Canberra is the capital of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is the eighth largest city in the country. Famously chosen as Australia’s capital as a compromise between big-city rivals Sydney and Melbourne, it sits between the two (but much closer to Sydney). For tourists, Canberra is an oft-neglected destination, its public image portraying a sterile, planned city, serving bureaucratic and political ends, with little to offer in the way of excitement. As we shall see, this is an unfair portrait of a fascinating city.

Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the area which was to become Canberra was inhabited primarily by Ngunnawai Aborigines. Evidence of their settlement, in the form of burial spots, stone tools and rock paintings, dates back more than 21,000 years. The word ‘Canberra’ is derived from the Ngunnawal word for ‘meeting place’.

European settlement began in the 1820’s. Expeditions during the first half of the decade resulted in the establishment of a homestead on what is now the Acton peninsula. Purchased by Joshua John Moore in 1826, the property was named ‘Canberry’.

Throughout the 19^th Century, the European population grew. The Church of St John the Baptist was built in 1845. It remains the oldest public building in Canberra. At this stage in Canberra’s history, the settlement was still a small rural area in New South Wales. Once the Federation debates began in earnest at the end of the 19^th Century, a dispute between Sydney and Melbourne – at that point the biggest, most industrialized cities – began. A compromise was reached, that the new capital would be in New South Wales, as long as it was at least 100 miles from Sydney. Canberra was chosen as the location for Australia’s capital city.

On 12 March 1913, Canberra was officially named capital by the Governor-General’s wife, on the site which was to become Capital Hill.

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