List of Australian capital cities


There are eight capital cities in Australia, each of which functions as the seat of government for the state or territory in which it is located. One of these, Canberra, is also the national capital. Section 125 of the Constitution of Australia specified that the seat of the national government, that is, the national capital, would be in its own territory within New South Wales, at least 100 miles from Sydney. The Constitution specified that until this national capital was ready, the Parliament would sit in Melbourne. In 1927, the national capital was finally ready and the national government relocated from its former seat in Melbourne to Canberra within the Australian Capital Territory.
In each state and internal territory, the capital is also the jurisdiction's most populous city. The Australian external territory of Norfolk Island has its official capital at Kingston, although this acts merely as the administrative centre of government; its de facto capital is Burnt Pine.
State/territoryCapitalCity populationState/territory populationPercentage of state/territory population in capital cityEstablishedDate of statehoodCapital sinceImage
Australian Capital TerritoryCanberra403,468403,468100.00%1913Must remain a territory as per s.125 of the Australian Constitution 1913 in the background
New South WalesSydney5,029,7687,759,27464.82%178817881788
Northern TerritoryDarwin145,916245,74059.38%1869Has not attained Statehood1911
QueenslandBrisbane2,360,2414,848,87748.68%182518591860
South AustraliaAdelaide1,324,2791,713,05477.31%183618361836
TasmaniaHobart224,462517,58843.37%180418251826
VictoriaMelbourne4,725,3166,179,24976.47%183518511851
Western AustraliaPerth2,022,0442,558,95179.02%182918291829