Imperial Valley press., 1913-09-26
(By Frederick ]. Haskin.)

On the other side of the world a
mighty nation is in the making, and
it is just now laying the foundation
of capital whose magnifcence will
be worthy Of its hopes and aspira-
tions. The commonwealth Of Aus
tralia, with a continent and its at
tendant islands for its domain, is that
nation and Canberra is it's capital TO
be. It is fascinating story, this re-
enactment in our own day of the his
tory Of Washington. Here we may
see a country as new as the United
States was when Washington was
founded, and as full of possibilities,
going far out into the country and
founding a capital which will some
day vie with London, Washington,
Paris, Berlin and Vienna.
And this capital will have a his
tory almost like that of Washington.
1t was chosen after a long contest,
and after some forty places had Of
fered themselves as sites. 1t was
planned by foreigner, just as Wash
ington was, only a Frenchman laid
out Washington, while an American
laid out Canberra. 1t was designed
primarily and essentially as cap
ital. 1t is situated in a federal dis
trict, just as Washington is.
Australia has two rival cities, Mel
bourne and Sydney, just as the new
America had Philadelphia and New
York. Melbourne once was the me-
tropolis, just as Philadelphia was once
the metropolis. But latterly it has
been outgrown by Sydney, just as
Philadelphia was forced to yield the
place of primacy to New York. Each
aspired to be permanent national
capital, and each kept the other from
realizing its aspirations.
The result was that Canberra was
eventually chosen, site nearly mid
way between the two rival cities.
There is a railway connecting the
capitals of Victoria and New South
Wales--Melbourne and Sydney. The
part Of the road lying in New South
Wales is of one gauge and that of
Victoria another gauge, so that it is
impossible to run through trains be-
tween the two cities. Canberra is
about a days stage journey from
Yass, on the South Wales section.
This stage trip is across a country
not unlike the prairies of western
Kansas. When the journey ends the
pilgrim finds himself in a little vii
lage made up of church, a school,
postoffice, few homes and an en-
bryonic military school that is des-
tined to be the West Point of Aus
tralia. There is little river called
the Molonglo, which is entitled to be
called river only by courtesy. AS
for the rest it is only a sweepingly
rolling country, a little inclined to
aridity, but yet suspectible to much
establishment at the hands of a land
scape gardener.
Canberra was planned by a Chicago
landscape gardener and architect.
Walter Burley Griffin. After the site
had been chosen the authorities called
for the submission of plans. There
were innumerable entries, but the
plan entered by Griffin easily won the
first prize. The architectural insti-
tutes of England America denounced
the contest, but that did not prevent
the submission of many excellent
, plans. That of Griffin provides for a
series of polygonal groups with a
capitol hillas hub. There are a num-
ber of avenues diverging from the
capitol hill, but the general street eff
feet is that of a series of isolated
groups rather than a checkerboard.
The federal buildings will be located
in triangle, of which the capitol
will constitute the apex. If the tri-
angle between Maryland and Penn
sylvania avenues in Washington, ex-
tending to the Potomac river, were
the site of all the federal buildings,
the effect would be much like that
proposed for Canberra, only the Mci-
ongle will be beautiful in the scheme.
1t is proposed to construct two great
ponds, one at each side of the other
two corners of the federal buildings
triangle, and to connect these with a
crescent shaped river channel.
One section of the city will be set
aside for a residential district, an
other section for markets and shops,
and another Tor the habitations of the
working classes. One part of the su-
burbs will be for the manufacturing
district and another part for truck
gardening and intensive farming,
while there will be plentiful supply
of parks both within the city and in
the suburbs.
The site of the new capital was
chosen in 1909, and it was not until