Within New South Wales, southeast Australia.

GMT + 10 (GMT + 11 from first Sunday in October to first Sunday in April).

2,400 sq km (927 sq miles).

340,000 (official estimate 2007).

141.7 per sq km.

Canberra (also national capital). Population: 329,000 (2007).

Canberra is located in the Australian Capital Territory on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range, and was conceived in the early 1900s in order to create a capital city in a federal state separate from any of the uniting states. Spectacular green countryside is ringed by mountains nearly 600m (2,000ft) above sea level. Lake Burley-Griffin, a manmade lake, is the centrepiece of this constantly expanding modern capital. Hills, trees and greenery remain prominent among the architecture of a city that is attractive, tidy, spacious and efficient as befits the national capital city.