Sydney
Under the reign of Queen Victoria federation of the six colonies occurred on 1 January 1901. Sydney, with a population of 481,000, then became the state capital of New South Wales. The Great Depression of the 1930s had a severe effect on Sydney's economy, as it did with most cities throughout the industrial world. For much of the 1930s up to one in three breadwinners was unemployed. Construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge served to alleviate some of the effects of the economic downturn by employing 1,400 men between 1924 and 1932. The population continued to boom despite the Depression, having reached 1 million in 1925.
Seat of Government Act 1908
The act repealed the earlier "Seat of Government Act 1904" which had previously selected a site at Dalgety for the new capital. The actual creation of the Federal Capital Territory (now Australian Capital Territory) did not occur until after Charles Robert Scrivener had surveyed the area and defined a potential border. The "Seat of Government Acceptance Act 1909" and "Seat of Government Surrender Act 1909" transferred the land from the state of New South Wales to the Commonwealth to create the territory. The new territory's laws were created through the "Seat of Government (Administration) Act 1910".