development of
5146-589: A week. This event coincided with a heatwave across south-eastern Australia during which the temperature in Canberra reached 108.5 degrees Fahrenheit (42.5 Celsius) on 11 January. On Friday, 13 January, the Black Friday bushfires caused 71 deaths in Victoria and Wells accompanied the Governor-General on his tour of areas threatened by fires. Immediately after the end of the war, Canberra was criticised for resembling
History of Canberra - Misplaced Pages Continue
5312-400: Is an entirely planned city . The Griffins' plan featured geometric motifs and was centred on axes aligned with significant topographical landmarks such as Black Mountain , Mount Ainslie , Capital Hill and City Hill . Canberra's mountainous location makes it the only mainland Australian city where snow-capped mountains can be seen in winter, although snow in the city itself is uncommon. As
5478-578: Is common in the winter months. Snow is rare in the CBD (central business district) due to being on the leeward (eastern) side of the dividing range, but the surrounding areas get annual snowfall through winter and often the snow-capped Brindabella Range can be seen from the CBD. The last significant snowfall in the city centre was in 1968. Canberra is often affected by foehn winds, especially in winter and spring , evident by its anomalously warm maxima relative to altitude. The highest recorded maximum temperature
5644-621: Is considered a classic of Australian colonial literature. It also cited as an important influence on the American writer Owen Wister 's 1902 novel The Virginian , widely regarded as the first Western . Bushrangers were a favoured subject of colonial artists such as S. T. Gill , Frank P. Mahony and William Strutt . Tom Roberts , one of the leading figures of the Heidelberg School (also known as Australian Impressionism ), depicted bushrangers in some of his history paintings, including In
5810-539: Is likely that the Griffins were familiar with, and influenced by, the work of fellow Chicagoan Daniel Burnham , whose 1909 Plan of Chicago, also known as the Burnham Plan , focussed on reclaiming and improving Chicago's lakefront for public enjoyment. Another significant design point was that the city itself was nestled in between Mount Ainslie and Mount Bimberi and used their collective picturesque amenity as visual foci for
5976-645: Is located near the Brindabella Ranges (part of the Australian Alps ), approximately 150 km (93 mi) inland from Australia's east coast . It has an elevation of approximately 580 m (1,900 ft) AHD ; the highest point is Mount Majura at 888 m (2,913 ft). Other low mountains include Mount Taylor 855 m (2,805 ft), Mount Ainslie 843 m (2,766 ft), Mount Mugga Mugga 812 m (2,664 ft) and Black Mountain 812 m (2,664 ft). The native forest in
6142-457: Is lower and the average income higher; tertiary education levels are higher, while the population is younger. At the 2016 Census, 32% of Canberra's inhabitants were reported as having been born overseas. Canberra's design is influenced by the garden city movement and incorporates significant areas of natural vegetation. Its design can be viewed from its highest point at the Telstra Tower and
6308-537: Is served with domestic and international flights at Canberra Airport , while interstate train and coach services depart from Canberra railway station and the Jolimont Centre respectively. City Interchange and Alinga Street station form the main hub of Canberra's bus and light rail transport network. The word "Canberra" is derived from the Ngunnawal language of a local Ngunnawal or Ngambri clan who resided in
6474-450: Is the capital city of Australia . Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest Australian city overall . The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory at the northern tip of the Australian Alps , the country's highest mountain range. As of June 2023, Canberra's estimated population
6640-618: Is the only cathedral in Canberra. ) From 1920 to 1957, three bodies — successively the Federal Capital Advisory Committee , the Federal Capital Commission , and the National Capital Planning and Development Committee — continued to plan the further expansion of Canberra in the absence of Griffin. However, they were only advisory and development decisions were made without consulting them, which increased inefficiency. The largest event in Canberra up to World War II
6806-414: The 2019/2020 bushfires . On 1 January 2020, Canberra had the worst air quality of any major city in the world, with an AQI of 7700 (USAQI 949). Canberra is a planned city and the inner-city area was originally designed by Walter Burley Griffin , a major 20th-century American architect. Within the central area of the city near Lake Burley Griffin, major roads follow a wheel-and-spoke pattern rather than
History of Canberra - Misplaced Pages Continue
6972-519: The American Old West , and their crimes typically included robbing small-town banks, bailing up coach services and plundering stations (pastoral estates). They also engaged in many shootouts with the police, resulting in deaths on both sides. The number of bushrangers declined in the 1870s due to better policing and improvements in rail transport and communication technology, such as telegraphy . The last major phase of bushranging occurred towards
7138-1205: The Australian National University , the Royal Australian Mint , the Australian Institute of Sport , the National Gallery , the National Museum and the National Library . The city is home to many important institutions of the Australian Defence Force including the Royal Military College Duntroon and the Australian Defence Force Academy . It hosts all foreign embassies in Australia as well as regional headquarters of many international organisations, not-for-profit groups, lobbying groups and professional associations. Canberra has been ranked among
7304-563: The County of Murray , the name given of the parish was Canberry , but was then changed to Canberra . It extended over a wide area north nearly to Yass and west to the Cotter River There were a number of European families who achieved status in the area. These included the Campbell family and the Palmer family. In the late 1820s and early 1830s, there was a conflict between two of these families –
7470-776: The Murrumbidgee north-west of Canberra, which in turn flows north-west toward the New South Wales town of Yass. The Queanbeyan River joins the Molonglo River at Oaks Estate just within the ACT. A number of creeks, including Jerrabomberra and Yarralumla Creeks, flow into the Molonglo and Murrumbidgee. Two of these creeks, the Ginninderra and Tuggeranong, have similarly been dammed to form Lakes Ginninderra and Tuggeranong . Until recently
7636-589: The Parliament of New South Wales passed a bill, the Felons Apprehension Act 1865 , that effectively allowed anyone to shoot outlawed bushrangers on sight. By the time that the Clarke brothers were captured and hanged in 1867, organised gang bushranging in New South Wales had effectively ceased. Captain Thunderbolt (alias of Frederick Ward) robbed inns and mail-coaches across northern New South Wales for six and
7802-620: The Yarralumla estate—now the site of the official residence of the Governor-General of Australia—in 1827, and John Palmer who employed Duncan Macfarlane to form the Jerrabomberra property in 1828. A year later, John MacPherson established the Springbank estate, becoming the first British owner-occupier in the region. The Anglican church of St John the Baptist , in the suburb of Reid,
