When was Canberra founded?

Answer 1

The Limestone Plains area (Canberra-Yass) had been settled from as early as the 1820s, but there was no city in the region. The first settler was Joshua John Moore who took up land in the area in 1824, naming it Canberry. He took this name after hearing the local indigenous people use the word Kamberra when they conversed. Moore's land was situated at the base of Black Mountain, although much of his land now lies submerged by Lake Burley Griffin.

Because Australia's two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, had been rivals since before the goldrush days, it was decided that the nation's capital should be situated between the two cities. The Limestone Plains area was chosen, which was 248km from Sydney and 483km from Melbourne.

On 1 January 1911, the Federal Capital Territory was established as an area of 2 360 square kilometres in the Yass-Canberra district. The first survey peg marking the beginning of the development of the city of Canberra was driven in on 20 February 1913. The man who drove in the peg was King O'Malley, Minister for Home Affairs and who played a prominent role in selecting the site of the future capital of Australia.

The city did not yet have a name. A variety of names had been suggested, some tongue-in-cheek, such as Kangaremu, Australific and Meladneyperbane, which was a combination of the other state capital's names. The final choice remained a secret until the laying of the foundation stones on 12 March 1913. Lady Denman, wife of the Governor-General, then announced the name of the city as Canberra, believed to be a derivation of an Aboriginal word for 'meeting place'.