Question #33662. Asked by stu dent.
Last updated Mar 30 2023.
In the first day of January 1901, the colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania joined together in a new Commonwealth of Australia. Both before and after Federation, there was much public bickering about what and where a federal territory and Seat of Government should be. The Constitution said that the Parliament must choose a site at least one hundred miles (160km) from Sydney and that the Parliament would sit in Melbourne until a new parliament house was built in the new capital ...https://www.nca.gov.au/education/canberras-history/siting-and-naming-canberra#
A ‘new’ site at Yass-Canberra emerged as an acceptable compromise. This large district was almost exactly a ‘hundred miles’ (160km) from Sydney and offered clean air, a good water supply and an invigorating climate. If the Federal Parliament would change its mind in favour of Canberra, New South Wales would provide land on the coast so that a federal city could have its own seaport at Jervis Bay. In October 1908, the Seat of Government Bill, confirming Yass-Canberra as the nation’s capital, was passed by the Parliament ...
In 1913, when the Canberra area was no more than an outback sheep station divided by the Molonglo River, a ceremony was held to name the city. ‘Canberra’, as a new name for the capital, was a sentimental favourite and logical choice. The name probably derived from a local Aboriginal word for ‘meeting place’ and had been in common use in the district for more than three-quarters of a century.
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