7968-488: The districts of Woden Valley and Belconnen commenced in the mid and late 1960s respectively, followed by the district of Tuggeranong in the mid 1970s. Many of the new suburbs were named after Australian politicians such as Barton , Deakin , Reid , Braddon , Curtin , Chifley and Parkes . On 9 May 1988, a larger and permanent Parliament House was opened on Capital Hill as part of Australia's bicentenary celebrations. The Commonwealth Parliament moved there from
8134-606: The gold rush era of the mid-19th century, with many bushrangers roaming the goldfields and country districts of New South Wales and Victoria , and to a lesser extent Queensland . As the outbreak worsened in the mid-1860s, the concept of outlawry was introduced to curtail the careers of the Gardiner–Hall gang , Dan Morgan , and the Clarke gang , among others. These " Wild Colonial Boys ", mostly Australian-born sons of convicts, were roughly analogous to British highwaymen and outlaws of
8300-408: The "Old Parliament House") on 9 May 1927. On this date also, Melbourne ceased being the national capital and seat of government and Canberra assumed this role. Amongst the first legislation dealt with in the new parliament house was an act to repeal O'Malley's unpopular prohibition laws. This took effect in 1928. The Federal Capital Commission, had, meanwhile, been busy increasing the social amenity of
8466-536: The "Yeal-am-bid-gie" in 1820 by the explorer Charles Throsby. Later it was referred to as the Limestone River, and the Fish River. The Moolinggolah people of the district around Captains Flat probably gave the Molonglo its current name. European settlement in the area began in October 1824 when Joshua John Moore , the owner of Horningsea near Liverpool, was given a "ticket of occupation" for 2,000 acres (810 ha) north of
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#17328521452858632-526: The 100th anniversary of the naming of Canberra. On 11 March 2014, the last day of the centennial year, the Canberra Centenary Column was unveiled in City Hill . Other works included The Skywhale , a hot air balloon designed by the sculptor Patricia Piccinini , and StellrScope by visual media artist Eleanor Gates-Stuart. On 7 February 2021, The Skywhale was joined by Skywhalepapa to create
8798-399: The 1860s, including the 1862 Escort Rock robbery , Australia's largest ever gold heist. The gang also engaged in many shootouts with the police, resulting in deaths on both sides. Other bushrangers active in New South Wales during this period, such as Dan Morgan , and the Clarke brothers and their associates, murdered multiple policemen. As bushranging continued to escalate in the 1860s,
8964-582: The 1950s, and the High Court of Australia was finally moved from Melbourne to Canberra in 1980. After an extensive search, the present site, about 300 kilometres (190 mi) south-west of Sydney, in the foothills of the Australian Alps, was chosen in 1908 as a result of survey work done by the government surveyor Charles Scrivener in that year. Two people who campaigned strongly for the Federal capital to be in
9130-414: The 19th century. She died in the nearby town of Queanbeyan in 1897. The district's transformation from a New South Wales rural area to a built-up national capital began during political debates over Federation in the late 19th century. Due to the Victorian gold rush , Melbourne was Australia's largest city and a potential place for the capital. However Sydney was Australia's oldest city, and so also had
9296-409: The ACT which would form the basis of a connection report. ... the historical record of Aboriginal culture and populations is very scant and contradictory, it was recognised that it would not be possible to prepare a full ' connection to country ' report linking present-day people through their families and surviving traditional knowledge to the past land holding groups. The Molonglo River was recorded as
9462-536: The ACT's first government, led by the Chief Minister Rosemary Follett , who made history as Australia's first female head of government. The 1990s also saw urban development begin in the district of Gungahlin in the far north of the ACT. Parts of Canberra were engulfed by bushfires on 18 January 2003 that killed four people, injured 435 and destroyed more than 500 homes as well as the major research telescopes of Australian National University's Mount Stromlo Observatory . Throughout 2013, several events celebrated
9628-430: The Australian bush between the 1780s and the early 20th century. The original use of the term dates back to the early years of the British colonisation of Australia, and applied to transported convicts who had escaped into the bush to hide from the authorities. By the 1820s, the term had evolved to refer to those who took up " robbery under arms " as a way of life, using the bush as their base. Bushranging thrived during
9794-517: The Bushranger (1830), William Thomas Moncrieff 's Van Diemen's Land: An Operatic Drama (1831), The Bushrangers; or, Norwood Vale (1834) by Henry Melville , and The Bushrangers; or, The Tregedy of Donohoe (1835) by Charles Harpur . In the late 19th century, E. W. Hornung and Hume Nisbet created popular bushranger novels within the conventions of the European "noble bandit" tradition. First serialised in The Sydney Mail in 1882–83, Rolf Boldrewood 's bushranging novel Robbery Under Arms
9960-412: The Canberra area as early as the 1820s. Canberra was "discovered" on 7 December 1820 by Charles Throsby Smith, Joseph Wild and James Vaughan. four successive expeditions whose routes took in the Canberra area were those of Charles Throsby in October 1820, Charles Throsby Smith in December 1820, Major John Ovens and Captain Mark Currie in 1823, and Allan Cunningham in 1824. All four expeditions explored
10126-468: The Canberra area include the Ngunnawal , Ngunawal and Ngambri peoples. Other groups claiming a connection to the land include the Ngarigo (who also lived directly to the south) and the Ngambri-Guumaal. Neighbouring groups include the Wandandian to the east, the Walgulu also to the south, Gandangara people to the north and Wiradjuri to the north-west. The first British settlers into the Canberra area described two clans of Ngunnawal people resident to
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#173285214528510292-407: The Canberra area were John Gale , the publisher of The Queanbeyan Age and Federal politician King O'Malley . The choice of site was a disputed one, and narrowly beat Dalgety , a small town near the NSW/Victoria border. The new Federal Capital Territory (later named Australian Capital Territory) was created on 1 January 1911 when the NSW government ceded 2,360 square kilometres of land including
10458-411: The Canberra region was almost wholly eucalypt species and provided a resource for fuel and domestic purposes. By the early 1960s, logging had depleted the eucalypt, and concern about water quality led to the forests being closed. Interest in forestry began in 1915 with trials of a number of species including Pinus radiata on the slopes of Mount Stromlo. Since then, plantations have been expanded, with
10624-422: The European presence increased, mainly due to the impact of diseases such as smallpox and measles . Another reason for the shrinking Aboriginal population base was that their ability to hunt, and therefore survive, was impeded by homesteads being placed on traditional hunting grounds. By 1862, the remnant Aboriginal People were mainly of mixed European and indigenous blood. They held their last full corroboree by
