PRESENTATION OUTLINE
1911
The 'Territory for the Seat of Government' was established as an area of
2,360 square kilometres in the Yass-Canberra district occupied by 1,714
non-Indigenous people on pastoral properties grazing some 224,764 sheep.
Additional land at Jervis Bay as a seaport for the proposed national capital
city was included in the new Territory.
1912
US architect Walter Burley Griffin was announced as the winner of the
competition to design the national capital. Finn Eliel Saarinen comes second
and Frenchman Alfred Agache wins the third prize. The selection committee
also purchases the design of the Australian team of Griffiths, Coulter and
Caswell.
1913
King O¹Malley, the Minister for Home Affairs, ceremoniously drives in the
first peg for the city design to mark the axis between the Capitol and Mount
Ainslie based on the Departmental Board design (not Griffins). Mrs. Jane
Miller, wife of the Administrator of the Federal Territory, names the site
ŒCanbera¹ Hill.
1914
A further area of land at Jervis Bay was added to the Federal Capital
Territory amid speculation about development there of 'Pacific City' as a
seaport for Canberra.
1915
The Royal Australian Navy¹s Jervis Bay naval college, HMAS Creswell, was
officially opened. The Royal Australian Navy had been established in 1911.
1918
The Molonglo Internment Camp is built to house German nationals. After the
war it is used as accommodation for workers and their families. It later
becomes the industrial suburb of Fyshwick.
1921
Prime Minister Billy Hughes removed Walter Burley Griffin from his position
directing the construction of Canberra.
1924
The first sale of leases in the Territory occurs on 12 December. J.B Young
Ltd buys the first site on Giles Street, Eastlake (now Kingston).
1925
The Federal Capital Commission began operations on 1 January. The FCC was
charged with developing Canberra to allow the transfer of public servants
and Parliament by 1927.
1926
The Canberra Times was issued for the first time on 3 September with
subscribers paying three pence for the sixteen page edition. It was
initially a weekly paper.
1928
The Albert Hall on Commonwealth Avenue is opened by Prime Minister Stanley
Bruce. It was named after the Duke of York and was designed to provide a
civic and cultural heart to the nation.
1927
The ceremonial opening of Parliament in Canberra¹s provisional Parliament
House. As well as the Parliament House, The Lodge and Government House were
completed as residences for the Prime Minister and the Governor-General, and
the Hotel Canberra, and the Kurrajong Hotel housed parliamentarians.
