The Australian Capital Territory is home to the national capital of Australia, Canberra. The region was part of New South Wales until 1911, when it was selected to be the site of the national capital after Federation in 1901. It sits more or less half way between Sydney and Melbourne.
Canberra is home to several national institutions including the National Archives and the National Library, which are critical to Australian genealogical research.
Research your ancestors on MyHeritage
Indigenous HistoryIndigenous History
The area now known as the ACT has been the home of the Ngunnawal (Ngunawal) and Ngambri people for more than 20,000 years.
Within the Ngunnawal tribe there are seven clans who lived in specific localities in the region:
- The Maloongoola lived in the Molongolo area. The Biyaligee lived in the Pialligo area.
- The Namitch (Namwitch) lived in the Namadgi area.
- The Cumbeyan lived in the Queanbeyan area.
- The Kanberri lived in the Belconnen area.
- The Toogoranoongh lived in Tuggeranong area.
- The Woolobaloah lived in the Yass area.[1]
Disposession and dislocation of indigenous people has fractured families. See Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander family history for more information about tracing your Indigenous family history.
European SettlementEuropean Settlement
The first recorded European settler in the area was Joshua John Moore, who built a homestead in 1823, at what is now the site of the National Museum of Australia in Acton. When he sought to purchase the land in December 1826, he referred to the location as ‘Canbery’, which was also the name of one of the local aboriginal tribes.
Robert Campbell, a wealthy Scottish merchant, was given a large land grant at Pialligo where he built a substantial residence, named Duntroon. This became a significant grazing property and remained in the Campbell family until it was taken over by the Commonwealth in 1910 as the site of the Royal Military College.
Frederick Campbell (a relative of the Campbell’s at Duntroon) purchased property called Yarralumla in 1881 and had a new residence built. Today this building is Government House, residence of the Governor-General of Australia.[2]
In 1901 the Australian colonies agreed to join forces in a Federation and became the Commonwealth of Australia. There was stiff competition between Sydney and Melbourne to host the new National Capital.
...On 1 January 1911 – exactly a decade after the Australian colonies became states in a Commonwealth – the Federal Capital Territory of 910 square miles (2 356 square kilometres) came into existence after legislation was passed by both the Commonwealth and New South Wales Parliaments.[3]
An international competition was held to design the new city. Walter Burley Griffin, an American architect, won the bid, although he acknowledged his wife, Marion Mahoney Griffin, was the true architect of the plan.
Mr. Griffin, the architect of Canberra, has declared in public that his wife is practically the planner and designer of all the works which have emanated [?] from their house. “My wife is the genius, I am only the businessman,” said Mr. Griffin, ‘News and Notes’ section of The West Australian newspaper, November 28, 1913[4]
Burley Griffin’s tenure was dogged by disputes with the bureaucracy and he was eventually fired from the project in 1921. Despite this, the man made lake at the centre of the city bears his name. Development of the city was subsequently directed by a Federal Capital Advisory Committee (FCAC), tasked with investigating the work already completed and advising the government on completing new works within Griffin’s plan[5].
By 1925, Canberra had been transformed from a construction camp site on a winding, picturesque river, to a small country town with aspirations to future greatness. It was the same year that the Federal Capital Commission (FCC – the successor to the FCAC) took over the Federal Capital project. …The following five hectic years witnessed: the completion and opening of the provisional Parliament House (now known as Old Parliament House) in 1927; [and] …the planning and building of large areas of housing according to the innovative designs of the FCC Architects Department…[5]
The Depression of the 1930s and WWII into the 1940s slowed down development. But in the 1950s, newly elected Prime Minister, Robert Menzies, returned to the project with renewed zeal. In 1958 the National Capital Development Commission (NCDC), led by John Overall, was established to make Canberra, in Menzies’ words, a ‘worthy capital’.
The most significant commitment secured from the Commonwealth Government by the NCDC was the decision to build Lake Burley Griffin and associated works such as Kings and Commonwealth Avenue Bridges. Opened in 1964, Lake Burley Griffin is the centrepiece of the Griffin Plan. Its development united North and South Canberra and established a distinctive image for the national capital. Other major buildings and national institutions complemented the Lake Burley Griffin initiative. The NCDC commissioned Civic Square (1961), ACT Law Courts (1963), Scrivener Dam (1963), the Royal Australian Mint (1964), Anzac Park offices (1964), Anzac Parade (1965), and the National Library of Australia (1968).[6]
The NCDC was also instrumental in the development of the New Parliament House, which opened during Australia’s bicentennial year, 1988.
In 1989, the ACT achieved self government and the NCDC was disbanded, with planning responsibilities divided between the National Capital Planning Authority (NCPA) and the Territory planning authority. Today Canberra is a small but creative centre of government activity, supporting close to half a million people in the ACT.
Genealogical Records for the ACTGenealogical Records for the ACT
The Australian Capital Territory did not begin to register Births, Deaths and Marriages until 1 Jan 1930. Prior to 1930, all ACT births, deaths and marriages were registered in NSW. Since Australian privacy legislation restricts indexing of historic birth certificates to more than 100 years, ACT birth certificate indexes will not be available to view until 2030. An index of Birth certificates registered before 1925 is available at the NSW Registry website.
Access Canberra holds a searchable index of historic Marriage and Death records.
You can request a death or marriage certificate online.
MyHeritage holds the following records for ACT
Canberra Cemeteries maintains a free, searchable index for burials from 1936 in the Gungahlin, Hall, Tharwa and Woden cemeteries. Typical information from this index is full given and surnames of the deceased, cemetery of burial including section and allotment number, date of death if known and date of burial. Norwood Park, has a searchable database of cremations from 1966
Trove holds OCR searchable archives of several ACT based publications including:
- Federal Capital Pioneer (Canberra, ACT : 1924 - 1926)
- The Good Neighbour (ACT : 1950 - 1969) - a monthly bulletin by the Department of Immigration
- The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995) - Canberra’s daily newspaper
Family History ACT (formerly Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra) is the local genealogy society for the region.
See Also:See Also:
References
- ↑ "Aboriginal History of the Canberra Region | Archives". archives.anu.edu.au.
- ↑ National Capital Authority - Early History of the ACT
- ↑ Australian Capital Territory - Early History of the ACT
- ↑ https://www.nca.gov.au/education/canberras-history/marion-mahony-griffin
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 National Capital Authority - Building Canberra (1958)
- ↑ National Capital Authority - Building Canberra (1958-1988)