10790-427: The Governor brothers to engage in a crime spree across northern New South Wales, triggering one of the largest manhunts in Australian history, with 2,000 armed civilians and police covering 3,000 km of northern New South Wales in a search for the brothers. The Governor brothers were pursued by authorities for a total of three months, consequently being brought down on 27 October with the arrest of Jimmy Governor by
10956-425: The Griffins' design and was achieved by integrating the territory's topography into their design rather than designing to avoid it. An example of this is the Molonglo Valley, which was utilised as a position for an artificial, grand central lake which satisfied part of the design criteria ( Lake Burley Griffin ). With respect to capturing the picturesque, Griffin's lake centrepiece was a selling point of their design. It
11122-485: The Griffins' design was their use of gold and sepia which contrasted other entries that depicted a lush, green capital. The Griffins' approach better represented Australia's unique conditions and, more importantly, celebrated them. Finally, Washington, D.C. also offered another influence for the Griffins with respect to Burnham's 1902 McMillan Plan for the city. Although the Griffins were predominantly influenced by pre-modern planning, notably L’Enfant's inspired emphasis on
11288-414: The Johnstons (descended from Major George Johnston who was involved in the Rum Rebellion ) and the Martins – for the ownership and financial control of land that is now known as Weston Creek and Tuggeranong . Prominent, too, in the early life of the district were the Gibbes and Murray families, who were related by marriage. Irish-born Sir Terence Aubrey Murray , MLC, owned the Yarralumla estate (now
11454-434: The Limestone River covering the area now called Civic extending north to Dickson . A flock of sheep was driven onto the property in December 1824 by the overseer John McLaughlin. He built a slab hut on what is now called Acton Peninsula . This was named Camberry later Canberry Cottage. A creek that ran through the middle of the property originating from the side of Mount Ainslie was named Canberry Creek. On 12 October 1828,
11620-417: The Molonglo River had a history of sometimes calamitous floods; the area was a flood plain prior to the filling of Lake Burley Griffin. Under the Köppen-Geiger classification , Canberra has an oceanic climate ( Cfb ). In January, the warmest month, the average high is approximately 29 °C (84 °F); in July, the coldest month, the average high drops to approximately 12 °C (54 °F). Frost
11786-415: The Molonglo River in that year. Aboriginal culture and its people had largely ceased to exist in the region, with its members largely absorbed into the European mainstream by 1878 as a consequence of inter-marriage. "Queen Nellie" Hamilton, a Ngarigo Woman who had been married to a Ngambri Man, Bobby Hamilton, is said to have been the last full-blood Aboriginal Person dwelling in the environs of Canberra during
11952-718: The Ngunnawal elder Don Bell, have speculated upon possible meanings of "Canberra" over the years. These include "meeting place", "woman's breasts" and "the hollow between a woman's breasts". Alternative proposals for the name of the city during its planning included Austral, Australville, Aurora, Captain Cook, Caucus City, Cookaburra, Dampier, Eden, Eucalypta, Flinders, Gonebroke, Home, Hopetoun, Kangaremu, Myola, Meladneyperbane, New Era, Olympus, Paradise, Shakespeare, Sydmelperadbrisho, Swindleville, The National City, Union City, Unison, Wattleton, Wheatwoolgold, Yass-Canberra. The first peoples of
12118-534: The Prime Minister's Lodge and what is now "Old Parliament House", were also carried out during this pivotal period. In 1918, an internment camp for German World War I prisoners-of-war was established in Canberra's eastern outskirts, in what is nowadays the suburb of Fyshwick . This camp instead housed mainly civilian internees transferred there from facilities in other locations such as the NSW town of Bourke . After 1919,
12284-688: The Provisional Parliament House, now known as Old Parliament House. In December 1988, the Australian Capital Territory was granted full self-government by the Commonwealth Parliament, a step proposed as early as 1965. Following the first election on 4 March 1989, a 17-member Legislative Assembly sat at temporary offices at 1 Constitution Avenue, Civic, on 11 May 1989. Permanent premises were opened on London Circuit in 1994. The Australian Labor Party formed
12450-493: The adjacent property called Acton but originally called Camberry from 1825 until 1843. The flat land on either side of the Molonglo River near the church was referred to as the Canberry Plain while the road south went over a ford called Church Crossing. To the south of the plain was Canberra Hill, now Red Hill. Finally by 1865 the location of St Johns Church started to be spelt Canberra by the rector, Pierce Galliard Smith, against
12616-400: The area 21,000 years previously. Still today, Ngunnawal men into the present conduct ceremony on the banks of the river, Murrumbidgee River. They travel upstream as they receive their Totems and corresponding responsibilities for land management. 'Murrum' means 'Pathway' and Bidgee means 'Boss'. The submerged limestone caves beneath Lake Burley Griffin contained Aboriginal rock art, some of
12782-489: The area and were referred to by the early British colonists as either the Canberry , Kanberri or Nganbra tribe. Joshua John Moore , the first European land-owner in the region, named his grant "Canberry" in 1823 after these people. "Canberry Creek" and "Canberry" first appeared on regional maps from 1830, while the derivative name "Canberra" started to appear from around 1857. Numerous local commentators, including
12948-493: The area was a daughter, born into the Macpherson family in 1830. In 1831 MacPherson was granted title to the 640-acre (260 ha) property extending to the now named Black Mountain. Other sheep stations were built in turn by further settlers. Initially, these properties were owned by absentee landlords, but later resident families moved in. For future development, blocks for village settlements were gazetted at Pialigo, Tageranong to
13114-554: The area. Apart from a few employed on stations Aboriginals disappeared by the 1860s with most moving to the better hunting grounds of land near the Cooma and Tumut districts. A few from the Sutton, Hall and Fairlight localities moved north to Yass. Construction of the church of St John the Baptist started in 1841 on land purchased from Robert Campbell adjacent to the Canberry station. This included
13280-408: The authorities, admired for their bravery, rough chivalry and colourful personalities. However, in stark contrast to romantic portrayals in the arts and popular culture, bushrangers tended to lead lives that were "nasty, brutish and short", with some earning notoriety for their cruelty and bloodthirst. Australian attitudes toward bushrangers remain complex and ambivalent. The earliest documented use of
13446-656: The benefit of reducing erosion in the Cotter catchment, and the forests are also popular recreation areas. The urban environs of the city of Canberra straddle the Ginninderra plain , Molonglo plain , the Limestone plain, and the Tuggeranong plain (Isabella's Plain). The Molonglo River which flows across the Molonglo plain has been dammed to form the national capital's iconic feature Lake Burley Griffin . The Molonglo then flows into
