Australian Capital Territory History
Facts: Australian Capital Territory facts, Demographics, Geography, Government, History
Australian Capital Territory history
For more than 20,000 years the region has been home to the Ngunnawal people. Rock paintings in Namadgi National Park and archeological evidence found at Birrigai Rock Shelter at Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve are evidence of their long occupation the region.
The first European settler in the district was a Joshua John Moore who took up the first land grant and established a stock station called 'Canberry' in 1824. It has been suggested that the name Canberry is based on an Aboriginal name for the area Kamberra. Moore's property is approximately where Canberra's city centre is currently sited.
In 1901 the New South Wales Government commissioned a report suggesting possible locations for the seat of Government for the new Commonwealth of Australia. The report short-listed three places, Bombala, Yass-Canberra, and Orange. The decision for the Yass-Canberra option was made in 1908 by the Commonwealth Parliament and shortly afterwards the Commonwealth surveyor, Charles Scrivener, was dispatched to choose a site.
In 1911 an international competition for a city plan was held. It was awarded to an American landscape architect named Walter Burley Griffin and his wife and partner, Marion Mahony Griffin. In the same year, The Australian Government took possession of 2 357km2 of land from NewSouth Wales (NSW) to form the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) as the site for the Australian national capital. Canberra lies between Sydney, 307km north-east, and Melbourne 655km south-west.
In 1913 Canberra became the official name for the area at the laying of a foundation stone on Capital Hill.
Today the majority of the population of the ACT live and work in Canberra. more
