Canberra is the capital city of Australia, although Sydney is the country’s largest city by population.
Australia created Canberra as a purpose-built national capital after Federation in 1901. The site was selected in the southeastern part of the country, between Sydney and Melbourne, partly to settle the rivalry between those two major cities. Construction followed an international design competition won by Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin.
Canberra became the seat of the federal government in 1913, and the provisional Parliament House opened there in 1927. The city is in the Australian Capital Territory, an enclave within New South Wales. Sydney is Australia’s largest city and Melbourne is another major cultural and economic centre, but neither is the national capital. Canberra’s planned layout includes broad avenues, formal governmental areas and Lake Burley Griffin.