Canberra (be) the capital city of Australia. There are 320,200 people who (live) there. It (do, -) belong to a state but it (be) in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).
Canberra (be) started in 1913 and in the middle of the city (be) Lake Burley-Griffin . This lake (be) created especially for the city. There (be) a competition to design the new capital of Australia. The competition (be) won by an architect from Chicago in the United States of America. His name (be) Walter Burley Griffin. Griffin (design) his triangular town as a garden town, so its size (expand) over a big area. But as Canberra (grow) larger and larger, the lake (be) no longer in the middle of the town, but the people who (be) in charge of planning the city (make) sure Canberra is as close to Griffin's original plan as possible. Canberra (have) a size nearly as big as Berlin, but the number of people who (live) there is much smaller.

Before Canberra (be) founded, Australia’s two most important cities, Sydney and Melbourne, (be) arguing which city should (be) the capital of the continent. First Melbourne (be) elected the capital, but in 1908 there (be) a vote. The result: an area of 2400 square kilometers (be) given to the country by New South Wales to (build) Canberra in. This (be) the place, 300 kilometers away from Sydney and with a distance of 650 kilometers to Melbourne, where a few years later Canberra was (build).

Canberra (be) an Aboriginal name which means "Meeting point" and you (can) say it in many different ways. Some people (say) "CAN-bruh" a few use "CAN-buh-ruh" and a small number of people (pronounce) it "can-BEAR-ruh"; all three forms (be) correct. Canberra (be) very interesting for tourists because it (have) many national monuments and other famous sights. Some places to (visit) are the Government House, Parliament House , the High Court of Australia, the Australian War Memorial, the National Gallery of Australia, Telstra Tower, the National Library of Australia, and the National Museum of Australia.