Canberra Day in Australia (14/03)

Canberra Day — is a public holiday that has been held annually on the second Monday of March since 2007 (until 2007 it was held on the third Monday of March) and is accompanied by a cultural festival. Thus, Australians celebrate the day when the capital of the country received its name. For the Australian Capital Territory, AST. Australian Capital Territory, ACT) this day is a holiday.

For many years, the territory of the modern city was inhabited by Aboriginal tribes. Archaeological excavations indicate that Canberra was inhabited 21 thousand years ago. It is believed that the name «Canberra» came from the language of one of the local tribes — ngabri — as a variation of the word «kamber» or «kamberi» («meeting place»).

Europeans began to settle in the city in the 20s of the 19th century. The official beginning of mass settlements can be considered 1826. It was then that Joshua's entrepreneur John Moore bought land here and named the property Canberry.

The population of Canberra — is approximately 430 thousand people. It is the largest landlocked city in the country. The capital of Canberra was chosen in 1908 by — as a compromise in the dispute between Sydney and Melbourne.

Canberra — is a very unusual, geometrically calibrated and carefully thought-out city, as it was built specifically to serve as a metropolitan function. At one time, an international — competition was even announced for the best city project. The winner was Chicago architect Walter Burley Griffin. Construction of the modern city began in 1913. That same year, on March 12, the city was given the official name — Canberra by the wife of the country's Governor-General Lord Denman, Lady Denman.

Canberra is built in the garden city style — with huge areas of natural, untouched vegetation (Photo: Liv Falvey, licensed from Shutterstock.com)

Canberra is built in the garden city style — with huge areas of natural, untouched vegetation, which ultimately led to the humorous nickname bush capital.

Canberra — government territory. The Parliament, the Supreme Court of Australia, as well as the National Library of Australia, the Australian War Memorial, the National Gallery of Australia, and an endless number of government departments and agencies are located here, which attracts many domestic and foreign tourists to the city.

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