Why Australia Built Its Capital in an Empty Sheep Paddock

About 85% of Australians live within 50 km of the coast, yet the nation's capital sits inland, in a frosty valley that was sheep country just over a century ago. Canberra exists because Sydney and Melbourne refused to let the other win, and the deal that ended the fight is still written into the Constitution. Section 125 and the 100-mile rule, the rejected Dalgety site, Charles Scrivener's survey, the Griffins' design, the 1927 opening of Parliament House, the lake that took 55 years to fill, and the Parliament buried inside a hill. Chapters: 0:00 A Parliament in a sheep paddock 0:36 Sydney vs Melbourne 1:39 The search for a capital 2:43 Scrivener's valley 3:18 The Federal Capital Territory 4:44 Naming Canberra 5:42 The Griffins' plan 7:00 Opening day, 1927 7:59 The capital without a government 9:15 Lake Burley Griffin 9:50 The Parliament inside a hill 10:43 Canberra today -- Sources: Parliament of Australia (Constitution s125, Parliament buildings history); National Capital Authority; National Archives of Australia (naming, Griffin fact sheet); Parliamentary Education Office; Museum of Australian Democracy; Australian Dictionary of Biography (Jimmy Clements); ABS Year Book 1963 and population releases; Bureau of Meteorology (Canberra Airport); National Museum of Australia (2003 bushfires); NCA Scrivener Dam fact sheet; PM Transcripts (Menzies, 1959). -- #Australia #Canberra #Geography