Design History
Charles Robert Scrivener (1855–1923) recommended the site for Canberra in 1909, which was to be a planned capital city for the country. One of the reasons for the location's selection was its ability to store water "for ornamental purposes at reasonable cost"; Scrivener's work had demonstrated that the topography could be used to create a lake through flooding.
In 1911, a competition for the design of Canberra was launched, and Scrivener's detailed survey of the area was supplied to the competing architects. The Molonglo River flowed through the site, which was a flood plain and Scrivener's survey showed in grey an area clearly representing an artificial lake—similar to the lake later created—and four possible locations for a dam to create it. Most of the proposals took the hint and included artificial bodies of water.
Read more about this topic: Lake Burley Griffin
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