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In 1901, when the six British colonies in Australia federated to form the Commmonwealth of Australia, Melbourne and Sydney were the two largest cities in the country. But the long history of rivalry between them meant that neither could become the national capital. Section 125 of the Constitution of Australia therefore provided that:
The seat of Government of the Commonwealth shall be determined by the Parliament, and shall be within territory which shall have been granted to or acquired by the Commonwealth, and shall be vested in and belong to the Commonwealth, and shall be in the State of New South Wales, and be distant not less than one hundred miles from Sydney.
Such territory shall contain an area of not less than one hundred square miles, and such portion thereof as shall consist of Crown lands shall be granted to the Commonwealth without any payment therefor. The Parliament shall sit at Melbourne until it meet at the seat of Government.
In 1909, after much argument, the Parliament decided that the new capital would be on the site which is now Canberra, in southern New South Wales. The Commonwealth acquired the land in 1911, but World War I intervened, and nothing was done for some years to build the city. Federal Parliament did not leave Melbourne until 1927.
In the meantime Parliament met in the 19th century edifice of Parliament House, Melbourne, much to the annoyance of the Victorian state Parliament, who were banished to the nearby Royal Exhibition Building for 26 years. Begun in 1853 and ready for occupancy (though not actually finished) in 1856, it was built at the height of the gold rushFor the Neil Young album evoking this phrase, see After the Gold Rush. A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers into the area of a dramatic discovery of commercial quantities of gold. Gold rushes became a feature of 19th-century culture. when Victoria was awash with money, and was one of the finest public buildings in the British EmpireThe British Empire in the early decades of the 20th century, held sway over a population of 400 500 million people (roughly a quarter of the world's population), and covered nearly 30 million square kilometres, (roughly two-fifths of the world's land area.
After World War I the Federal Capital Advisory Committee was established to get Canberra ready to be the seat of government, including the construction of a Parliament House. The committee decided that it would be best to erect a "provisional" building, to serve until a new, "permanent" House could be built. The government architect, John Smith Murdoch, therefore produced a fairly plain classical design. The general view has been that this gave the nation a building which was both functional and handsome, avoiding the grandiosity of some legislative buildings in other places.
Construction began in August 1923Centuries: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s Years: 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 Events January 1 Grouping of all UK railway companies into four larg and the building was ready for occupancy in May 1927. The interior of the House followed the same pattern of simple geometric designs and plain surfaces. The building cost about 600,000 pounds (1.2 million Australian dollars). The official opening was on 9 May, and the Duke of York, later King George VI officiated, accompanied by the Prime Minister, Stanley Bruce. Parliamentarians and public servants alike were not pleased at giving up the comforts of Melbourne for this remote, cold, dusty hamlet, particularly since alcohol was banned. (This ban was lifted soon after Parliament met in the new building).
This "provisional" House accommodated the Parliament for 61 years, and the city of Canberra grew up around it. By the 1960s the building was already too crowded, and the press in particular complained about their cramped quarters. A building designed to house 300 people was expected to cope with over 4,000. But successive governments blanched at the likely cost of building a new, much bigger Parliament House. There was also a prolonged battle over where to put a new House: either on the same site as the old one, or behind it on Capital Hill, which was where the original designer of Canberra, Walter Burley GriffinWalter Burley Griffin ( November 24, 1876 February 11, 1937), American architect, gained fame for his role in designing Canberra, Australia's capital city. Griffin was born in Maywood, in Chicago, Illinois, and obtained a degree in architecture in 1899., has intended it to be. The provisional Parliament House is now called Old Parliament House , and houses the Australian Constitutional Museum and the National Portrait Gallery.