In 1899, all colonies except for Western Australia agreed upon a federal Constitution. The major issue which arose as a result of this decision was where should the federation's capital be, and where should the federal government be based?

The issue of where the federal capital was to be located involved a vigorous debate centred on Australia's two largest States, New South Wales and Victoria, for the capital was obviously going to be in one of these two. Naturally enough, both States were very keen to be home to the federal government, and both felt strongly that their respective capital would make the best choice. They both engaged in all sorts of ploys to win the support of the other States.

Eventually a compromise was agreed upon and written into the constitution. The new federal capital was to be within New South Wales, which satisfied that State, and it was to be at least 100 miles from Sydney, which pleased Victoria. It was further agreed that until the new capital was completed, the federal parliament was to sit in Melbourne.

This settled, it now had to be decided exactly which site in New South Wales was to be utilised. Once the Commonwealth of Australia was officially proclaimed in 1901, groups of the new federal parliamentarians inspected various potential sites. As many as 60 regional centres put themselves forward as potential capital material. A Royal Commission was set up to narrow the field. Alexander Oliver QC, the man appointed to head the Commission, came up with three particular sites. His most favoured site was one at Bombala, with Yass and Orange coming in joint second place.

The work had originally been commissioned by the State parliament of New South Wales. They then passed the findings onto Australia's first Prime Minister Sir Edmund Barton. Federal parliamentarians were not terribly impressed with the report's suggestions. So the search went on, with bills, ballots and inspections continuing. It was not until 1908 that the Seat of Government Act finally decided on the Yass-Canberra district.

Detailed surveys of the area commenced. Initially the area of the Territory was 900 square miles, extending south west across the Murrumbidgee and south east taking in the catchment areas of the Molonglo and Queanbeyan rivers. The New South Wales Government was unhappy about the extent of the south east acquisition of the ACT. And so changes were made to the proposed boundaries.

In 1910 the Seat of Government Administration Act adopted the NSW legislation as the laws of the new Territory. The exception to this was when the laws were superseded by commonwealth legislation.

Finally in 1911, the site of the new capital city was handed over to the Commonwealth. Concentration now focused on building the capital, a project which continued until 1927. In May of that year, the federal parliament met for the first time in Canberra.

In 1915 New South Wales handed over an area of Jervis Bay which was to become the ACT's port. It is here that you will find breathtaking cliffs at Steamers Beach and quite an extensive area of nature reserve. The Canberra Valley was a naturally treeless environment, but this was to be altered by an afforestation project which changed the face of the landscape considerably. Today the Territory has numerous natural attractions, including the Namadgi National Park and Gudgenby Nature Reserve, which both enhance a visit to the nation's capital.

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