List of Australian capital cities

There are eight capital cities in Australia, each of which function as the seat of government for the state or territory in which they are located. Melbourne was the initial capital following the 1901 Federation of Australia. In 1927, the seat of national government was moved to the newly created city of Canberra, which continues to serve as the national capital to this day.

Each capital city hosts the judicial, administrative and legislative functions for their jurisdiction. In the case of the states and internal territories, their capital cities also happen to be the most populous city in their respective jurisdiction.

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.^[1]

WESTERN AUSTRALIA NORTHERN TERRITORY SOUTH AUSTRALIA QUEENSLAND NEW SOUTH WALES VICTORIA TASMANIA ●Perth ●Adelaide ●Melbourne ★Canberra (ACT) ●Sydney ●Brisbane ●Hobart ●Darwin

State and Territory Capitals of Australia

Jurisdiction	Capital	City Population	State/Territory Population[2]	Date of statehood	Capital since	Image
Australia and Australian Capital Territory	Canberra	381,488	381,488	Has not attained statehood*	1913	View of Civic from Mount Ainslie, with Telstra Tower in the background
New South Wales	Sydney	4,757,083	7,410,399	1788	1788	Skyline of the Sydney central business district
Victoria	Melbourne	4,347,955	5,739,341	1851	1851	The Melbourne skyline on the Yarra River
Queensland	Brisbane	2,238,394	4,656,803	1859	1860	Brisbane's CBD, with the Story Bridge in the foreground
Western Australia	Perth	1,972,358	2,519,321	1829	1829	View of Perth CBD skyline
South Australia	Adelaide	1,291,666	1,670,827	1842	1856	View of Adelaide from Light's Vision, Montefiore Hill .
Tasmania	Hobart	217,973	513,159	1825	1826	View of the Hobart downtown district and Mount Wellington from Constitution Dock
Northern Territory	Darwin	136,245	240,759	Has not attained Statehood**	1911	View of Darwin CBD

*Although ACT has its own government, it is currently still considered a territory under Commonwealth rule.

** in 1911, South Australia transferred responsibility for governing the Northern Territory to the Commonwealth Government of Australia. It was granted self-governance in 1978, however the Northern Territory is still considered a territory under Commonwealth rule, not a state.

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