Canberra Day is a
public holiday in Australia held annually on the second Monday in March in the
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding township#Aust ...
(ACT) and the
Jervis Bay Territory
The Jervis Bay Territory (; JBT) is an internal territory of Australia. It was established in 1915 from part of New South Wales (NSW), in order to give the landlocked Australian Capital Territory (ACT) access to the sea.
It was administered ...
(JBT) to celebrate the official naming of
Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
. Canberra was named at a ceremony on 12 March 1913 by
Lady Denman, the wife of the then
Governor-General
Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...
Lord Denman.
On 3 March 2007, the ACT Minister
Andrew Barr (now
Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory
The chief minister of the Australian Capital Territory is the head of government of the Australian Capital Territory. The leader of the party with the largest number of seats in the unicameral Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly usu ...
) introduced a bill to change the day of Canberra Day to the ''second'' Monday in March so it falls closer more often to the actual birthday of Canberra.
Previously it had been held on the third Monday in March. In ''2012'' Canberra Day fell on ''12 March''. In ''2013'' it fell on ''11 March'', for the
Centenary
{{other uses, Centennial (disambiguation), Centenary (disambiguation)
A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century, a period of 100 years.
Notable events
Notable centennial events at a ...
of Canberra.
Annual events associated with Canberra Day include th
Hands Up for Canberra Giving Day(a community fundraising event held on 11 March in 2020), th
Canberra Festival which runs from 11 to 20 March 2011, the Chief Minister's Canberra Day Awards Ceremony, and the Canberra Festival Balloon Spectacular.
See also
*
History of Canberra
The history of Canberra details the development of the city of Canberra from the time before European settlement to the city's planning by the Chicago architect Walter Burley Griffin in collaboration with Marion Mahony Griffin, and its subseq ...
*
Public holidays in Australia
Public holidays in Australia refer to the holidays recognised in law in Australia. Although they are declared on a state and territory basis, they comprise a mixture of nationally celebrated days and holidays exclusive to the individual jurisdict ...
References
Public holidays in Australia
March observances
Monday observances
Holidays and observances by scheduling (nth weekday of the month)
Autumn events in Australia
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