"AN IDEAL CITY?"

The 1912 competition to design Canberra

Robert Coulter, a Sydney architect, imagined an ideal capital city on the shores of Lake George. His vision includes a pot-pourri of architectural styles and draws on images familiar from great cities throughout the world.

In 1912 architects and designers throughout the world competed to design a capital city for Australia. Many of them believed that it was possible, through planning and design, to create an ideal city. The new federal capital offered them a rare opportunity to turn their visions into reality.

The judges chose a short list of 46 plans from 137 entries, which they took to the site of the future capital. These plans, now held in Canberra by Australian Archives and the National Library of Australia, form the basis of this exhibition.

This is a story about design: how designs are created; how they shape cities; and how cities can move away from their original designs in response to changing circumstances.

It is also a story about the planning of Canberra. What would Canberra look like today if one of the other designs had been chosen? Here we can encounter these 'other Canberras': the cities that might have been if another plan had won the competition in 1912.

All materials at this site, both images and text are the property of the NLA and Australian Archives and cannot be reproduced.