Canberra was founded and formally named in 1913.
The city’s official naming took place on 12 March 1913, when Lady Denman announced “Canberra” at a ceremony on Kurrajong Hill, now called Capital Hill. Construction activity began that year, including the driving of the first survey peg by King O’Malley on 20 February.
The date is easy to confuse with 1901, when Australia became a federation, or 1911, when the Federal Capital Territory was created after New South Wales transferred land to the Commonwealth. Canberra was not yet the working capital in 1913: the federal Parliament remained in Melbourne while the planned city was built.
Canberra’s official capital role began in 1927, when Parliament moved into the Provisional Parliament House. The city was designed as a purpose-built national capital, based largely on the plan submitted by Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin.