Women in Canberra, 1911

Abstract

In November, 1908, after a great deal of effort by the Queanbeyan Federal Capital League,the Federal Parliament chose Yass-Canberra as the site of the Capital City of the new nation of Australia. Without delay, Prime Minister Andrew Fisher appointed Surveyor-General Charles Scrivener to determine the best site for the city and the catchment area for its water supply. On 1 January, 1911, the relevant legislation came into effect: nine hundred square miles of country was separated from the state of NSW to become the Australian Capital Territory