Howard Rheingold on collaboration

TED Talk

Fascinating talk from Howard Rheingold about the coming world of collaboration, participatory media and collective action.

http://www.ted.com/talks/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html

John Frazer - The Architectural Relevance of Cyberspace

A new consciousness - a new mode of thinking - is emerging with profound implications for architecture.

The parallel world of cyberspace, created and sustained by the world's computers and communication lines is just one manifestation of deep cultural and technical changes which are reshaping our understanding of our world. This shift of perception from a universe of objects to one of relationships is the characteristic paradigm shift of the century. With this goes a shift from specialisation to generalisation, from the self-conscious to the unselfconscious, from linear relationships to complex webs. Our emerging new world view is characterised as decentralised, desynchronised, diverse, simultaneous, anarchic, customerised...

The term cyberspace is used loosely to describe the invisible spatial interconnection of computers on the Internet and it is also applied to almost any virtual spatial experience created in a computer. But tangible space and physical structure have already taken on a new significance as a result of the growth of cyberspace.

Virtual reality has caused us to reassess reality.

Old world architecture has achieved a new physicality just as the new architecture of process starts to transcend physicality and achieve ephemeralisation.

Ephemeralisation: the ability of technological advancement to do "more and more with less and less until eventually you can do everything with nothing" Buckminster Fuller.

Virtual worlds should not be seen as an alternative to the real world or a substitute, but as an extra dimension which allows us a new freedom of movement in the natural world.

Contemporary science fiction concentrates on the coexistence of the real world and the metaworld of cyber-space. The realisation gradually dawns that we have been living in a virtual world all along.

The argument rested on the idea that architects were 'first and foremost system designers who had been forced to take an increasing interest in the organisational system properties of development, communication and control', Pask identified a significant vacuum in architectural theory and claimed cybernetics as 'a discipline that fills the bill in so far as the abstract concepts of cybernetics can be interpreted in architectural terms (and, where appropriate, identified with real architectural systems) to form a theory (architectural cybernetics, the cybernetic theory of architecture). Thus cybernetics in architecture was advanced as a new theoretical basis and as a metalanguage for critical discussion.

Frazer, J. The Architectural Relevance of Cyberspace in Architectural Design 1995, Academy Group, London, UK.

Sacred Geometry

http://theosophydownunder.org/library/theosophical-lectures/canberra-capitol-city-of-australia-esoteric-aspects-of-its-design-compiled-by-evelynne-brown/

Original Report: Diagram of Canberra's axial relationship

Walter Burley Griffin, Capital Hill geometry, The Double Vesica

Ralph Waldo Emerson

To laugh often and much,
To win the respect of intelligent people
And the affection of children,
To earn the appreciation of honest critics
And endure the betrayal of false friends,
To appreciate beauty,
To find the best in others,
To leave the world a bit better,
Whether by a healthy child, a garden patch
Or a redeemed social condition,
To know even one life has breathed easier
Because you have lived,
This is to have succeeded.

Ralph Walso Emerson, whose writings were an inspiration to the Griffins

This simple poem sums up the ideals of the Griffins to me, and relates to the tenets of anthroposophy.

Abuja, Nigeria.

Abuja

Abuja is a city that was conceived with lofty ambitions. Following Nigeria's independence from the United Kingdom in 1960, the young nation experienced a vast increase in wealth resulting from its oil reserves. Its capital at the time, Lagos, was considered overly congested and difficult to manage, as well as contentious given its coastal location far from the interior of the country. In an effort to choose a location that would be deemed neutral to the many ethnic and religious groups comprising Nigeria, a site in the centre of the nation was made into the new federal territory in 1976. A design competition for the city's master plan was held, and was won by a planning/architecture consortium from the United States.

The plan they published in 1979 has many familiar themes. There is an orientation toward landscape, with the central spine of the city pointed toward Aso Rock. There are Baroque diagonals; in this case converging upon a public square and not an institution of government power. As Lawrence J. Vale of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology argues, "Capital city urban design is the last refuge of grand axial planning..." (Gordon). Additionally, with precedents like Brasilia, Abuja also inherited some more Modernist principles such as emphasis on unimpeded traffic through elaborate roadway design and green spaces that result in wide breaks in the cityscape.