13612-482: The board advised that it could not support the Griffins' plan in its entirety and suggested an alternative plan of its own devising. This plan ostensibly incorporated the best features of the three place-getting designs as well as of a fourth design by H. Caswell, R.C.G. Coulter and W. Scott-Griffiths of Sydney, the rights to which it had purchased. It was this composite plan that was endorsed by Parliament and given formal approval by O'Malley on 10 January 1913. However, it
13778-431: The burials of many of Canberra's 19th-century pioneers. A schoolhouse was also attached to this building. By 1851, there were about 2,500 people living in the area – a vast majority of which were stockmen. Some assigned convict labour was also used in this area during the 1830s and 1840s. The weather in the area was said to be harsh, with frosty winters and fierce hail-storm episodes, and drownings in local watercourses were
13944-406: The capital was undertaken by Commonwealth instrumentalities. Government-built housing , required to accommodate the public servants transferred from interstate, formed the basis for Canberra's first suburbs. The suburbs that were slowly built over the next several years included Parkes , Barton , Kingston , Manuka , Braddon and Reid . These suburbs often had other names – for instance, Kingston
14110-430: The city for poor performance. Menzies remained in office for over a decade and in that time the development of the capital sped up rapidly. The population grew by more than 50 per cent in every five-year period from 1955 to 1975. Several Government departments, together with public servants, were moved to Canberra from Melbourne following the war. Government housing projects were undertaken to accommodate
14276-536: The city in two; a land axis perpendicular to the central basin stretches from Capital Hill —the eventual location of the new Parliament House on a mound on the southern side—north northeast across the central basin to the northern banks along Anzac Parade to the Australian War Memorial . This was designed so that looking from Capital Hill, the War Memorial stood directly at the foot of Mount Ainslie . At
14442-439: The city's growing population. The National Capital Development Commission (NCDC) formed in 1957 with executive powers and ended four decades of disputes over the shape and design of Lake Burley Griffin — the centrepiece of Griffin's design — and construction was completed in 1964 after four years of work. The completion of the lake finally laid the platform for the development of Griffin's Parliamentary Triangle . Since
14608-554: The city's specific site. Scrivener's selection was guided by instructions to assess sites from "a scenic standpoint, with a view to securing the picturesque , and with the object of beautification". Hence from the outset, in accordance with Renaissance fashion in Britain , emphasis was placed on the picturesque, that is utilising the intrinsic beauty of the natural world, and affirmed that the future capital's landscaping and aesthetics would be just as important as its functionality. Prior to
14774-403: The city. He therefore drew on the picturesque by ensuring views of the landscape and notably the wilderness of the unchartered west, which beckoned "[American] democracy's westward expansion." The Griffins' also capitalised on an emerging theme within the new colony which recognised the bush, referring to the country's extensive native vegetation, as a national identity. Critical to the success of
14940-431: The civilisation part and the governmental part. A variety of names were suggested for the capital, including Olympus, Paradise, Captain Cook, Shakespeare, Kangaremu, Sydmeladperho, Eucalypta and Myola. Myola was the personal favourite of the prime minister, Andrew Fisher . However, when Billy Hughes was told of his preference, he said, "It sounds like the last despairing cry of an Italian prostitute". The name of Canberra
15106-568: The colonial authorities, the Government tried to bring an end to any such collaboration by rewarding Aborigines for returning convicts to custody. Aboriginal trackers would play a significant role in the hunt for bushrangers. Colonel Godfrey Mundy described convict bushrangers as "desperate, hopeless, fearless; rendered so, perhaps, by the tyranny of a gaoler, of an overseer, or of a master to whom he has been assigned." Edward Smith Hall , editor of early Sydney newspaper The Monitor , agreed that
15272-486: The convict system was a breeding-ground for bushrangers due to its savagery, with starvation and acts of torture being rampant. "Liberty or Death!" was the cry of convict bushrangers, and in large numbers they roamed beyond Sydney, some hoping to reach China , which was commonly believed to be connected by an overland route. Some bolters seized boats and set sail for foreign lands, but most were hunted down and brought back to Australia. Others attempted to inspire an overhaul of
15438-401: The convict system, or simply sought revenge on their captors. This latter desire found expression in the convict ballad " Jim Jones at Botany Bay ", in which Jones, the narrator, plans to join bushranger Jack Donahue and "gun the floggers down". Donahue was the most notorious of the early New South Wales bushrangers, terrorising settlements outside Sydney from 1827 until he was fatally shot by
15604-462: The course of the Limestone now Molonglo River that is now the site of Lake Burley Griffin. Smith and Cunningham also penetrated further south, into what is now called the Tuggeranong Valley. It was estimated by Robertson that prior to European settlement starting in 1824, depending on the season there were about 300-400 Aboriginals living in the Molonglo, Queanbeyan, Canberra, Namadgi region. As
15770-441: The decline in penal transportations to Australia in the 1840s. It had ceased by the 1850s to all colonies except Western Australia , which accepted convicts between 1850 and 1868. The best-known convict bushranger of the colony was the prolific escapee Moondyne Joe . The Australian gold rushes of the 1850s and 1860s marked the next distinct phase of bushranging, as the discovery of gold gave bushrangers access to great wealth that
15936-461: The derivation being from an Aboriginal source. These include that the word Canberra is derived from the rendition into written English of the Aboriginal name Ngambri, which allegedly was the name of a small camp site north of the Molonglo river on the side of Black Mountain, which subsequently became part of the pastoral property "Springbank". There are five non-evidenced theories for the latter; that it
16102-403: The eastern colonies. Its origins in a convict system bred a unique kind of desperado, most frequently with an Irish political background. Native-born bushrangers also expressed nascent Australian nationalist views and are recognised as "the first distinctively Australian characters to gain general recognition." As such, a number of bushrangers became folk heroes and symbols of rebellion against
16268-476: The end of the decade, epitomised by the Kelly gang in Victoria, led by Ned Kelly , Australia's best-known bushranger and outlaw. Although bushrangers appeared sporadically into the early 20th century, most historians regard Kelly's capture and execution in 1880 as effectively representing the end of the bushranging era. Bushranging exerted a powerful influence in Australia, lasting for over a century and predominating in
16434-411: The exploits of their bushranging "heroes". The majority were captured alive without any fatalities. In Australia, bushrangers often attract public sympathy (cf. the concept of social bandits ). In Australian history and iconography bushrangers are held in some esteem in some quarters due to the harshness and anti-Catholicism of the colonial authorities whom they embarrassed, and the romanticism of
