History of the Federal Capital

A History of the Federal Capital

As shown in documents from prior and leading up to the establishment of the Federal Capital.

The stories of the Inauguration of the Commonwealth, the first sitting of the Commonwealth Parliament in 1901, and the search to establish a new Federal capital can be found in Stories and Histories

Publications

This page contains older publications and historical documents.

Commonwealth Inaugural Celebrations Booklets and Ephemera (1901)

These documents were compiled by John Lane Mullins.

Title	Size
Athenaeum Club dinner menu (PDF)	44KB
NSW Government inaugural celebrations admission ticket (PDF)	57KB
Australian Federal Convention banquet (PDF)	1.5MB
Programme of the NSW Government reception and entertainments committee (PDF)	123KB
Ladies' parliamentary badge (PDF)	101KB
Municipal badge (PDF)	130KB
Souvenir of the Federation of Australia (PDF)	1.4MB
Souvenir of the inauguration of the Commonwealth of Australia (PDF)	1.6MB
Ode for Commonwealth day (PDF)	343KB
Swearing in ceremony (PDF)	212KB
Inaugural celebrations at Sydney: official programme (PDF)	3.7MB
Sydney Morning Herald, January 2 1901 (PDF)	1.6MB
Naval and military banquet (PDF)	92KB
State banquet (PDF)	719KB
Official programme: inaugural Commonwealth celebrations Sydney (PDF)	721KB
Parliamentary picnic invitation (PDF)	405KB
State municipal & civil luncheon (PDF)	110KB
State municipal & civil luncheon (PDF)	108KB
Municipal and commercial guests picnic invitation (PDF)	637KB
United Federal Executive meeting (PDF)	569KB
Citizens' state concert programme (PDF)	101KB
Welcome to Edmund Barton (PDF)	478KB
Citizens' farewell banquet (PDF)	464KB
Sydney descriptive & illustrative with panorama (PDF)	2.8MB
Memorial service in remembrance of Queen Victoria (PDF)	193KB
Official programme in honor of the visit to Australia of the Duke & Duchess of Cornwall & York (PDF)	528KB
Our invited guests: an official directory of the guests invited to Melbourne May 9th 1901 (PDF)	10MB
Australia Club honorary member invitation (PDF)	76KB
The Parliament of Victoria at home (PDF)	193KB
Conversazione given by the Government of Victoria (PDF)	528KB
Reception for the Duke & Duchess of Cornwall & York (PDF)	168KB
Opening of the first Parliament (PDF)	310KB
Royal review, Flemington (PDF)	112KB
Reception at the Town Hall, Melbourne (PDF)	215KB

The Path to Establishing the Federal Capital

These documents pertain to the search for, establishment and development of the site for the federal capital, ranging from 1907 to 1987.

Title	Size	Date
Federal Capital Administration: report of the Royal Commission. Report 1, Issues relating to Mr. Griffin (PDF)	5.5MB	15.03.1917
Federal Capital Administration: report of the Royal Commission. Report 2, Accounts and finance at Canberra (PDF)	1.1MB	20.06.1917
Federal Capital Administration: report of the Royal Commission. Report 3, Wasteful expenditure at Canberra (PDF)	913KB	20.06.1917
Federal Capital Administration: report of the Royal Commission. Report 4, Sewerage at Canberra (PDF)	268KB	20.06.1917
Federal Capital Administration: report of the Royal Commission. Report 5, Brick-works at Canberra (PDF)	360KB	20.06.1917
Federal Capital Administration: report of the Royal Commission. Report 6, Water supply, power, and miscellaneous (PDF)	828KB	20.06.1917
The Federal Capital, Dalgety or Canberra: Which? A Paper, John Gale (PDF)	467KB	24.07.1907
Report from the Select Committee Appointed to Inquire into and Report upon the Development of Canberra (PDF)	5.8MB	28.09.1955
Report on Sir William Holford's observations on the future development of Canberra, A.C.T., National Capital Development Commission (PDF)	3.9MB	30.06.1958
Report relating to proposed works in the Parliamentary Zone : commencement column monument, Joint Standing Committee on the New Parliament House (PDF)	138KB	03.11.1987

Maps of the proposed Federal Capital sites

Commissioned by John Kirkpatrick, Chairman of the Royal Commission Federal Capital Sites, 1903.

Map #	Location	Size
No. 01	Albury (PDF)	4.1MB
No. 02	Armidale (PDF)	3.5MB
No. 03	Bathurst (PDF)	5.3MB
No. 04	Bombala (PDF)	4MB
No. 05	Lake George (PDF)	5MB
No. 06	Lyndhurst (PDF)	5.7MB
No. 07	Orange (PDF)	3.7MB
No. 08	Tumut (PDF)	5.2MB
No. 09	Albury surrounds (PDF)	7.1MB
No. 10	Armidale surrounds (PDF)	14.3MB
No. 11	Orange, Bathurst and Lyndhurst surrounds (PDF)	15.6MB
No. 12	Bombala surrounds (PDF)	7.6MB
No. 13	Orange surrounds (PDF)	7MB
No. 14	Lake George surrounds (PDF)	9.7MB
No. 15	Tumut surrounds (PDF)	13.5MB
No. 16	Map of New South Wales (PDF)	7.7MB
No. 17	Railway map (PDF)	5.1MB

Minutes of Evidence

The following documents comprise the minutes of evidence for the Select Committee Appointed to Inquire into and Report upon the Development of Canberra

Title	Size
List of witnesses (PDF)	5.5MB
7 December 1954 to 9 February 1955 (PDF)	7.4MB
10 February 1955 to 14 February 1955 (PDF)	9.6MB
15 February 1955 to 8 March 1955 (PDF)	9.3MB
9 March 1955 to 15 March 1955 (PDF)	12MB
16 March 1955 to 28 June 1955 (PDF)	13.7MB
29 June 1955 to 16 September 1955 (PDF)	14MB