Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 340,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth largest Australian city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory, south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne. The site of Canberra was selected for the location of the nation's capital in 1908 as a compromise between rivals Sydney and Melbourne, Australia's two largest cities. It is unusual among Australian cities, being an entirely purpose-built, planned city. Following an international contest for the city's design, a design by the Chicago architects Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin was selected and construction commenced in 1913. The city's design was heavily influenced by the garden city movement and incorporates significant areas of natural vegetation that have earned Canberra the title "bush capital". Although the growth and development of Canberra were hindered by the World Wars and the Great Depression, it emerged as a thriving city after World War II.

As the seat of the government of Australia, Canberra is the site of Parliament House, the High Court of Australia and numerous government departments and agencies. It is also the location of many social and cultural institutions of national significance, such as the Australian War Memorial, National Gallery of Australia, National Museum of Australia and the National Library of Australia. The federal government contributes the largest percentage of Gross State Product and is the largest single employer in Canberra.

History

main: History of Canberra

Before European settlement, the area in which Canberra would eventually be constructed was seasonally inhabited by the Ngunnawal and Walgalu tribes. The Ngarigo lived south-east of the Canberra area, the Gundungurra to the north, the Yuin on the coast and the Wiradjuri to the west.Fact: date=August 2008 Archaeological evidence from the Canberra region suggests human habitation in the area for at least 21,000 years. The word "Canberra" is derived from the word Kanbarra meaning "meeting place" in the old Ngunnawal language of the local Ngabri people. The Ngunnawal name was apparently used as a reference to corroborees held during the seasonal migration of the Ngunnawal people to feast on the Bogong moths that pass through the region each spring.

Blundells' Cottage, built around 1860, is one of the few remaining buildings built by the first European settlers of Canberra

Colonial

European exploration and settlement started in the Canberra area as early as the 1820s. There were four expeditions between 1820 and 1824.Fitzgerald, p. 5.Gillespie, pp. 3–8. White settlement of the area probably dates from 1824, when a homestead or station was built on what is now the Acton peninsula by stockmen employed by Joshua John Moore.Gillespie, p. 9. He formally purchased the site in 1826, and named the property Canberry.Fitzgerald, p. 12. The European population in the Canberra area continued to grow slowly throughout the 19th century.Gibbney, p. 48. Among them was the Campbell family of "Duntroon";Fitzgerald, p. 9. their imposing stone house is now the officers' mess of the Royal Military College, Duntroon.Fact: date=August 2008 The Campbells sponsored settlement by other farmer families to work their land, such as the Southwells of "Weetangera".Gibbney, pp. 87–95. Other notable early settlers included the inter-related Murray and Gibbes families, who owned the Yarralumla estate - now the site of the official residence of the Governor-General of Australia - from the 1830s through to 1881.Fact: date=August 2008 The oldest surviving public building in the inner-city is the Anglican Church of St John the Baptist, in the suburb of Reid,Sparke, p. 116. which was consecrated in 1845.Gillespie, p. 78.Fitzgerald, p. 17. St John's churchyard contains the graves of many of the district's pioneers. As the European presence increased, the indigenous population dwindled, mainly from disease such as smallpox and measles.