The Federal Capital Commission 1925-1930

Abstract

The Federal Capital Commission was created in November 1924 by the Bruce/Page Coalition Government to prepare the National Capital for the transfer of Parliament and the necessary Public Service Departments from Melbourne. For the first two and a half years of its existence, while the pace of construction activity was building up to a peak, there was considerable public enthusiasm for what was characterized as an experiment in city construction and management. During the last years of its existence it became increasingly subject to criticism directed at its role as a form of local government, and this factor popularly ranked above the more prosaic consideration of reducing public expenditure when the Commission was abolished by the Scullin Labour Government in 1930. Show more