Australian Capital Territory

TERRITORY, AUSTRALIA
Australian Capital Territory
TERRITORY, AUSTRALIA
WRITTEN BY: Max Neutze
See Article History
Alternative Titles: A.C.T., Limestone Plains, Yass-Canberra
Australian Capital Territory (A.C.T.), formerly Yass-Canberra, political entity of
the Commonwealth of Australia consisting of Canberra, the national and territorial
capital, and surrounding land. Most of the Australian Capital Territory lies within
the Southern Tablelands district of New South Wales in southeastern Australia, but
there is also an area of some 28 square miles (73 square km) to the east on the
Tasman Sea coast at Jervis Bay. Canberra is located in the northeastern corner of
the territory, about 185 miles (300 km) southwest of Sydney, 290 miles (465 km)
northeast of Melbourne, and 95 miles (150 km) from the coast. The entire territory
lies between latitudes 35� and 36� S and extends some 53 miles (85 km) north to
south and 33 miles (53 km) east to west.

The Australian constitution mandated establishing such a capital territory. The

site was chosen in 1908, construction began in 1911, and parliament moved from the
temporary capital, Melbourne, into the first Parliament House in 1927. Area 910
square miles (2,358 square km). Population (2016) 397,397.

Land
Relief
The western boundary of the territory follows the watershed of the Brindabella
Range, a northern extension of the Snowy Mountains. The territory�s southern and
western parts are mountainous, reaching a maximum height of 6,279 feet (1,914
metres) at Bimberi Peak. In the northeastern section there are broad valleys
between rounded hills. While much of the generally rugged topography of the
Australian Capital Territory allows small-scale farming, forestry, and grazing,
only about one-third of the territory is suitable for urban development.

Australian Capital Territory, Australia.

Encyclop�dia Britannica, Inc.
Drainage and soils
The area is drained by the Murrumbidgee River, which flows from the Snowy Mountains
northward through the territory. The boundaries of the territory were drawn in part
to provide Canberra with its own water supply. One of the major tributaries of the
Murrumbidgee within the region is the Cotter River, which drains the western area
and provides most of Canberra�s water supply from three storage lakes. Another
major tributary is the Molonglo River, which runs through the centre of the city,
where it is dammed to form Lake Burley Griffin, one of the major landscape design
features in the centre of Canberra. Smaller tributaries have been dammed to form
ornamental lakes that serve also as basins for drainage in the urban districts of
Gungahlin, Belconnen, and Tuggeranong. Increasingly, locally treated sewage and
water from the lakes are being used to irrigate playing fields in the city.

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The Canberra plains are covered by red-yellow soils and the western mountains by
thin skeletal (or granular) soils. Although soils over most of the territory are
shallow, varying in depth from a few inches to about three feet (one metre),
pockets of deep alluvial soils along the banks of the Molonglo and Murrumbidgee
rivers are a source for garden topsoil in the city.

Climate
The Australian Capital Territory has a continental climate with marked seasonal and
diurnal variations in temperature. Temperatures range between 14 and 108 �F (-10
and 42 �C); the daily maximum often exceeds 86 �F (30 �C) in summer (December
through February). During the winter (June through August), temperatures are lower,
and the higher parts of the mountains are covered with snow. Frosts occur on most
winter nights, but the days are usually sunny and often warm.

The average annual precipitation is 25 inches (630 mm). Although it is fairly

evenly distributed throughout the year, precipitation is somewhat less (about 1.6
inches [40 mm] per month) in the winter. Because rainfall is unreliable, with
periods of drought and flooding, large storage reservoirs are needed to ensure
water supply and to provide high-capacity drainage of storm water. Sudden heavy
storms have resulted in loss of life. Rainfall is much greater in the mountains,
averaging about 60 inches (1,525 mm) a year. Fogs are common in winter and
sometimes cause airport closings.

Plant and animal life

The natural vegetation in the lower and flatter northeastern parts of the territory
and the lower mountainous areas is either savanna grassland or savanna woodland,
with yellow box and red gum, both eucalypts, and spear wallaby grass predominant
among nearly 1,000 native and hundreds of introduced species of trees, shrubs,
flowering plants, and ferns. The eucalypts have largely been cleared from most of
the flatter and some of the hilly regions. Pines have been planted in some of the
hilly areas. Other stretches of land are still covered by dry sclerophyll forests
consisting primarily of red stringybarks and scribbly gums. Farther south and west
are wet sclerophyll forests dominated by brown barrels, stringybarks, ribbon gums,
and mountain gums. In the highest mountains are small areas of subalpine woodland,
mainly alpine snow gums. Different species of eucalypts predominate in all native
forests. The forested area includes a wide variety of shrubs as well as larger
trees; little of it has a closed canopy. Nearly half of the territory is covered by
indigenous forests.

Australian gum tree (Eucalyptus).