16600-426: The explorer Charles Throsby . Later it was referred to as the Limestone River, and the Fish River. The Moolinggolah people of the district around Captains Flat probably gave the Molonglo its current name. Following the federation of Australia on 1 January 1901 and the eventual selection of the Australian Capital Territory to accommodate a capital city in 1908, Surveyor Charles Scrivener was responsible for locating
16766-614: The first "golden age" of Australian cinema (1910–12), director John Gavin released two fictionalised accounts of real-life bushrangers: Moonlite (1910) and Thunderbolt (1910). The genre's popularity with audiences led to a spike of production unprecedented in world cinema. Dan Morgan (1911) is notable for portraying its title character as an insane villain rather than a figure of romance. Ben Hall, Frank Gardiner, Captain Starlight, and numerous other bushrangers also received cinematic treatments at this time. Alarmed by what they saw as
16932-600: The fledgeling city. In 1926 the Causeway Hall was erected, and was host to the first performance of the newly established Canberra Philharmonic Society (later Canberra Musical Society) on 15 May. A larger, more central venue, named the Albert Hall , was opened in 1928, the same year as the Canberra Croquet Club Canberra Canberra ( / ˈ k æ n b ər ə / KAN -bər-ə )
17098-457: The foliage", implying that Evans envisioned a picturesque capital representative of the wider view of Australian society whose relatively new population were beginning to identify with the iconic surroundings of the Australian outback. Consequently, this enabled the picturesque site to act as a proxy for the "Old World's" culture, relics, and established nature which the young colony innately lacked. By continuing to build upon this forming identity,
17264-486: The glorification of outlawry, state governments imposed a ban on bushranger films in 1912, effectively removing "the entire folklore relating to bushrangers ... from the most popular form of cultural expression." It is seen as a major reason for the collapse of a booming Australian film industry. One of the few Australian films to escape the ban before it was lifted in the 1940s is the 1920 adaptation of Robbery Under Arms . Also during this lull appeared American takes on
17430-521: The growth of a boy into a man. In October 1820, Charles Throsby led the first British expedition to the area. Four other expeditions occurred between 1820 and 1823 with the first accurate map being produced by explorer Mark John Currie in June 1823. By this stage the area had become known as the Limestone Plains. British settlement of the area probably dates from late 1823, when a sheep station
17596-697: The initial construction of the lake, various buildings of national importance have been constructed on its shores. The newly built Australian National University was expanded and sculptures as well as monuments were built. A new National Library was constructed within the Parliamentary Triangle, followed by the High Court and the National Gallery . Suburbs in Canberra Central (often referred to as North Canberra and South Canberra ) were further developed in the 1950s and urban development in
17762-488: The lack of European women, many white men had relationships with mixed race women so even further diluting Aboriginal heritage. The 2013 ACT Government report "Our Kin Our Country" on the connection to the area by present-day ACT Aboriginal inhabitants, concluded: Therefore there appears to be no surviving traditional knowledge of lore, language, custom, kinship structures, oral history and genealogy associated directly with
17928-539: The land it was on for subdivision and development, it was on condition that the Oaks and the land that it to remain intact and not be renamed. There are still members of the Campbell family living in Canberra. The European population in the Canberra area continued to slowly grow throughout the rest of the 19th century. One prominent building, the Anglican St John's Church , was consecrated and opened for use in 1845. This building still stands today and its graveyard holds
18094-405: The lawlessness they represented. Some bushrangers, most notably Ned Kelly in his Jerilderie letter , and in his final raid on Glenrowan , explicitly represented themselves as political rebels. Attitudes to Kelly, by far the most well-known bushranger, exemplify the ambivalent views of Australians regarding bushranging. The impact of bushrangers upon the areas in which they roamed is evidenced in
18260-422: The mountains. The area is generally sheltered from a westerly wind, though strong northwesterlies can develop. A cool, vigorous afternoon easterly change, colloquially referred to as a 'sea-breeze' or the 'Braidwood Butcher', is common during the summer months and often exceeds 40 km/h in the city. Canberra is also less humid than the nearby coastal areas. Canberra was severely affected by smoke haze during
18426-407: The names of many geographical features in Australia, including Brady's Lookout , Moondyne Cave , the township of Codrington , Mount Tennent , Thunderbolts Way and Ward's Mistake . The districts of North East Victoria are unofficially known as Kelly Country. Some bushrangers made a mark on Australian literature . While running from soldiers in 1818, Michael Howe dropped a knapsack containing
18592-400: The national capital started during debates over federation in the late 19th century. Following a long dispute over whether Sydney or Melbourne should be the national capital, a compromise was reached: the new capital would be built in New South Wales, so long as it was at least 100 mi (160 km) from Sydney, with Melbourne to be the temporary seat of government while the new capital
18758-409: The new city. As we have seen, on 12 March that same year, the city was formally named by the Governor-General's wife, Lady Denman, at a ceremony held on Capital Hill, the site of Australia's current Parliament House. The construction of the capital began in what is now North Canberra and South Canberra. The pace of building work was slower than expected because of the outbreak of World War I in 1914 and
18924-510: The northern side of the city, was designated the municipal axis. The municipal axis became the location of Constitution Avenue , which links City Hill in Civic Centre and both Market Centre and the Defence precinct on Russell Hill. Commonwealth Avenue and Kings Avenue were to run from the southern side from Capital Hill to City Hill and Market Centre on the north respectively, and they formed
19090-500: The old internment became a workers' camp. In later years, the camp was closed and the roads that had serviced it were turned into urban streets. Canberra's first blocks of land for residential and commercial use were sold by auction on 12 December 1924. Buildings were subsequently erected on these allotments, but their residents endured a gruelling start to their occupancy when a flood struck Canberra in February 1925. The flood came about as
19256-430: The only sites in the region. Galambary (Black Mountain) is an important Aboriginal meeting and business site, predominantly for men's business. According to the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people, Mt Ainslie is primarily for place of women's business. Black Mountain and Mount Ainslie are referred to as women's breasts. Galambary was also used by Ngunnawal people as an initiation site, with the mountain itself said to represent
