Why canberra chosen capital

By Sonya Gee. Wish you were here? We know. Canberrans flock to the coast every summer. Like many Canberrans Lorenzo Thomas loves spending time on the coast. When he gets the chance he heads to Maloneys Beach, just north of Bateman's Bay. It's a few hours away and the drive got him thinking. External Link: Before the Constitution was established, towns all over Australia were vying to be the capital.

A promotional pamphlet for Dalgety lists "unlimited water supply" as its top attribute. Supplied: National Archives of Australia. Supplied: The National Library of Australia. Who asked the question? Curious Canberran Lorenzo Thomas. Curious about Canberra? More Curious Canberra. What are Canberra's most haunted places?

If a tree falls on Northbourne and no-one's around, does it make a playground? Is there a rivalry between Canberra's north and south? Where did Canberra keep its criminals before we had a prison? Australia is one of those funny countries with a capital city that is not very well known or densely populated.

Other examples of countries like this include Brazil with its capital Brasilia, Turkey with Ankara, and Switzerland with its capital city Bern. While political rivalries between colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania around the time of Federation 1 January began the debate on where to locate the Australian Capital and location of parliament house.

It was decreed in The Constitution that the Parliament were to choose a site at least one hundred miles km from Sydney, with Parliament to sit in Melbourne until the new capital was built. Yes, Australians in the early 20 th Century built a whole new city to be the Australian capital. The endearing word on the Canberra ACT streets is that the movers and shakers of the day wanted the Australian capital to be so far inland that it was safely out of reach from harm.

The real reason, however, for choosing Canberra, ACT to sit as the Australian capital, is surprisingly, however not shockingly, much more philosophical and climatical. Oliver had died in but his site guidelines were still the gospel and the Canberra place turned on a sparkling, cloudless, flatteringly frosty day the carriages from Queanbeyan crossed creeks that musically tinkled with broken light ice.

One journo reported the local air was "like champagne". The visitors were very, very impressed. Parochialism and politicking played some part in voting in the thrilling exhaustive ballot in parliament in October But, as Canberra came from behind in a big field of 11 possible sites every one of them bracingly Oliverian to pip Dalgety at the post, the Canberra site's actual, sparklingly-cold-in-winter, politician-impressing merits counted for a lot.

The resulting garden city is a paradise for wildlife. So the next time you hear your gardens' birds complaining about the early morning ice on their bird baths, go out and tell them that without this occasionally ice-making climate they wouldn't have this Bush Capital to thrive in.

Your ad blocker may be preventing you from being able to log in or subscribe. Home News History. Meanwhile, for fact-lovers, here is the actual truth about Canberra's metropolitan possie.

Canberrans might think it's cold but elsewhere in the world, this would be seen as a mild climate On the streets of Canberra: sub-zero fashion in the capital Why Canberrans should embrace the cold winter Ice rink opens in Civic Square for Wintervention.

Home What's New? Japan's Mountains Climbing Mt. Students About Me Contact Me. Search this site:. Why did Canberra become the capital of Australia? Oct 24, Rating A. Just before Federation, Melbourne was the richest capital city in the world because of the gold rush. The city was designed and laid out to be the Paris of the southern hemisphere. Sep 10, Rating awesome by: abigail taylor you saved me from failing my project.

Jun 30, Rating thanks by: Anonymous thank for the info. Jun 17, Rating canberra by: kacy thanks. May 27, Rating Thank you for your story! I think Canberra is a good city. I want to go there someday! Thank you for sharing your story:D. Hot off the press!