However, the plan has not had an opportunity to be fully realized. Certain government functions were moved to Abuja much too quickly, before enough infrastructure and plans for housing had been completed. This set into motion a housing crisis that continues to this day in the fast growing city. Ostensibly a democratic nation, Nigeria faced inconsistent governance for decades as succession after succession of military overthrows occurred. In 1991, Abuja was officially proclaimed the capital, and an election in 1999 ushered in a new era of relative stability. The damage had already been done to the symbolic heart of government, where the three arms (patterned after the United States) of governance were barricaded and otherwise cut off from the people, resulting in a difficult to access site. The grand diagonals also, to date, have not been built.

image source: http://www.wrtdesign.com/projects/detail/Abuja-Capital-Master-Plan/13

More pressing are the housing needs. Once more, we have a planned city that has not been able to meet the needs of a growing population. The city center is under-developed, yet expensive, and people with lower incomes are forced into dense neighborhoods surrounding the capital's core or in cities outside of Abuja. A plot of land legally obtained one day becomes illegal the next, when government officials decide they will adhere to the master plan after all. These housing needs are not unique to Abuja or Nigeria, as they are problems the developing world (and some of the developed world) face chronically. They do cast the effectiveness of idealized city plans into question, however, in the face of the challenges the developing world faces.

image source: http://www.wrtdesign.com/projects/detail/Abuja-Capital-Master-Plan/13

source: http://www.museumofthecity.org

Brasilia, Brazil.

Brasilia

Brasília is situated well into the interior of Brazil, a nation where the vast majority of the population resides near the Atlantic coast. The desire for an interior capital reaches back to the 17th century, the earliest days of the former Portuguese colony, but would only reach fruition in the mid 20th century. Reasoning for an interior capital included providing a catalyst for development away from coastal population centers and safeguarding government offices from the potential of a coastal attack in the event of war. After Brazil won its independence in 1822, the idea of an interior capital gained momentum when it was mandated in the Constitution that such a city would be built.

By 1892, a general location for the federal district had been chosen. However, it would take until the 1950s for significant efforts to be made to move the capital from Rio de Janeiro. The mid 20th century was an era marked by the "developmentalist" movement in Latin America, which held that development directed by the state would be the primary method by which to increase economic growth in under-developed nations (Holston). Building a new capital was not only a way to direct development into the interior, but to provide an economic and development example for the entire nation to follow.

Final site selection occurred in 1954, with Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer named as director of architecture. The design of the city itself was authored by Lucio Costa, another Brazilian architect whose plan won in a 1956 competition. Both architects' design aesthetic were based on Modernism, and both had worked with Le Corbusier, who is well known for his Modernist designs and urban planning theories. The resulting design has been called the "most complete example ever constructed of the architectural and planning tenets" of CIAM, the International Congresses of Modern Architecture (Holston), and the "quintessential experiment in high Modernist capital city design" (Gordon). The plan centers on two primary axes with segregated land uses defining each axis. Echoes of monumental vistas apparent in earlier capital designs are present, but interpreted through the Modernist sensibilities of the time.

Brasilia Pilot Plan by Lucio Costa, 1960. Retrieved from the Center for Research and Documentation on the Contemporary History of Brazil (CPDOC).

The core city is marked by its expansive green space and devotion of acreage to automobile traffic. Costa originally conceived of a city unencumbered by traffic signals; with limited access expressways providing rapid transportation to all destinations. Unlike the Le Corbusier example of tall skyscrapers surrounded by open space, Costa designed the city at relatively low densities, advocating superblocks of buildings generally no higher than six stories. Egalitarian ideals were suggested with conformity of design among the residential structures, no matter the social class.

However, like the planned capital cities preceding it, planning ideals faced challenges when the federal district attracted high rates of population growth. The core city became an underdeveloped and expensive area, while dense, lower income satellite towns surrounded it, growing in a more organic, haphazard manner.

The intentions behind the plan for Brasilia have been called utopian, but the end result has been the implementation of a core city that adheres strongly to the principles of the era in which it was conceived, and a mostly unplanned expanse of urbanization around it. In response, the design has been revisited and regional planning has been introduced in an attempt to connect what has become a segregated core city to the remainder of the metropolitan area.

Aerial of Brasilia, Brazil. While the city is at full build-out, areas immediately adjacent remain under-developed. In the meantime, unplanned satellite cities surround Brasilia with higher density and lower income homes. Retrieved from Google Maps.

source: http://www.museumofthecity.org

New Delhi, India.

New Delhi

New Delhi differs from the other cities presented in this exhibit in that the capital city was not founded by an independent nation. Rather, the city was built by the British, who desired a capital more centrally located in their vast Indian Empire holdings, as civil unrest in the empire made the existing government center in Calcutta appear inadequate. Still, the site chosen, adjacent to centuries-old Delhi, had precedent as a place of Indian royalty. Further, the region had also been the seat of former Muslim dynasties, so there was potential for gaining the favor of a variety groups by choosing this location.

