What are facts about the history of Canberra?

Answer 1

• The competition to design Australia's new capital city, Canberra, was won in 1911 by Walter Burley Griffin, Chicago-born architect who also designed the NSW cities of Griffith, Leeton and Culburra Beach.
• The first survey peg marking the beginning of the development of the city of Canberra was driven in on 20 February 1913. It was driven in by King O'Malley, Minister for Home Affairs and who played a prominent role in selecting the site of the future capital of Australia
• The final choice for the name of Australia's capital remained a secret until the laying of the foundation stones on 12 March 1913.
• Australia's old Parliament House, which was officially opened on 9 May 1927, was only ever intended to be a temporary residence for Parliament to sit. However, it served Australian Parliament for the next sixty years.
• Canberra's first two sets of traffic lights were brought into operation on 23 October 1965, some thirty years after Sydney received its first traffic lights, in 1933.
• At 2.45pm on 18 January 2003, devastating bushfires reached the outskirts of Canberra and began encroaching upon the city. Over the next ten hours, four people died and more than 500 homes were destroyed.