The Griffins' competition entry 1911-1912

City and environs. The fine red lines are Griffin’s axes along which he aligned the principal structures of the city. The land axis runs from Mount Ainslie, through Kurrajong Hill (marked ‘Capitol’, where Parliament House now stands) toward Bimberi Peak. The red line from Black Mountain to the southeast is the water axis. The black line is Griffin’s municipal axis and follows the line of the present Constitution Avenue. The triangle present in the centre of the drawing is the symbolic heart of the city. At its corners are the Municipal Government, the Market Centre and the Capitol. Within the triangle, Griffin placed the most important buildings of the government and the people. 152 x 76 cm.

City and environs. The fine red lines are Griffin’s axes along which he aligned the principal structures of the city. The land axis runs from Mount Ainslie, through Kurrajong Hill (marked ‘Capitol’, where Parliament House now stands) toward Bimberi Peak. The red line from Black Mountain to the southeast is the water axis. The black line is Griffin’s municipal axis and follows the line of the present Constitution Avenue. The triangle present in the centre of the drawing is the symbolic heart of the city. At its corners are the Municipal Government, the Market Centre and the Capitol. Within the triangle, Griffin placed the most important buildings of the government and the people.
152 x 76 cm.

Southerly side of water axis, Government Group. This view shows the Capitol on the southern side where the present Parliament House is located – with the government buildings in the foreground. The Capitol was to be the place for the people, situated above the houses of parliament. Watercolour 76 x 152.5 cm.

View from summit of Mount Ainslie, 1912, watercolour in three parts – together
76 x 305 cm.

Social reformer Ebenezer Howard promoted the idea of the ‘Garden City’, with public buildings set in gardens at the centre and surrounded by a public park, wide boulevards radiating outwards, residential districts separated from industrial areas at the periphery, and all surrounded by agricultural land. 
(Ebenezer Howard, Garden Cities of Tomorrow, 1898, pp52–53)