Why was Canberra built where it is?

Answer 1

Canberra is the national capital of Australia.

The reason Canberra was chosen as the location of the national capital was that Australia's two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, had been rivals since before the goldrush days. It was therefore decided that the Australian capital should be situated between the two cities. A location was chosen which was 248km from Sydney and 483km from Melbourne, within easy access of both cities. Farming land was taken up for this purpose.

Section 125 of the Constitution of Australia provided that:

"The seat of Government of the Commonwealth shall be determined by the Parliament, and shall be within territory which shall have been granted to or acquired by the Commonwealth, and shall be vested in and belong to the Commonwealth, and shall be in the State of New South Wales, and be distant not less than one hundred miles from Sydney.

Such territory shall contain an area of not less than one hundred square miles, and such portion thereof as shall consist of Crown lands shall be granted to the Commonwealth without any payment therefore. The Parliament shall sit at Melbourne until it meets at the seat of Government."

Answer 2

The capital of Australia is Canberra because Sydney and Melbourne both wanted to be the capital and they were the biggest cities, so when nobody could decide they just chose a place in between the two. Of course it wasn't like they just pointed to somewhere that was approximately half way between the two. It took a long time. They had to scout and vote and finally Canberra was chosen, not only for it's position, but because it would be a good and efficient place to run Australia from and was habitable and able to be built on.

Answer 3

Yes and No. Yes in the sense that Canberra is the seat of the Australian Parliament, so yeah. No in the regards that many Australians forget that Canberra is a city, or they wrongly believe it is a stupidly boring place full of government workers, and by having parliament house, it unfortunately re-enforces that view.

Parliament house is an overused symbol for the city as a whole when it should be a symbol of the government.

Answer 4

Australia's two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, had been rivals since before the goldrush days. It was therefore decided that the nation's capital should be situated between the two cities. A location was chosen which was 248km from Sydney and 483km from Melbourne, within easy access of both cities. Farming land was taken up for this purpose.

Section 125 of the Constitution of Australia provided that:

"The seat of Government of the Commonwealth shall be determined by the Parliament, and shall be within territory which shall have been granted to or acquired by the Commonwealth, and shall be vested in and belong to the Commonwealth, and shall be in the State of New South Wales, and be distant not less than one hundred miles from Sydney.

Such territory shall contain an area of not less than one hundred square miles, and such portion thereof as shall consist of Crown lands shall be granted to the Commonwealth without any payment therefore. The Parliament shall sit at Melbourne until it meets at the seat of Government."