Europeanised vision of Lake George

(Robert) Charles Coulter's Europeanised vision of the Australian national capital at Lake George, near Canberra, 1901. This image was used on the front cover of the proceedings of the 'Congress of Engineers, Architects, Surveyors and Others Interested in the Building of the Federal Capital of Australia, 1901'—a highly significant gathering which took place at the same time as the opening of the Commonwealth Parliament, in May 1901. Australia's professional community clearly signalled that it was not prepared to leave such an important project as the nation's capital up to the politicians alone. Since the 1820s, Lake George has regularly been, and is today, bone dry.