Ron Dorman�Bruce Coleman Inc.
The largest of the roughly 50 native mammal species common in the territory are
eastern gray kangaroos, wallabies, and wombats, which are found in the forest areas
and in the grasslands at the margins of the forests. Smaller marsupials include
phalangers (possums), gliders, and marsupial mice. The wide range of native birds
(nearly 300 species) includes currawongs, magpies, ravens, parrots, cockatoos, and
lorikeets. Many of these birds, including colourful parrots, are common not only in
the indigenous forests but also in Canberra, where they are attracted by the native
and introduced trees and shrubs found throughout the urban area. There is much less
birdlife in the pine forests. More than a dozen frog, several dozen reptile, and
nearly a dozen fish species inhabit the territory. Eastern brown snakes, red-
bellied black snakes, and several lizards are common, especially near watercourses,
but snakes are seldom found in urban areas. Among the nonendemic animals found in
the forests are wild pigs, goats, and horses and, in the grasslands, foxes,
rabbits, and hares.

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Australian Capital Territory
TERRITORY, AUSTRALIA
Australian Capital Territory Flag
flag of Australian Capital Territory
CAPITAL
Canberra
DATE OF ADMISSION
1911
TERRITORIAL BIRD
Gang-gang Cockatoo
TERRITORIAL FLOWER
Royal Bluebell
POPULATION
(2016) 397,397
TOTAL AREA1 (SQ MI)
910
TOTAL AREA1 (SQ KM)
2,358
1Mainland and island areas only; excludes coastal water.
People
Population composition
The population has a higher proportion of young adults than the national average
and a lower proportion from the older age groups. About one-fifth of the
residents�slightly lower than the national average�were born outside of Australia,
mainly in the United Kingdom. Some one-fifth of the population also speak a
language other than English at home, the most common being Chinese (Mandarin and
Cantonese), Italian, Vietnamese, and Greek. About 1 percent of the population are
Aborigines. Nearly half of the territory�s residents are Christian, the Roman
Catholic and Anglican denominations together accounting for more than two-fifths of
the population. The average household income in the territory is significantly
higher than that for Australia as a whole, and a greater proportion of the
population has completed postsecondary education. Within Canberra there is not a
high level of segregation of the population by income or social class, but younger
families with small children predominate in the newer suburbs.

The population of the territory grew rapidly during the 1960s and early �70s, when
government departments were transferred from Melbourne to Canberra and government
employment was expanding rapidly. In subsequent years the growth rate fell to less
than the national average. The main sources of population growth have been natural
increase and in-migration from other parts of Australia, principally New South
Wales and Victoria.

Settlement patterns
Virtually all of the residents of the Australian Capital Territory live in Canberra
and its suburbs. Of the tiny remainder, some live in villages and rural areas and
the rest at Jervis Bay, at an Aboriginal settlement at Wreck Bay, and at the Royal
Australian Naval College. Just across the New South Wales border from Canberra, and
part of the metropolitan area, is the city of Queanbeyan. Namadgi National Park is
situated in the southern and western mountainous parts of the territory and adjoins
the large Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales. Including smaller nature
parks in and around Canberra, Tidbinbilla and Jervis Bay nature reserves, and
Namadgi, conservation areas cover roughly half of the area of the Australian
Capital Territory.

Some one-fourth of the territory is occupied by rural holdings used predominantly

for grazing sheep and cattle. About one-tenth of the land is urban, and roughly the
same amount is used for plantation forestry and is planted mostly with Pinus
radiata.

Canberra is a planned city in which market forces have operated within a framework
set by planning decisions, although more recently the market component has become
more influential. Planning has been effective, because the federal government
purchased and subsequently retained ownership of all the land. Land is leased for
private residential and commercial use, and its use is controlled by conditions
specified in leases. The older parts of Canberra, on each side of Lake Burley
Griffin, include the parliamentary triangle, the largest concentrations of
government offices, and the main commercial centre of the city. The central parts
of the city accord quite closely with the 1912 plan of American architect Walter
Burley Griffin. The design takes advantage of the physical features of the site,
the hills and the floodplain of the Molonglo River. Its focus is on the
parliamentary triangle and the land axis from Mount Ainslie north of Lake Burley
Griffin to Parliament House on Capital Hill to the south.

Each of the newer urban districts of Woden�Weston Creek, Belconnen, Tuggeranong,

and Gungahlin includes residential suburbs, a major regional centre, and local
service centres. These districts were developed according to modern town planning
and urban design principles in order to provide services and job opportunities in
each urban district close to where people live. This is a matter of some
controversy; commercial interests have argued successfully for greater
concentration of businesses in the city centre rather than in the surrounding
districts.

The hills that separate the urban districts of Canberra and most of the foreshores
of the ornamental lakes have been retained as open space. Partly as a result of
this policy and partly in order to preserve options for future developments, the
urban districts are separated by large open areas, and the city extends some 20
miles (30 km) from north to south.

Economy
The Australian Capital Territory is effectively a city-state; the rural areas make
only a tiny contribution to the economy. Nearly half of all jobs are in government
and government services, and many more depend on government purchases. The economy
fluctuates with changes in the rate of growth in government employment and in
government-funded construction activities. About the turn of the 21st century, the
federal government began to reduce its direct employment. Measures have been taken
to attract more private industry, and outsourcing of government functions has
increased private employment. Rates of unemployment are usually somewhat below the
national average.