BEFORE Canberra was named the Capital of Australia on March 12, 1913 ... during the 1800s the Australian Capital Territory was originally part of the Queanbeyan District – so named after a small country town within its border. In 1899 when the search for a Federal Capital site began, informed locals met in the town to nominate and lobby that Queanbeyan/Canberra be the new Federal Capital site; on June 11, 1900, in the Queanbeyan Courthouse they gave evidence to Commissioner Oliver who was investigating the nominations. But the Government chose Dalgety as the capital in 1904 ... and with that choice the Canberra saga began.

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