In 1911, the capital relocation was formally announced, and British architect Edwin Lutyens was given the planning position. By his side was architect Herbert Baker. Together, they designed a plan not far removed from Versailles and Washington, DC, with numerous diagonals and wide avenues connecting important sites.The viceroy's palace was placed at the focal point of the plan, which was a purposeful reinforcement of the colonizing power. In fact, there are sources that claim it is the largest residence for a head of state in the world.

The plan for New Delhi, India, as designed by Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker. Retrieved from Cornell University Library

Construction of the capital city's structures and infrastructure began almost immediately after the plan was announced. In 1931, the city was inaugurated. Scarcely 16 years later, India became an independent nation, and the viceroy's palace now became a new symbol for a democratically elected president.

The people of India removed most monuments and statues devoted to their previous British rulers and reappropriated the capital city as their own. Perhaps this transition was made easier because the architecture of the most significant buildings, the Rashtrapati Bhavan (the former viceroy's palace) and the Secretariat (home to high level government offices) merged neoclassical elements with distinct Indian architectural motifs. These include the chhajja, a roof overhang; jaalis, latticed screen or stone; and chhatris, which are open air domed pavilions. The shape of the central domes in the buildings, too, combine western and Indian architectural styles.

New Delhi is unique amongst the capital cities exhibited here in that it was sited adjacent to a large existing city. Originally, plans were made to extend a grand axis north into the old city, to establish connections between old and new. However, this was never implemented.

Other facets of the design have presented issues in the city and fast-growing surrounding metropolitan area. From the beginning, social stratification was built into the plan, with higher class residences built in the center of the city, and progressively lower class residences fanning outward. Borrowing heavily from the Garden City movement, density was extremely low, and, with few exceptions, these densities have remain enforced to this day. Given the extreme growth outside of the the core city, this has led New Delhi to "[remain] almost a sleepy suburb right at the core of a large and growing metropolitan area bustling at its fringes." (Gordon).

Consequently, this has led to significant pressure to redevelop and increase density in the center of the city. Opposing this have been preservationists that seek to safeguard the unique design and character of New Delhi.

source: http://www.museumofthecity.org

Washington, DC.

Washington.

Written into the Constitution of the United States (1787) was the authority to establish a federal district for the new nation. New York City had most recently been serving as the capital, with other large cities interested in procuring the role. The fairest solution appeared to be establishing a new federal district and city so that no single state or city would have to be favoured over another.

A predicament arose regarding where to place the capital in a nation already showing sharp divisions between north and south. Southern states had mostly paid off their debt accumulated during the Revolutionary War, while northern states had not. The northern states were interested in the new federal government assuming their remaining debt, which the south opposed. A compromise was reached when the south agreed to have the federal government assume the northern states' debt in return for a federal district located further south.

In the end, the specific site was chosen by George Washington, the nation's first president, and land was ceded by the states of Maryland and Virginia for the new federal district in 1791. The same year, Washington appointed Pierre Charles L'Enfant as the designer of the new city. L'Enfant was a French-born architect, and had fought in the Revolutionary War.

L'Enfant's design carried forward the Baroque patterns found at Versaille and St. Petersburg, only on a far larger scale. All of the key elements of Baroque planning were integrated here: Monumental axes, attention to terrain and vistas and generous space allowed for streets and green space. Although Baroque design was conceived within the realms of monarchs and autocrats, it was readily appropriated to celebrate and highlight the visibility of democratic institutions. http://www.museumofthecity.org

While L'Enfant's plan provided the framework for Washington, there was no strong hand dictating how growth should occur within the city. Thus, development was haphazard and unorganized. This became a point of contention with L'Enfant, who was dismissed from his post shortly after the city had been established. Replacing him was Andrew Ellicott, a surveyor who had worked alongside L'Enfant. For all intents and purposes, adherence to L'Enfant's street plan continued under Ellicott's direction.

L'Enfant's plan of Washington, DC. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Other cities presented in this exhibit had strong guidance over the character of the buildings within the core, with little to no regulation over construction in rapidly expanding metropolitan areas around them. Washington's case was different. The plan was spacious enough to account for population growth within its boundaries for several decades. However, little control was taken to guide the aesthetics and character of the growth. This led to Charles Dickens' observing in 1842, that the city contained "spacious avenues that begin in nothing and lead nowhere; streets a mile long that only want houses, roads and inhabitants; public buildings that need only a public to be complete, and ornaments of great thoroughfares that need only great thoroughfares to ornament." (Mumford).

By the turn of the 20th century, many parts of the plan had yet to be implemented. Due to a new interest in city planning engendered by the City Beautiful movement, there was momentum for revisiting and reimagining the monumental core of the city. Under a 1902 plan named for Senator James McMillan, who was chair of the Senate Committee for the District of Columbia (the name of the federal district), emphasis was placed on the Mall, a linear green space. This led to razing of lower quality structures built in the area, to be replaced with monumental architecture in the mold of City Beautiful.

