Maps and Exploration

Australian Capital Territory

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory and is the territory's primate city. The Australian Capital Territory is located in southeastern Australia as an enclave surrounded by the state of New South Wales. The territory was excised from New South Wales in 1911 to serve as the seat of government for the Commonwealth, in accordance with Section 125 of the Australian Constitution. Today, the ACT hosts important institutions, such as the Parliament of Australia and High Court of Australia, as well as the headquarters of many federal departments and agencies. On 1 January 1901, the self-governing Australian colonies federated to form the Commonwealth of Australia. Section 125 of the Australian Constitution provided that a tract of land, situated in New South Wales and not less than 100 miles (160 km) from Sydney, would be ceded to the new federal government. Following discussion and exploration of various sites within New South Wales, the Seat of Government Act 1908 was passed in 1908, and specified a capital in the Yass-Canberra region. The territory was transferred to the federal government by New South Wales on 1 January 1911, and on 12 March 1913, the city of Canberra was officially proclaimed as the nation’s capital. Whilst the overwhelming majority of the territory’s population resides in the city of Canberra in the territory's north-east, the territory also includes smaller towns such as Williamsdale, Oaks Estate, Uriarra, Tharwa and Hall. The territory also includes the Namadgi National Park, which comprises the majority of land within the territory. Although a common misconception, the Jervis Bay Territory is not part of the ACT; however, ACT laws apply in the Jervis Bay Territory. The territory has a relatively dry, continental climate, experiencing warm to hot summers and cool to cold winters. Among the states and territories of Australia, the Australian Capital Territory is the only one that is geographically landlocked. The territory is home to important political and governing institutions, as well as many monuments and museums.

Also on this shelf

See also

• ▸Ambassador Theater (Baltimore)
• ▸Hippocratic Corpus
• ▸BellTel Lofts

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Text from Wikipedia; plate via Wikimedia Commons. Text CC BY-SA 4.0; plate freely licensed (see Commons). Source record. Images and catalogue data are reproduced from open-access collections.