19422-651: The pastoral property of Yarralumla in 1913 to provide an official residence for the Governor-General of Australia in the new capital. Renovations began in 1925 to enlarge and modernise the property. In 1927, the property was officially dubbed Government House. On 9 May that year, the Commonwealth parliament moved to Canberra with the opening of the Provisional Parliament House . The Prime Minister Stanley Bruce had officially taken up residence in The Lodge
19588-550: The penal colony of Van Diemen's Land (now the state of Tasmania ), established in 1803. The island's most powerful bushranger, the self-styled "Lieutenant Governor of the Woods", Michael Howe , led a gang of up to one hundred members "in what amounted to a civil war" with the colonial government. His control over large swathes of the island prompted elite squatters from Hobart and Launceston to collude with him, and for six months in 1815, Lieutenant-Governor Thomas Davey , fearing
19754-456: The picturesque, they achieved this emphasis through well-orchestrated geometric street organisation representative of the contemporary City Beautiful movement . The movement was strongly implemented in the McMillan Plan, which in turn inspired Canberra's grand axes, views, and effective central focal point. Canberra's growth over the first few decades was slow, and Canberra was indeed far more
19920-426: The planned city as the central area was in the parish of Canberra. The area originally had been in the parish of Queanbeyan, but in 1850 a separate parish was established with St John the Baptist being the parish church. According to church records, land was purchased from the Campbell property to build the church and establish a 100-acre (40 ha) glebe. The parsonage was "Canberry Cottage", the rented original building on
20086-533: The properties of landowners to whom they had been assigned as servants. These bushrangers, also known as "bolters", preferred the hazards of wild, unexplored bushland surrounding Sydney to the deprivation and brutality of convict life. The first notable bushranger, African convict John Caesar , robbed settlers for food, and had a brief, tempestuous alliance with Aboriginal resistance fighters during Pemulwuy's War . While other bushrangers would go on to fight alongside Indigenous Australians in frontier conflicts with
20252-481: The region. Around 1825 James Ainslie , working on behalf of the wealthy merchant Robert Campbell , arrived to establish a sheep station. He was guided to the region by a local Aboriginal girl who showed him the fine lands of her Pialligo clan. The area then became the property of Campbell and it was initially named Pialligo before Campbell changed it to the Scottish title of Duntroon . Campbell and his family built
20418-553: The required territory as they did not accept the site. In 1906, the New South Wales Government finally agreed to cede sufficient land provided that it was in the Yass-Canberra region as this site was closer to Sydney. Newspaper proprietor John Gale circulated a pamphlet titled 'Dalgety or Canberra: Which?' advocating Canberra to every member of the Commonwealth's seven state and federal parliaments. By many accounts, it
20584-489: The result of the Molonglo River bursting its banks. The surging water threatened or damaged many structures, and some drownings resulted. Canberra's first school, Telopea Park School, had already been opened in 1923. Public transport became available in July 1925, and two shopping areas were established at Manuka and Kingston in 1925. The year 1927 saw the opening of a cinema at Manuka and an Australian Capital Territory police force
20750-478: The rise of the colonial-born sons of poor ex-convicts who were drawn to a more glamorous life than mining or farming. Much of the activity in the colony was in the Lachlan Valley , around Forbes , Yass and Cowra . The Gardiner–Hall gang , led by Frank Gardiner and Ben Hall and counting John Dunn , John Gilbert and Fred Lowry among its members, was responsible for some of the most daring robberies of
20916-653: The seaport of Jervis Bay to the Commonwealth Government. In that same year, the ACT became an alcohol-free area as a result of legislation that the Minister for Home Affairs, King O'Malley, steered through the Federal Parliament in Melbourne. This era of prohibition is commemorated today in the form of a pub named after O'Malley that was established in the city centre of Canberra in 2000. An international competition
21082-407: The seat of the Government of Australia , Canberra is home to many important institutions of the federal government, national monuments and museums. These include Parliament House , Government House , the High Court building and the headquarters of numerous government agencies. It is the location of many social and cultural institutions of national significance such as the Australian War Memorial ,
21248-441: The selection of the site, Congress delegate Isaac Evans wrote a paper, "A Waterside Federal Capital", which, despite being written to advocate a different site altogether, identified large bodies of water as improving the appearance and perspective of the city's form. Similarly, the design criteria for the capital encouraged such a creation. Furthermore, Evans also romantically described the future capital's dwellings as "dotted amongst
21414-467: The settlers took over land, many Aboriginals migrated to other districts such as Cooma and Tumut. The population was also significantly reduced when the death rate increased significantly due to diseases introduced by the Europeans. By the 1880s there were no full-blood people in the district, with only some fifty mixed race people. These people were employed either as labourers or domestics on stations. Due to
21580-462: The side of the majority of the board with the design by Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin of Chicago , Illinois , United States , being declared the winner. Second was Eliel Saarinen of Finland and third was Alfred Agache of Brazil but resident in Paris, France. O'Malley then appointed a six-member board to advise him on the implementation of the winning design. On 25 November 1912,
21746-540: The site of Australia's Government House) from 1837 until 1859. In the latter year, Murray sold Yarralumla to his brother-in-law, Augustus Onslow Manby Gibbes, who was joined at the property by his elderly parents, Elizabeth Gibbes and Colonel John George Nathaniel Gibbes , the retired Collector of Customs for NSW. Augustus Gibbes made improvements to the estate and he remained Yarralumla's resident proprietor until 1881 when he sold it to his neighbour Frederick Campbell. The Campbells, and their patriarch, Robert Campbell , were
21912-689: The south, Palmerstone to the north, and Yarrolumla to the west near the Murrumbidgee River. The local Aboriginals of this time tended to refer to themselves as the Nyamudy people and spoke a dialect of the Ngarigo language, while the settlers called them the Limestone Plains Blacks or Pialigo Mob. The indigenous population of the district declined to less than a hundred by 1840. In stark comparison, by 1851 there were about 2,500 European people living in
22078-408: The southwestern end of the land axis was Bimberi Peak , the highest mountain in the ACT, approximately 52 km (32 mi) south west of Canberra. The straight edge of the circular segment that formed the central basin of Lake Burley Griffin was perpendicular to the land axis and designated the water axis, and it extended northwest towards Black Mountain . A line parallel to the water axis, on