The McMillan Plan for Washington, DC. Drawing from the City Beautiful movement, the plan emphasized development along the National Mall.

Aerial photograph of Washington, DC. 

source: http://www.museumofthecity.org

Anthroposophy

Walter Burley Griffin, the designer of Canberra, was more than a very talented architect. He was also an advocate of alternative religion. Can hidden esoteric principles can be traced in his work?

See link below to transcript of Compass: Beyond Architecture
http://www.abc.net.au/compass/s1089982.htm


Anthroposophy, a philosophy founded by Rudolf Steiner, postulates the existence of an objective, intellectually comprehensible spiritual world accessible to direct experience through inner development. More specifically, it aims to develop faculties of perceptive imagination, inspiration and intuition through cultivating a form of thinking independent of sensory experience,and to present the results thus derived in a manner subject to rational verification. In its investigations of the spiritual world, anthroposophy aims to attain the precision and clarity attained by the natural sciences in their investigations of the physical world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthroposophy


The Griffins were designing and planning cities with a holistic approach; the ideal city in which spirituality is inextricable linked with the urban landscape and the built form. As described in the definition above, this type of spirituality was an investigation into the natural sciences.

from Compass: Beyond Architecture

NARR:

Using Marion Burley Griffin’s original drawings as evidence, Professor Proudfoot concluded that the plans were based on sacred crystals and the principles of sacred geometry or geomancy including the Chinese version known as feng shui. This all served to carefully place buildings , roads and objects in the landscape

Graham Pont:

Now if you look at what you've done there, and on this smaller drawing I've marked it a bit more heavily, you've got that red circle, what you might call the generative or fundamental circle of Canberra. The two axis crossing. That resultant symbol or diagram or mandala is no other than the Egyptian hieroglyph for a city or a town. And I think that's fantastic.

They saw architecture as a kind of supreme art, as a cosmic art.
They were dealing with a particular kind of client. I think that if they had exposed their philosophical background they would have lost control of the project even more quickly than they did.

James Weirick:
I think unfortunately the esoteric interpretation of the Griffin plan correlates with the idea that in fact Canberra is a secret world. That the inner chambers are places which we will never get to. So I think that the Griffins were totally opposed to those views, and the fact that Canberra has been built in denial of their values its fundamental problem.


Jillian Roe:
They were not just building houses and suburbs. They were building a new world with new people in it, who had whole new spiritual insights.
They didn't perhaps get very far, but in that idealistic sense we can understand their hopes.

Jillian Roe:
What we do know is that Marian took to anthroposophy with great enthusiasm. She joined the Society in 1930 and Walter shortly after. And somehow or other it chimed into their environmental attitudes.
The notion that there was harmony between the natural and the human world. And that the human beings could, along with the natural world, evolve. It was all one life.


Graham Pont:
They wanted to create an ideal work of art for an idealised or improved society. Philosophically that's impeccable

WBG: struggles to implementation

Excerpts from 'The Griffins in Australia and India' by Jeff Turnbull and Peter Y. Navaretti

For seven years, Walter Burley Griffin enjoyed the title of Federal Capital Director of Design and Construction; but he never managed to control the process of designing and building Australia's capital city. Instead of supporting Griffin's design the officers of governement departments exposed its weaknesses in the Public Works Committee (PWC) of the federal parliament and frustrated work on the ground in Canberra. The officers were unable to put aside their own plan in favour of Griffin's.
http://www.naa.gov.au/about-us/publications/fact-sheets/fs95.aspx

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)

Lost Drawing Found

The Griffin Legacy

"I have planned a city not like any other city in the world...i have planned an ideal city - a city that meets my ideal of the city of the future".
Walter Burley Griffin, July 1912

http://www.nationalcapital.gov.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=374&Itemid=267

WBG: An 'Accidental' Australian

Australia, and visions of it's future capital, Canberra, entered Walter Burly Griffin's thinking at least a decade before he would ever step foot on it's shores. News of the Federation movement coalescing in the distant antipodes captured his attention in 1896, while he was still a student at the University of Illinois, at Urbana - Champaign (1895-99). Convinced that a new capital city was an inevitable necessity, Griffin, his father recollected 'then decided to build it'. About five years later, on 2 January 1901, the Chicago Tribune reported that a 'new era in Australia' had begun with the inauguration of the Commonwealth. With Federation the likely catalyst, and in anticipation of a design competition, the recently graduated (1899) designer began an earnest interest and study of town planning.

