Parliament
House is the name given to two purpose-built
buildings in Canberra, the capital
of Australia, where the Parliament
of Australia has met since 1927. In
1901, when the six British colonies
in Australia federated to form the
Commonwealth 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. Parliament House
MelbourneIn 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 control
over 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, at the
request of the Victorian State Parliament,
who met in the nearby Royal Exhibition
Building for 26 years.
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