22244-503: The street layout and to convey civic power. Hence, the Griffins aligned democracy with the most powerful force of all: nature. Consequentially, given it was so severely overshadowed, the traditional methodology of using grand architecture to convey power was rendered less significant. This approach was strongly influenced by Pierre Charles L’Enfant's 1792 design for Washington, D.C. L’Enfant's design included wide, tree-lined avenues that would visually connect significant topographical sites over
22410-402: The subject of numerous contradictory learned academic papers, and letters/articles in the press. There are numerous unsubstantiated theories put forward for the derivation of the name for the riverside property "Camberry Station" from English sources. First, it was due to the profusion of the wild raspberry bushes growing there. Second, the raspberry bushes were actually Cranberry bushes. Third,
22576-750: The summit of Mount Ainslie. Other notable features include the National Arboretum , born out of the 2003 Canberra bushfires , and Lake Burley Griffin , named for Walter Burley Griffin. Highlights in the annual calendar of cultural events include Floriade , the largest flower festival in the Southern Hemisphere, the Enlighten Festival , Skyfire , the National Multicultural Festival and Summernats . Canberra's main sporting venues are Canberra Stadium and Manuka Oval . The city
22742-403: The term appears in a February 1805 issue of The Sydney Gazette , which reports that a cart had been stopped between Sydney and Hawkesbury by three men "whose appearance sanctioned the suspicion of their being bush-rangers". John Bigge described bushranging in 1821 as "absconding in the woods and living upon plunder and the robbery of orchards." Charles Darwin likewise recorded in 1835 that
22908-455: The town of Queanbeyan across the border in NSW was constructed just prior to the outbreak of World War I. It opened for freight/industrial services on 25 May 1914 but was freed up for passenger trains 10 years later. A formal foundation stone for the city was laid by the Prince of Wales , the future Edward VIII , on 21 June 1920. Additions to Government House at Yarralumla, as well as building work on
23074-659: The vicinity. The Canberry or Nganbra clan lived mostly around Sullivan's Creek and had ceremonial grounds at the base of Galambary ( Black Mountain ), while the Pialligo clan had land around what is now Canberra Airport . The people living here carefully managed and cultivated the land with fire and farmed yams and hunted for food. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the region includes inhabited rock shelters, rock paintings and engravings, burial places, camps and quarry sites as well as stone tools and arrangements. Artefacts suggests early human activity occurred at some point in
23240-514: The war ended. The urban areas of Canberra are organised into a hierarchy of districts, town centres, group centres, local suburbs as well as other industrial areas and villages. There are seven residential districts, each of which is divided into smaller suburbs, and most of which have a town centre which is the focus of commercial and social activities. The districts were settled in the following chronological order: Bushranger Bushrangers were armed robbers and outlaws who resided in
23406-461: The west by the Brindabellas which create a strong rain shadow in Canberra's valleys. Canberra gets 100.4 clear days annually. Annual rainfall is the third lowest of the capital cities (after Adelaide and Hobart ) and is spread fairly evenly over the seasons, with late spring bringing the highest rainfall. Thunderstorms occur mostly between October and April, owing to the effect of summer and
23572-670: The western and eastern edges of the central basin. The area enclosed by the three avenues was known as the Parliamentary Triangle , and formed the centrepiece of Griffin's work. The Griffins assigned spiritual values to Mount Ainslie, Black Mountain, and Red Hill and originally planned to cover each of these in flowers. That way each hill would be covered with a single, primary colour which represented its spiritual value. This part of their plan never came to fruition, as World War I slowed construction and planning disputes led to Griffin's dismissal by Prime Minister Billy Hughes after
23738-454: The wife of Governor-General Lord Denman , announced that the city would be named "Canberra" at a ceremony at Kurrajong Hill, which has since become Capital Hill and the site of the present Parliament House . Canberra Day is a public holiday observed in the ACT on the second Monday in March to celebrate the founding of Canberra. After the ceremony, bureaucratic disputes hindered Griffin's work;
23904-438: The wishes of Robert Campbell the original owner of the land on which the church was built, and who provided much of the financial cost for constructing the church and adjacent school house. However, substantive information on the reason for the original choice of the name Camberry, or why the spelling changed, is non-existent. The dispute over the derivation has been going on for over a hundred years without resolution. It has been
24070-407: The world's best cities to live in and visit. Although the Commonwealth Government remains the largest single employer in Canberra, it is no longer the majority employer. Other major industries have developed in the city, including in health care, professional services, education and training, retail, accommodation and food, and construction. Compared to the national averages, the unemployment rate
24236-412: Was 44.0 °C (111.2 °F) on 4 January 2020. Winter 2011 was Canberra's warmest winter on record, approximately 2 °C (4 °F) above the average temperature. The lowest recorded minimum temperature was −10.0 °C (14.0 °F) on the morning of 11 July 1971. Light snow falls only once in every few years, and is usually not widespread and quickly dissipates. Canberra is protected from
24402-422: Was 466,566. The area chosen for the capital had been inhabited by Aboriginal Australians for up to 21,000 years, by groups including the Ngunnawal and Ngambri . European settlement commenced in the first half of the 19th century, as evidenced by surviving landmarks such as St John's Anglican Church and Blundells Cottage . On 1 January 1901, federation of the colonies of Australia was achieved. Following
24568-429: Was an Aboriginal word meaning alternatively "meeting place", "neutral place", "corroboree ground", the "head of the river", the "space between a woman's breasts", or after the bird kookaburra or "laughing jackass". There is also a dispute whether this Aboriginal word came from the Ngarigu, Nyamudy, Kamilroi, Walgalu or Wiradhari language. Academic reconstruction of the various pronunciations by different Europeans results in
24734-644: Was boycotted by the Royal Institute of British Architects , the Institution of Civil Engineers and their affiliated bodies throughout the British Empire because the Minister for Home Affairs King O'Malley insisted that the final decision was for him to make rather than an expert in city planning. A total of 137 valid entries were received. O'Malley appointed a three-member board to advise him but they could not reach unanimity. On 24 May 1911, O'Malley came down on