Remarkably, as envisaged, a competition for the new federal capital was finally announced in 1911.

by Christopher Vernon: published in 'The Griffin's in Australia and India'

http://intrinsecoyespectorante.blogspot.com/2011/03/arquitectos-que-cambiaron-el-mundo.html

Canberra's Timeline

from CanberraHistory.org

From 1820

The first European settler in the Canberra district is thought to have been Joshua John Moore. The land he took over covered the present Canberra city centre. Moore called his station after the name given by the Ngunnawal people who had occupied the district for millennia. The newcomers wrote the name as 'Canberry’ or ‘Kamberry’.

As explorers, drovers and pastoralists came to the Canberra district from the 1820s water sources were taken over for sheep, horses and cattle and their traditional lands taken from the Ngunnawal, Walgalu and Ngarigo.

1820

On 7 December Charles Throsby Smith, Joseph Wild and James Vaughan become the first Europeans to visit the Limestone Plains. They were searching for the Murrumbidgee River (the 'Big River') but after climbing Black Mountain they returned home.

1823

On 1 June Captain Mark Currie and his exploration party pass through Tuggeranong which he calls Isabella's Plain after the daughter of Governor Brisbane. He goes on to discover the Monaro.

1825

James Ainslie arrives on the Limestone Plains with a flock of sheep owned by Robert Campbell. Campbell is granted the land as compensation for a lost cargo ship and, by 1833, builds a homestead on the property which he calls 'Duntroon'.

1828
The 'Terror of Argyle', the bushranger John Tennant, is captured by James Ainslie and two others near the Murrumbidgee River in Tuggeranong. Tennant had been a convict assigned to Moore at Canberry. Mt Tennant, behind Tharwa, is named after him.

No official records exist of the number of Indigenous people in the Canberra area. William Davis Wright, an early settler, spoke of a tribe between 400 and 500 at the time of European settlement. The 1828 census showed 21 white inhabitants living in Canberra and 15 in Ginninderra.

1845

On 12 March St John the Baptist Anglican Church was consecrated by Bishop Broughton.

1863

The Canberra Post Office was established with local school teacher, Andrew Wotherspoon becoming the first postmaster. There was already a post office at Ginninderra (1859) and at Lanyon (1860).

1887

The railway service to Queanbeyan commenced.

1895

Tharwa Bridge, the first bridge in this district across the Murrumbidgee River, was opened on 27 March by Elizabeth McKeahnie.

1899

January
A meeting of colonial premiers decides that the new Federal capital should be within New South Wales but not less than one hundred miles from Sydney.

November
The New South Wales government issues a Royal Commission to Alexander Oliver to report on 45 sites proposed even before the Commonwealth was born.

1900

11 June
The Oliver Royal Commission on sites for the proposed Federal capital takes evidence at Queanbeyan in support of the Canberra area. Speakers include John Gale, Dr. Patrick Blackall, William Farrer and prominent local pastoralists such as Frederick Campbell of Yarralumla, Andrew Cunningham from Lanyon, William Davis Wright, Samson Southwell and John Fitzgerald.

9 July
The Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 was enacted. Section 125 of the Constitution provided for a site for a capital city in New South Wales, but at least 100 miles from Sydney. The Constitution also provided that, like Washington, the territory for the new capital would have a minimum area of 100 square miles. Immediately the Constitution became law, debate about the site began in earnest.

October
The Oliver Royal Commission report recommends the Bombala-Eden district as the Federal capital site.

1901
1 January
The inauguration of the Federation of the six Australian colonies was the birthday of the Australian nation.

1902
December 
William Lyne, Minister for Home Affairs in Edmund Barton’s Government, set up a Capital Sites Enquiry Board that became a Commission the following year. Earlier in 1902 he had arranged train tours by parliamentarians to review possible locations.


1903
July
The report of the Capital Sites Enquiry Commissioners on nine nominated sites favoured Albury or Tumut.

October 
After William Lyne introduced a Seat of Government Bill the House of Representatives held a ballot to decide on a site, with Tumut the winner. When the Bill went to the Senate, the Bill was amended in favour of Bombala. The Bill was then stalled when Parliament ended for the Federal election on 16 December.

1904
The first Seat of Government Act nominated a large area at Dalgety as the site for the Federal capital but Parliament continued to debate the issue without reaching agreement.

1906
Parliamentarians examined the Yass-Canberra district as a possible site for the Federal capital.

1907
June 
A number of parliamentarians, including the acting Prime Minister Sir John Forrest and former Prime Minister J.C. Watson, visit Canberra. Forrest reported to Parliament his preference for Dalgety over Canberra.

July
Former Prime Ministers George Reid and J.C. Watson speak strongly in favour of Canberra in Parliament. John Gale's paper, Dalgety or Canberra: Which?, is read at a public meeting in Queanbeyan and later published as a pamphlet and distributed to parliamentarians.

