Creator Charles Coulter

Date 1901

Charles Coulter's vision for "An ideal federal city, Lake George, N.S.W." This painting of an Australian Venice was published in a report titled: 'Proceedings of the Congress of Engineers, Architects, Surveyors, and Others Interested in the Building of the Federal Capital of Australia, Held in Melbourne in May 1901'. The gathering of eminent professionals stressed the desideratum of a lake, or 'ornamental water' body, for the setting of the future national capital. One delegate, W. Evans, claimed that 'Lake George will afford the loveliest waterside site the heart of man can desire'. He was obviously not aware of the fact the lake levels fluctuated, and intermittently dried up for decades at a time. Nevertheless, this became an important theme in the selection of the site for National Capital, seven years later, with the potential to form a lake on the Molonglo River at Canberra.

Source: National Library of Australia