Who remembers the capital of Australia as Sydney, not Canberra

Aussie here... with a bit of a lesson about our island's capital city.

Canberra, also known as the Australian Capital Territory or ACT, has always been the capital of Australia.
After Foundation in 1901, there was a fight between Melbourne and Sydney for the title of "Capital City".
Canberra was selected to keep the peace, so to speak.

Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory, is Australia's capital city. After Federation in 1901, a site for the capital was sought, and Canberra was selected. The Australian Capital Territory was declared on 1 January 1911 and an international competition was held to design the new capital city of Australia. The competition was won by a submission from American architect Walter Burley Griffin with drawings drafted by Marion Mahony Griffin.

Source: australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/c anberra-australias-capital-city

I hope that clears that up.
Cheers

a reply to: pavil

It's only because you havent been blessed with Mandela.

Or maybe you payed special attention in school.

i think with a thing like this you'd have to either be australian or have been there many times for your opinion to carry any weight... people just don't know heck about other countries, it's just how it is.

not denying that the mandela effect could still be a thing but this ain't it.
and anyway
obviously the true capital in all important and relevant aspects is suburban melbourne.

I would have said Sydney but I have a hard time distinguishing between large, popular cities and capitals.

For example, I thought the capital of Japan was Tokyo for a while. Now I know it's Kyoto. Or how I thought Anchorage was the capital of Alaska, but it's Juno.

Upon checking myself because I wasn't sure I just now found out it's spelled 'Juneau'. Goes to show you how well I know cities and geography.

a reply to: MarioOnTheFly

A lot of people are just coming to the realization that whatever technology is behind it, is unfathomable....

After researching a bit about the D wave quantum computer I wouldn't put it past it for even crazier changes to follow..

P.s- It was always Berenstein you agree??

Berenstain isn't even a genuine jewish last name, and the creators of the bears books were a Jewish family, no?

a reply to: Aldakoopa


I always thought the capital of Japan was Tokyo as well.. It just keeps getting weirder and weirder haha

Sydney was the capital in that it was the centre of government for Australia and New Zealand when they were colonies, then Melbourne was the capital, then Canberra. If by capital you mean where the government is located I suppose.

At the time of Australia's federation on 1 January 1901, Melbourne became the seat of government of the federation. The first federal parliament was convened on 9 May 1901 in the Royal Exhibition Building, subsequently moving to the Victorian Parliament House where it was located until 1927, when it was moved to Canberra. The Governor-General of Australia resided at Government House in Melbourne until 1930 and many major national institutions remained in Melbourne well into the twentieth century.

en.wikipedia.org...

originally posted by: Aldakoopa
I would have said Sydney but I have a hard time distinguishing between large, popular cities and capitals.

For example, I thought the capital of Japan was Tokyo for a while. Now I know it's Kyoto. Or how I thought Anchorage was the capital of Alaska, but it's Juno.

Upon checking myself because I wasn't sure I just now found out it's spelled 'Juneau'. Goes to show you how well I know cities and geography.

What the hell? I remember Tokyo being the capital of Japan and not Kyoto. This is strange.

a reply to: freedom7

Most people get this wrong for some reason.

It was actually selected as the national capital in 1908, as a compromise between Melbourne and Sydney, which are the two largest cities in Australia. The move was completed in 1927.

It is likely that the move was instigated by the 1901 Federation of Australia, which was the resolving of several independently run colonies of Britain, into a single Commonwealth, with a federal government to oversee matters affecting the whole country. Previously, the territories of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia, were all self governing and independent British colonies.

Sydney and Melbourne had a significant rivalry, and that carries over into today somewhat, each city trying to out do the other in some fashion. It was this rivalry which prevented either city from being selected as the national capital, as it happens.

a reply to: freedom7

P.s- It was always Berenstein you agree?? Berenstain isn't even a genuine jewish last name, and the creators of the bears books were a Jewish family, no?

actually...I dont know anything about these bears. I've never watched it heard about it until it showed up on ATS. I grew up in communism

I remember the capital being dingoroodigeridoocrocodileodundeetown.

But Canberra is the city in THIS timeline

a reply to: Perfectenemy

Kyoto has not been the capital of Japan since some way into the 1800s... It was in 1868, I think, that the seat of power moved from Kyoto to Tokyo.

It is worth noting that although several Japanese ordinances and edicts allude to Tokyo having "Capital Area Status", you will not find any government document referring to Tokyo explicitly as the capital. None the less, for tourism purposes, and for the purposes of geopolitics too, the capital is indeed Tokyo and its surrounding territory, because that is where the power in the land has rested since the date I mentioned above.

a reply to: freedom7
I'm sure that a lot of people think that Los Angeles is the capital of California, or that Louisville or Lexington is the capital of Kentucky. Or that Berlin is the capital of Germany. Or that Aleppo is the capital of Syria.

Ha, I'm just kidding--apparently nobody thinks much about Syria.

Heyoooooooooo...

My point being, though--unless you consider yourself a geography expert and can name of countries' capitals with the ease and musical stylings similar to the Animaniacs' song about all of the countries, then I don't think that your own memory or expectation of what the capital of a country is really holds a ton of weight in the grand question concerning if concurrent dimensions swap places in the multiverse.

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: Perfectenemy

Kyoto has not been the capital of Japan since some way into the 1800s... It was in 1868, I think, that the seat of power moved from Kyoto to Tokyo.

It is worth noting that although several Japanese ordinances and edicts allude to Tokyo having "Capital Area Status", you will not find any government document referring to Tokyo explicitly as the capital. None the less, for tourism purposes, and for the purposes of geopolitics too, the capital is indeed Tokyo and its surrounding territory, because that is where the power in the land has rested since the date I mentioned above.

Now I'm even more confused.

I guess it was playing so much Civilization V that threw me off...

The 2 largest cities in Oz are Sydney and Melbourne and Sydney was the defacto capital for a while early on after federation but disagreement between those 2 cities resulted in the 'Australian Capital Territory (ACT) being created about halfway between them with Canberra established as being the capital and headquarters of federal parliament. The area was grazing land before that.

I wonder if Sacramento is the capital of California for a similar reason?

I think the actual capital of Australia is "A".

a reply to: TrueBrit

So i guess my teachers in school were absolute idiots because that's what they taught us. I did know that Canberra was always the capital of Australia though. I noticed some weird discrepancies in the history of my country too. The stuff is mostly about Hitler and what they told us about him. It doesn't add up with the things i'm now discovering. I won't defend anything Hitler did don't get me wrong but it looks like History was either changed or they flat out lied.

I thought it was Bartertown.

No Mandella Effect here,

Sydney has always been one of Australia's most popular cities and receives far more publicity, think the Sydney 2000 Olympics, which is why so many people have heard of Sydney.

Canberra has always been the Capital City but as a city with a low percentage of events and tourism is not particularly noteworthy.

Not a Mandella Effect, just a perfectly logical explanation.

originally posted by: freedom7
So as many of you can tell, Mandela effect is a topic I follow closely and have for some time. I didn't notice this one about the capital of Australia until just recently though. And wanted to do a quick test and tally up some votes to see who remembers what.

Who remembers the capital of Australia as

A. Sydney
B. Canberra

or C. Other

I read on Wikipedia just now that apparently Canberra became the capital of Australia in 1938. This is mind boggling for me, because I've always remembered it as Sydney.

Would love to hear your thoughts.

It's your education or assumption, it has since 1938 been Canberra, it's not up for debate
It has never been Sydney in my 50 odd years of life
It's not even a question
You have just been wrong