1908
October 
Yass-Canberra won a House of Representatives ballot on preferred sites for the national capital. In November the Senate then held another ballot, with Tumut and Yass–Canberra tied for first place. Senator James McColl, who had nominated Tumut, then switched his vote and the Yass-Canberra area became the preferred site of both houses of Parliament.

December
The Government of Andrew Fisher repealed the 1904 Seat of Government Act and enacted legislation approving a Yass–Canberra site for the national capital. Minister for Home Affairs, Hugh Mahon appointed NSW Government Surveyor Charles Scrivener to identify and survey the site for the city. Scrivener surveyed the site ‘in an amphitheatre of hills with an outlook towards the north and north-east’ and noted the Molonglo River floodplain could form a central ornamental lake.

1909
March
Charles Scrivener establishes a camp on the slopes of Kurrajong Hill (Capital Hill) to begin his preliminary survey of the Canberra site. Scrivener presented his report on Canberra as the site for the national capital in May 1909.

18 October
Prime Minister Alfred Deakin and New South Wales Premier Charles Wade signed an ‘agreement of surrender of territory to the Commonwealth’ based on Scrivener's recommended site.

13 December
The Commonwealth Seat of Government Acceptance Act 1909 was enacted when Governor-General Lord Dudley signed his assent.

14 December
The New South Wales Government enacted the Seat of Government Surrender Act 1909 enabling the transfer of the site for the Federal Capital Territory – the day after the Commonwealth had accepted the land.

1910
January
Scrivener established his survey camp below Kurrajong Hill (Capital Hill). He was joined by surveyors Percival, Sheaffe and Martin. On 31 January the Minister for Home Affairs George Fuller arrived to officially begin the contour survey.

April
The Seat of Government (Administration) Act was passed which provided a legal framework for the administration of the ‘Territory for the Seat of Government’. The Act authorised the continued use of New South Wales law as well as ordinances approved by the Governor-General and Parliament.

June
Percy Sheaffe begins the survey of the Territory's border at Mt. Coree, moving in a straight line to One Tree Hill near Hall.

1911
1 January
The 'Territory for the Seat of Government' was established as an area of 2,360 square kilometres in the Yass-Canberra district occupied by 1,714 non-Indigenous people on pastoral properties grazing some 224,764 sheep. Additional land at Jervis Bay as a seaport for the proposed national capital city was included in the new Territory.

As a consequence of the creation of the Territory the residents are stripped of the franchise. They do not regain full voting rights at the Federal level until 1966, nor representation at the local level until the granting of self-government in 1989.

24 May
The Federal Capital Design Competition was opened.

On 27 June the Royal Military College at Duntroon was officially opened by the Governor-General, Lord Dudley. RMC was the first Commonwealth facility in the new capital.

1912
US architects Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahoney Griffin were announced the winners of the competition to design the national capital.

After criticism of the winning design King O'Malley, Minister for Home Affairs in the Fisher Government, referred the three top entries in the competition to a Departmental Board and an amalgamated design was prepared.

1913
12 March 1913
Canberra’s founding ceremony was held on Capital Hill. Governor-General Lord Denman, Prime Minister Andrew Fisher, and Minister for Home Affairs King O’Malley laid the foundation stones for a ‘Commencement Column’ and Lady Denman announced the name chosen for the city. (For more information on the ceremony, refer to the CDHS booklet 'Canberra' produced for Canberra Day 2001).

1914
A further area of land at Jervis Bay was added to the Federal Capital Territory amid speculation about development there of 'Pacific City' as a seaport for Canberra.

1915
3 September 
The funeral takes place of Major General Sir William Bridges, commander of the first AIF and founding commandant of RMC, Duntroon who was killed on Gallipoli. Bridges is buried on the slopes of Mt. Pleasant. His grave is the only Walter Burley Griffin designed edifice in Canberra.

1918
The Molonglo Internment Camp is built to house German nationals. After the war it is used as accommodation for workers and their families. It later becomes the industrial suburb of Fyshwick.

December 
Plans to establish an arsenal and township of 10 000 people at Tuggeranong are put on hold due to the end of World War 1.

1921
31 December 
Prime Minister Billy Hughes removed Walter Burley Griffin from his position directing the construction of Canberra.

1924 
The first sale of leases in the Territory occurs on 12 December. J.B Young Ltd buys the first site on Giles Street, Eastlake (now Kingston).

1925
The Federal Capital Commission began operations on 1 January. The FCC was charged with developing Canberra to allow the transfer of public servants and Parliament by 1927.

1927
The Territory Police Force was established, headed by Major Harold.E Jones.
Records show registration of 373 cars, 60 trucks, 55 motorcycles and 520 people licensed to drive.

