 The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and its smallest self-governing internal territory. It is an inland enclave in New South Wales, situated in bushland.
The ACT was conceived during the federation conventions of the late 1800s as neutral location for a new National Capital. The Australian Constitution provided that following Federation in 1901, land would be ceded to the new Federal Government. The Territory was transferred to the Commonwealth by the state of New South Wales in 1911, and construction of the capital, Canberra, began in 1913. The floral emblem of the ACT is the Royal Bluebell and the faunal emblem is the Gang-gang cockatoo.
Before European settlement the area now known as the ACT was inhabited by three Aboriginal tribes: the Ngunnawal, Walgalu, and Ngarigo. White exploration and settlement did not occur until the 1820s. From 1824 onwards, settlements and homesteads, and ultimately some small townships such as Hall and Tharwa, were established in the area. One homestead of special historical interest was Lambrigg, near Tharwa. This was the place in which William Farrer developed the rust-resistant Federation wheat strain that had a major beneficial effect on Australia's wheat industry. Farrer died at Lambrigg in 1906. 
When the constitution for the Commonwealth of Australia was being negotiated between the colonies, a point of contention between the colonies was the location of the national capital, with both Melbourne and Sydney claiming the right to be the capital. A compromise was reached whereby a separate capital city would be created in New South Wales, provided it was no closer than 100 miles (160 km) to Sydney. Until such time as the new city was established, Melbourne was to be the temporary capital of Australia. The present site was chosen in 1908, with additional territory at Jervis Bay (now a naval base on the NSW coast) allocated so the national capital could have a seaport. In 1909 New South Wales transferred the land for the territory to federal control and in 1910 an act of parliament created the legal framework for the territory. The Minister for Home Affairs, King O'Malley, who had charge of the legislation creating the ACT, also proposed a bill making the ACT an alcohol-free area. With his strong support, the bill became law later that year, though it was shortly thereafter repealed. O'Malley also pushed for a form of land tenure that restricted land holders to leasehold, rather than freehold, on the basis that this would stop land speculation and give the national government, as the lessor, more control over development. This too was adopted by the national Parliament. As of 2006 all land in the ACT is held on 99 year crown leases. In 1911 an international competition was held; the winner, who would design and name Canberra, was American architect Walter Burley Griffin. The official naming of Canberra and its official construction began on March 12, 1913. The seat of the Federal Government officially moved to the ACT from Melbourne on the formal opening of the Provisional Parliament House on 9 May 1927. Among the first acts passed by the parliament in its new location was the repealing of the prohibition laws. At first the public service continued to be based in Melbourne, but the various departments were gradually moved to Canberra over many years. The territory was initially known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). In 1938, the territory was formally renamed the Australian Capital Territory. In a 1978 referendum, Canberrans rejected self-government by 63% of the vote. Despite this, in December 1988, the ACT was granted full self-government through an Act of the Commonwealth Parliament that made the ACT a body politic under the crown. Following the first elections in February 1989, a 17-member Legislative Assembly sat at its offices in London Circuit, Civic, on May 11, 1989. The Australian Labor Party formed the ACT's first government, led by the Chief Minister Rosemary Follett, who made history as Australia's first female head of government. |