24900-585: Was built to educate local settlers children, including the Blundell children who lived in nearby Blundell's Cottage . As the European presence increased, the Indigenous population dwindled largely due to the destruction of their society, dislocation from their lands and from introduced diseases such as influenza , smallpox , alcoholism and measles . The district's change from a rural area in New South Wales to
25066-451: Was built. A survey was conducted across several sites in New South Wales with Bombala , southern Monaro , Orange , Yass , Albury , Tamworth , Armidale , Tumut and Dalgety all discussed. Dalgety was chosen by the federal parliament and it passed the Seat of Government Act 1904 confirming Dalgety as the site of the nation's capital. However, the New South Wales government refused to cede
25232-422: Was consecrated in 1845 and is now the oldest surviving public building in the city. St John's churchyard contains the earliest graves in the district. It has been described as a "sanctuary in the city", remaining a small English village-style church even as the capital grew around it. Canberra's first school, St John's School (now a museum), was situated next to the church and opened in the same year of 1845. It
25398-541: Was decisive in the selection of Canberra as the site in 1908 as was a result of survey work done by the government surveyor Charles Scrivener . The NSW government ceded the district to the federal government in 1911 and the Federal Capital Territory was established. An international design competition was launched by the Department of Home Affairs on 30 April 1911, closing on 31 January 1912. The competition
25564-475: Was eventually settled upon. At midday on 12 March 1913, the city was officially given this name by Lady Denman, at a ceremony on Kurrajong Hill (now known as Capital Hill ). This historic occasion was officiated over by the Australian Prime Minister, Andrew Fisher . The city now commemorates the event as " Canberra Day " each year, always on the second Monday of March. The name Canberra was given to
25730-569: Was fatally shot by a policeman, and with his death, the New South Wales bushranging epidemic that began in the early 1860s came to an end. The scholarly, but eccentric Captain Moonlite (alias of Andrew George Scott) worked as an Anglican lay reader before turning to bushranging. Imprisoned in Ballarat for an armed bank robbery on the Victorian goldfields, he escaped, but was soon recaptured and received
25896-507: Was formed on what is now the Acton Peninsula by James Cowan, the head stockman employed by Joshua John Moore . Moore had received a land grant in the region in 1823 and formally applied to purchase the site on 16 December 1826. He named the property "Canberry". On 30 April 1827, Moore was told by letter that he could retain possession of 1,000 acres (405 ha) at Canberry. Other colonists soon followed Moore's example to take up land in
26062-413: Was formed. Also in 1927, the fledgling city's CBD was officially established. It was meant to be called Civic Centre, but then Prime Minister Stanley Bruce vetoed the idea and it became officially known as City Centre. However, City Centre is still commonly referred to by Canberrans as "Civic". But the most significant event of 1927 was clearly the opening of the provisional Parliament House (now known as
26228-504: Was held in 1911 by O'Malley to select a design for the layout of the capital city. An American architect, Walter Burley Griffin , won the competition in 1913. Although submitted in Walter's name, the plan was actually designed collaboratively with his architect wife and professional partner Marion Mahony Griffin . His idea was to divide the proposed city into halves, using a lake as a dividing point. The two resulting sections were to be designated
26394-520: Was originally known as Eastlake – before a formal renaming procedure took place in 1928. They were erected largely in accordance to Walter Burley Griffin's designs for Canberra. The men who constructed these suburbs lived in a series of workers' camps, which consisted of tents and some brick cottages. Building materials were obtained from quarries in the North Canberra area. A temporary railway was used to shift materials. A rail line linking Canberra with
26560-496: Was portable and easily converted to cash. Their task was assisted by the isolated location of the goldfields and the decimation of the police force with many troopers abandoning their duties to join the gold rush. In Victoria, several major gold robberies occurred in 1852–53. Three bushrangers, including George Melville, were hanged in front of a large crowd for their role in the 1853 McIvor Escort Robbery near Castlemaine . Bushranging numbers also flourished in New South Wales with
26726-471: Was sent from New South Wales to Van Diemen's Land in 1842 after attempting to escape Cockatoo Island . In 1843, he escaped Port Arthur , and took up bushranging in Tasmania's mountains, but was recaptured and sent to Norfolk Island , where, as leader of the 1846 Cooking Pot Uprising , he murdered three constables, and was hanged along with sixteen of his men. The era of convict bushrangers gradually faded with
26892-698: Was such that neither city would ever agree to the other one becoming the capital. Eventually, a compromise was reached: Melbourne would be the capital on a temporary basis while a new capital was built somewhere between Sydney and Melbourne. As Victoria was relatively small in geographical area, Section 125 of the Constitution specified that the capital must be placed in a Commonwealth territory within New South Wales but at least 100 miles (160 km) from Sydney. Various Commonwealth governmental bodies continued to operate principally from Sydney or Melbourne after 1927. Most civil service departments were moved to Canberra in
27058-545: Was the 24th Meeting of ANZAAS in January 1939. The Canberra Times described it as "a signal event ... in the history of this, the world's youngest capital city". The city's accommodation was not nearly sufficient to house the 1,250 delegates and a tent city had to be set up on the banks of the Molonglo River. One of the prominent speakers was H. G. Wells , who was a guest of the Governor-General Lord Gowrie for
27224-507: Was the Griffin plan which was ultimately proceeded with. In 1913, Walter Burley Griffin was appointed Federal Capital Director of Design and Construction and construction began. On 23 February, King O'Malley drove the first peg in the construction of the future capital city. In 1912, the government invited suggestions from the public as to the name of the future city. Almost 750 names were suggested. At midday on 12 March 1913, Lady Denman ,
27390-439: Was the Kelly gang in Victoria, led by Ned Kelly , Australia's most famous bushranger. After murdering three policemen in a shootout in 1878, the gang was outlawed, and after raiding towns and robbing banks into 1879, earned the distinction of having the largest reward ever placed on the heads of bushrangers. In 1880, after failing to derail and ambush a police train, the gang, clad in bulletproof armour they had devised, engaged in
27556-575: Was the first bushranger to have inspired bush ballads , including "Bold Jack Donahue" and " The Wild Colonial Boy ". Ben Hall and his gang were the subject of several bush ballads, including " Streets of Forbes ". Michael Howe inspired the earliest play set in Tasmania, Michael Howe, The Terror of Van Diemen's Land , which premiered at The Old Vic in London in 1821. Other early plays about bushrangers include David Burn 's The Bushrangers (1829), William Leman Rede 's Faith and Falsehood; or, The Fate of
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