9 May
The ceremonial opening of Parliament in Canberra’s provisional Parliament House. As well as the Parliament House, The Lodge and Government House were completed as residences for the Prime Minister and the Governor-General, and the Hotel Canberra, and the Kurrajong Hotel housed parliamentarians.

3 December
The Prime Minister, Stanley Bruce, officially opened Canberra's city centre. Despite Bruce's opposition to the name, Walter Burley Griffin's appellation 'Civic Centre' or just 'Civic' is commonly adopted by Canberrans.

1928
Prohibition on the sale of liquor is lifted.

1930
An Advisory Council was established to administer the capital.

1931
The Manuka Pool opens in January. The Federal Highway linking Canberra to Collector and Goulburn in New South Wales was completed. The road was built as an unemployment relief work during the Depression, when Canberra’s population remained around 7 000. Radio 2CA commences broadcasting from a shop in Kingston.

1934
On 1 January the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory was established as a superior court of record. Until then the High Court of Australia had jurisdiction over the Territory. The Supreme Court first met at Acton House in February 1934.

1936
Air services to and from Canberra began. Planes landed on an airfield built near Duntroon.

1938
The Federal Capital Territory, as it is popularly but not legislatively known, is renamed as the Australian Capital Territory with effect on 29 July.

1939
January
Canberra endures a record hot spell including 8 consecutive days of temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Bushfires burn large areas west of the Murrumbidgee and threaten Mount Stromlo. Canberra hosts the jubilee congress of ANZAAS with guest speaker H.G. Wells.

September
The population of Canberra was 10 000 when Prime Minister Robert Menzies declared Australia at war with Germany. A rapid expansion occurred with some 3 000 public service families brought to Canberra as well as military personnel. With Australia developing direct diplomatic relations with foreign countries, there was also an influx of diplomatic staff.

1940
13 August
In the ‘Canberra air disaster’ the chief military officer and three senior ministers in the Menzies Government were killed when their aeroplane crashed on the southern approach to Canberra. The air base at Canberra was later renamed RAAF Base Fairbairn after the Minister for Air, J.V. Fairbairn, who died in the crash.

1942
February
After Japanese planes bombed Darwin the Royal Australian Air Force base at Fairbairn was upgraded to provide anti-submarine patrols off the eastern coast. With Japanese forces occupying islands to the north of Australia, three Royal Dutch Air Force squadrons were moved to Canberra from their bases there.


1954 
February
Queen Elizabeth II becomes the first reigning monarch to visit Australia. As well as opening Parliament she unveils the Australian-American Memorial at Russell. Her visit highlighted the ceremonial role of Canberra as the national capital.

November
With Canberra’s population 39 000, a Senate Select Committee chaired by Senator John McCallum begins hearings on the development of Canberra. Its recommendations led to the establishment of the National Capital Development Commission to implement a coordinated plan.

1957
The National Capital Development Commission (NCDC) is established in October by an Act of Parliament. It began operations in 1958 under Commissioner John Overall. The NCDC assumes responsibility for the planning and development of Canberra including Lake Burley Griffin, Parliament House and the new towns of Woden Valley, Weston Creek, Belconnen, Tuggeranong and Gungahlin.

1960
25 February
Australia signed an agreement with the USA allowing them to establish satellite tracking stations in the Australian Capital Territory, at Orroral Creek, Honeysuckle Creek and Tidbinbilla. In July 1969 Honeysuckle Creek transmitted to the world the first images and words of Neil Armstrong from the Moon.

1962
Kings Avenue bridge becomes the first permanent crossing over the future lake.

1963
6 March
The Monaro Mall is opened in Civic by Prime Minister, Robert Menzies. It was the first fully air-conditioned shopping mall in Australia.

9 May
The Supreme Court of the ACT sits for the first time in the newly constructed Law Courts Building in Civic.

30 November
The Albert Hall hosts the first televised broadcast of the National Tally Room for the Federal Election.

1964
The restored Blundells Cottage is handed over to the Canberra and District Historical Society on 12 March 1964 to operate as a museum. Lake Burley Griffin was officially opened in October by Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies. A key part of the Griffins’ design for Canberra, the Lake was formed by damming the Molonglo River. The first of a series of new towns, planned by the National Capital Development Commission, was opened at Woden, south-west of Canberra, with an exposition held in Hughes on 9 May.

1965
The Royal Australian Mint was opened by the Duke of Edinburgh in February. He started a machine that produced one-cent coins. Anzac Parade officially opened on 25 April to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landing at Gallipoli. The Canberra Theatre opened in June.

1966
The second of the new towns planned for Canberra was inaugurated at Belconnen on 23 June. Early designs allowed for 120 000 residents.

