Previous Find of the month

January 2021

Building a City from Scratch

Federal Capital Commission

Figure 1 Planting Plan detail: ArchivesACT

On 1 January 1925 the Federal Capital Commission (FCC) was established to build and administer the developing city of Canberra. It took control of these responsibilities from its predecessor, the Federal Capital Advisory Committee, that had already overseen the beginning of the construction works of the provisional Parliament House, administrative offices, hostels and cottages to facilitate the first stage of the relocation of the Federal Parliament. The commission existed for a relatively short period of time, being abolished in May 1930 when the ACT Advisory Council took over. But these were critical years in Canberra’s development, so this month we thought we would look at some of the records the commission used to plan for the Parliament’s move to Canberra.

At the time the commission was established Canberra’s newly completed buildings comprised of the Power House at Kingston, Telopea Park School and 100 brick and timber cottages. The provisional Parliament House and Hotel Canberra were still under construction [i]. The FCC’s first appointed commissioners, John Butters, John Harrison and Clarence Gorman remarked in their first report that ‘an early opportunity was taken by the Commission to make a review of the progress of constructional work’ and found that;

These inquiries resulted in information being placed before the Commission which indicated that the various departments considered very much larger staffs would be necessary than those contemplated…which provided for transferring about 160 officers. The figures submitted by Departments, although incomplete, indicated that 1,117 persons would have to be accommodated [ii].

In addition to the work on completing the provisional Parliament House, much of the early business of the commission involved providing enough housing to accommodate the departmental staff and their families that were about to converge on the Federal Capital Territory. By June 1926 the FCC’s Architect’s Branch of the Engineers Department, headed up by Chief Architect Henry Rolland, was able to offer a suite of designs for timber and brick ‘FCC type’ houses for the new residents [iii].

Figure 2 - Plan & elevation of Type 2: ArchivesACT

The Commission’s first annual report includes details of how its departments were re-structured into five departments; the Secretarial, Accounts, Lands, Engineer’s and Commissariat Departments. To ensure that the work of these departments was properly coordinated various Committees were also formed, including the Federal Capital Commission Development Committee [i]. A browse through the index of the minutes of the FCC Development Committee reveals many discussions on matters usually dealt with by local councils, such as cemeteries and garbage disposal, although in the case of the FCC these dealt more with selecting suitable sites for the various services that needed to be provided. The minutes also reveal some more unexpected topics. At the very first meeting of the committee held on the 12 August 1927, one matter ‘requiring consideration during next summer was hydro development on the Upper Murrumbidgee’ [ii]. A report on a visit to the upper reaches of the Murrumbidgee by the Deputy Chairman W E Potts and Surveyor Harry Mouat was presented to the committee in March of the following year to investigate the potential of the future development of a hydro-electric power proposal at Tantangara [iii]. Unfortunately, there is no other reference to this proposal in the minutes held by ArchivesACT, but it is interesting that such a scheme was being considered at this time.

Figure 3 - Extract FCC Development Committee Minutes 29/03/1928

Another innovative idea considered by the committee was a proposal to collect bottles separately to the normal garbage collection, what we would now refer to as recycling. After some debate the minutes record that the committee would recommend;

  • That the collection of rubbish should be a concern of the Engineer’s Department, but that a site, or sites, be established for depot collection of bottles and other saleable refuse and made available by public invitation for tenders on the basis of the right to collect this category of refuse under licence [i]

Another interesting record created by the FCC and held by ArchivesACT is a large format plan that includes the provisional Parliament House and the East and West block administrative buildings. The FCC not only coordinated the completion of the buildings but also the planting of trees in the precinct through its Parks and Gardens Branch. The plan references each species of tree to the location where they were planted.

Figure 4 - Detail Government group permanent planting

Figure 5 - Detail Government group permanent planting - Tree Species

If you would like to learn more about these or other ACT government records you can contact us by filling out our

online form or emailing us at archives@act.gov.au.

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Contact us through our Request a Record service and we will be happy to help.

File References

  • ArchivesACT: 2013/12892, Minutes - Federal Capital Commission Develoment Committee - Meeting 1, 1 September 1927 to Meeting 31, 17 May 1929
  • ArchivesACT: Plan showing Permanent Planting at Government Group Canberra
  • ArchivesACT: BRX5636 - Federal Capital Commission Plans - House Types

References

I Ling, Ted: Government Records about the Australian Capital Territory; The Canberra Times 3 September 1956 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91222100.

II Federal Capital Commission, Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, First Annual Report of the Federal Capital Commission for the period ended 30th June 1925. 14th January 1926.

III Freeman, Peter: The Early Canberra House: Living in Canberra 1911-1933. p. 62.

IV Federal Capital Commission, Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, First Annual Report of the Federal Capital Commission for the period ended 30th June 1925. 14th January 1926. p. 5.

V ArchivesACT: 2013/12892, Minutes - Federal Capital Commission Development Committee – 1st Meeting 12 August 1927. p. 3.

VI ArchivesACT: 2013/12892, Minutes - Federal Capital Commission Development Committee – 13th Meeting 28 March 1928. p. 6.

VII ArchivesACT: 2013/12892, Minutes - Federal Capital Commission Development Committee – 7th Meeting 19 October 1928. p. 3.

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