Editing Canberra (section)

=== British exploration and colonisation ===
[[File:Exterior of St John the Baptist Church Reid April 2017.jpg|thumb|[[St John the Baptist Church, Reid|St John's Anglican Church]], the oldest surviving public building in the inner city, consecrated in 1845]]
[[File:Historic Blundells' Cottage.jpg|upright=1.15|thumb|[[Blundells Cottage]], built around 1860,<ref name=BLUNDELL>{{cite web |url=http://www.nationalcapital.gov.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=234:blundells-cottage&catid=57:ql-menu-visiting&Itemid=197 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130501223848/http://www.nationalcapital.gov.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=234%3Ablundells-cottage&catid=57%3Aql-menu-visiting&Itemid=197 |archive-date=1 May 2013 |title=Blundells Cottage |publisher=National Capital Authority |access-date=13 May 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> is one of the few remaining buildings built by the first white settlers of Canberra.]] In October 1820, [[Charles Throsby]] led the first British expedition to the area.<ref name="cambage">{{cite journal |last1=Cambage |first1=R.H. |title=Exploration between the Wingecarribee, Shoalhaven, Macquarie and Murrumbidgee Rivers |journal=Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society |date=1921 |volume=7 |issue=5 |pages=217–288 |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-596088877 |access-date=23 May 2022}}</ref><ref>{{citation |url=http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/canberra-australias-capital-city |publisher=Australian Government |title=Canberra – Australia's capital city |date=4 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140212004359/http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/canberra-australias-capital-city |archive-date=12 February 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Fitzgerald|1987|p=5}}{{sfn|Gillespie|1991|pp=3-8}} Four other expeditions occurred between 1820 and 1823 with the first accurate map being produced by explorer [[Mark John Currie]] in June 1823. By this stage, the area had become known as the Limestone Plains.<ref name="cambage" /><ref>{{Citation |author1=Currie, Mark John |title=Journal of an excursion to the southward of Lake George in New South Wales |year=1823 |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-62444232 |id=nla.obj-62444232 |access-date=24 May 2022 |via=Trove}}</ref>

British settlement of the area probably dates from late 1823, when a [[sheep station]] was formed on what is now the Acton Peninsula by James Cowan, the head stockman employed by [[Joshua John Moore]].{{sfn|Gillespie|1991|p=9}} Moore had received a land grant in the region in 1823 and formally applied to purchase the site on 16 December 1826. He named the property "Canberry". On 30 April 1827, Moore was told by letter that he could retain possession of {{cvt|1000|acres|0}} at Canberry.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article29891172 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130728133212/http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/29891172 |url-status=live |archive-date=28 July 2013 |title=LETTERS. |newspaper=[[Sydney Morning Herald]] |date=31 January 1934 |access-date=8 October 2012 |page=6 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

Other colonists soon followed Moore's example to take up land in the region. Around 1825, [[James Ainslie (pastoralist)|James Ainslie]], working on behalf of the wealthy merchant [[Robert Campbell (1769–1846)|Robert Campbell]], arrived to establish a sheep station. He was guided to the region by a local Aboriginal girl who showed him the fine lands of her ''Pialligo'' clan.<ref name="bluett" /> The area then became the property of Campbell and it was initially named [[Pialligo, Australian Capital Territory|Pialligo]] before Campbell changed it to the Scottish title of [[Duntroon, Australian Capital Territory|Duntroon]].<ref name="selkirk" />{{sfn|Gibbney|1988|p=48}}{{sfn|Fitzgerald|1987|p=9}} Campbell and his family built a [[dairy]] on the site in 1832, now regarded as the oldest standing European building in Canberra,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.au/places/duntroon-dairy/ |title=Duntroon Dairy}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.canberratracks.act.gov.au/heritage-trails/track-2-the-limestone-plains/duntroon-dairy |title=Duntroon Diary |last= |first= |date=4 August 2022 |website=www.canberratracks.act.gov.au |publisher= |access-date=7 September 2024 |quote=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://exhibitions.cmag.com.au/dont-forget-the-milk/early-dairies-in-canberra |title=Early dairies in Canberra |website=Exhibitions}}</ref> followed by the imposing stone house that is now the officers' mess of the [[Royal Military College, Duntroon]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dha.gov.au/publications/australian-capital-territory.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318062335/http://www.dha.gov.au/publications/australian-capital-territory.pdf |archive-date=18 March 2012 |title=The Royal Military College, Duntroon |publisher=Defence Housing Australia |page=81 |access-date=13 May 2010}}</ref> The Campbells sponsored settlement by other farmer families to work their land, such as the Southwells of "[[Weetangera, Australian Capital Territory|Weetangera]]".{{sfn|Gibbney|1988|pp=87-95}}