1967
The population of Canberra reached 100,000.

1968
The neo-classical National Library, designed by Walter Bunning, is opened in August.  The foundation stone for the Canberra College of Advanced Education is dedicated by Prime Minister John Gorton on 28 October.

1971
A severe thunderstorm over Woden Valley on 26 January causes flash floods on Yarra Glen where seven people drown.

1972
On Australia Day, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy was established on the front lawns of Old Parliament House. The Woden Plaza was opened on 18 September by the Prime Minister, William McMahon.

1973
The third of the new towns planned for Canberra was inaugurated at Tuggeranong on 21 February. It was originally planned to house between 180 000 to 220 000 people.

1974
The ACT Advisory Council, established in 1930, became an elected Legislative Assembly, advising the Department of the Capital Territory.

5 August
The Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory were each allocated two Senate seats, expanding the Senate to 64 seats.

1977
The National Athletics Stadium is completed in time for the Pan Pacific Conference Games. It is later known as Bruce Stadium and then Canberra Stadium.

1978
The Belconnen Mall was opened in February. A referendum on 25 November resulted in ACT residents rejecting a proposal for Self-Government, with 63% of Canberrans voting for no change to the then arrangements.

1979
The 1974 Legislative Assembly became a House of Assembly, dissolved in 1986 prior to the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988, which established a Legislative Assembly with full powers to make laws for the ACT. This met for the first time in May 1989.

19 October 
The Australian Federal Police force was formed by combining the Commonwealth Police, the Australian Capital Territory Police, and the Federal Narcotics Bureau.

1980
May
A large telecommunications tower (later known as Telstra Tower) was opened on Black Mountain on 15 May by the Prime Minister. Complete with viewing platforms and a revolving restaurant, the construction of the tower had caused many arguments and protests, when it was first proposed by the Postmaster-General's Department to crown Black Mountain with a 195-metre concrete structure.  The High Court of Australia opened on 26 May.

26 June
The architectural firm of Mitchell, Giurgola and Thorp win the design competition for the new Parliament House.

18 September
The first sod is turned for the new Parliament House.

1981
Construction begins on the Australian Defence Force Academy on a site adjacent to the Royal Military College, Duntroon. On 26 January the Australian Institute of Sport was officially opened by Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser. The original eight sports were basketball, gymnastics, netball, soccer, swimming, tennis, track and field, and weight-lifting.

1986
Canberra's population reaches 250 000

1988
The Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988 established a Legislative Assembly with full powers to make laws for the ACT.

9 May
The new Parliament House, constructed on Capital Hill, was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II.

1989
31 January
The National Capital Authority replaced the National Capital Development Commission.

4 March 
The first ACT Legislative Assembly elections are held using the modified d’Hondt electoral system with over 100 hundred candidates. Five members are elected from the ALP, four from the Liberal Party, four from the Residents Rally, three from the No Self Government Party and one member of the Abolish Self-Government Coalition.

11 May 
Following the granting of self government, the new ACT Legislative Assembly met for the first time. Rosemary Follett (ALP) was elected Chief Minister.

1992
The second election for the ACT Legislative Assembly is held in February as well as a referendum which changed the electoral system to the Hare-Clark system as of 1995. The ALP wins eight of the 17 seats and Rosemary Follett remains as Chief Minister.

2001
8 March
The National Museum of Australia opens.

2003
On 18 January, a state of emergency was declared as bushfires from New South Wales moved into Canberra's south-west and northern suburbs. Four people were killed and more than 500 buildings were destroyed including houses in Weston Creek, Tuggeranong and Woden Valley. Thousands of hectares of forest and parkland were burnt out. Canberra became the first jurisdiction in Australia to introduce a plan to phase out smoking in clubs, pubs and licensed venues.

2004
The Parliament of ACT became the first jurisdiction in Australia to introduce a bill of rights (Human Rights Act 2000) to help to protect freedom of expression, religion and movement.

May
The winners of the Canberra International Arboretum competition were announced as Taylor Cullity Lethlean Landscape Architects, in conjunction with Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architects. Their design concept was for 100 Forests 100 Gardens.

October
The ALP becomes the first majority government in the history of the ACT Legislative Assembly when they win nine seats in the election. Jon Stanhope (ALP) is re-elected as Chief Minister. The Mount Stromlo Observatory, which was devastated by the 2003 Canberra bushfires, officially reopened to the public with an Open Day on 30 October.

2008
18 October The ACT Legislative Assembly election resulted in the ALP winning seven seats, the Liberal Party six seats and the Greens four seats. Jon Stanhope (ALP) is again elected Chief Minister.

2011

CAPIThetiCAL

2013

The ACT's Centenary.