The Griffin plan wins the Canberra competition
Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin won the international competition for the design of Australia's new federal capital. The layout — geometric axes tied to the surrounding hills, with a central artificial lake — was implemented slowly and repeatedly amended across the following century, which is the main reason it survived.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- Canberra · city · Australia
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent.
The Griffin Plan and ACT population projections
Supports the 1912 competition win by Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin, the plan's continuing structural influence, an ACT population of about 482,000 at the end of 2024, and a territory projection of about 700,000 by 2050. V55 verification basis: retrieved from ACT government material; no Australian Bureau of Statistics release was opened, and the 2050 figure is a territory projection rather than an outcome.
ACT Government, Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development Directorate · 2025 · Partly verified
ACT Government material on the Griffin Plan (2025); ACT population statement, "Nearly 700,000 Canberrans by 2050" (September 2025)