Other notable early colonists included Henry Donnison, who established the [[Yarralumla, Australian Capital Territory|Yarralumla]] estate—now the site of the [[Government House, Canberra|official residence]] of the [[Governor-General]] of Australia—in 1827, and John Palmer who employed Duncan Macfarlane to form the [[Jerrabomberra (district)|Jerrabomberra]] property in 1828. A year later, John MacPherson established the [[Springbank Island|Springbank]] estate, becoming the first British owner-occupier in the region.<ref name="selkirk" /><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article169144960 |title=Canberra and the Early Settlers |newspaper=[[The Sydney Mail|Sydney Mail]] |volume=XXXI |issue=789 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=11 May 1927 |access-date=24 May 2022 |page=13 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gg.gov.au/governorgeneral/content.php?id=24 |title=Government House |publisher=Governor General of Australia |access-date=23 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719211832/http://www.gg.gov.au/governorgeneral/content.php?id=24 |archive-date=19 July 2008}}</ref>

The Anglican church of [[St John the Baptist Church, Reid|St John the Baptist]], in the suburb of Reid,{{sfn|Sparke|1988|p=116}} was consecrated in 1845, and is now the oldest surviving public building in the city.{{sfn|Gillespie|1991|p=78}}{{sfn|Fitzgerald|1987|p=17}} St John's churchyard contains the earliest graves in the district.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.australiancemeteries.com/act/stjohns.htm |last=Weatherill |first=David |year=2007 |title=Church of St John the Baptist Cemetery |publisher=The Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra |access-date=7 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130403094643/http://www.australiancemeteries.com/act/stjohns.htm |archive-date=3 April 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> It has been described as a "sanctuary in the city",<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Randall |title=Sanctuary in the city: the Anglican Church of St John the Baptist Canberra |date=2012 |publisher=The Anglican Church of St John the Baptist, Canberra |isbn=9780646574455}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Sanctuary in the City |url=https://www.stjohnscanberra.org/sanctuary-in-the-city |access-date=11 April 2020 |archive-date=27 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727090422/https://www.stjohnscanberra.org/sanctuary-in-the-city |url-status=live}}</ref> remaining a small English village-style church even as the capital grew around it. Canberra's first school, St John's School (now a museum), was situated next to the church and opened in the same year of 1845.<ref>{{cite web |title=Discover our territory |url=http://www.canberrahistory.org.au/discover.asp |website=Canberra History |publisher=Canberra & District Historical Society |access-date=22 April 2020 |archive-date=12 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130912075512/http://www.canberrahistory.org.au/discover.asp |url-status=live}}</ref> It was built to educate local settlers children,<ref name="Nohra">{{cite news |last1=Danielle |first1=Nohra |title=New roof for Canberra's oldest church |url=https://citynews.com.au/2019/new-roof-for-canberras-oldest-church/ |access-date=22 April 2020 |publisher=City News (Canberra) |date=3 July 2019 |archive-date=27 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727075315/https://citynews.com.au/2019/new-roof-for-canberras-oldest-church/ |url-status=live}}</ref> including the Blundell children who lived in nearby [[Blundell's Cottage]].<ref name="Sue W">{{cite web |last1=W |first1=Sue |title=St John's Church & Schoolhouse Museum |url=https://www.weekendnotes.com/st-johns-church-and-school-house-museum-canberra/ |website=Weekend Notes |access-date=22 April 2020 |archive-date=27 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727065911/https://www.weekendnotes.com/st-johns-church-and-school-house-museum-canberra/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

As the European presence increased, the Indigenous population dwindled largely due to the destruction of their society, dislocation from their lands and from introduced diseases such as [[influenza]], [[smallpox]], [[alcoholism]], and [[measles]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rowley |first1=C.D. |title=The Destruction of Aboriginal Society |date=1970 |publisher=ANU Press |location=Canberra}}</ref><ref name=canb/>