Can someone tell me about the construction of Canberra and the opening of Parliament House in 1927?

I don't know what you already know about this. When the states federated it was agreed that the national capital would not be in either Sydney or Melbourne but would have to be at least 100 miles from either. A number of sites were looked at including existing small towns but eventually the Canberra region was chosen. The name already existed but was sometimes spelt 'Canberry'. It was supposed to be based on an aboriginal word meaning 'meeting place', probably the local Ngunnawal people.

In the meantime the national parliament sat at Melbourne, which was bigger than Sydney then.

I think the site was fixed by 1908 and an international competition was announced for a town plan. This was won by a Chicago architect, Walter Burley Griffin. As it happened, Chicago architects were among world leaders at the time.

Some work began in 1911. In 1914 Australia became involved in the First World War and work on Canberra almost stopped. After the war there was a depression in Australia which began early in the 1920s but the economy picked up after some time.

The old parliament house was always intended as a temporary structure but was carefully built all the same. It was opened in 1927, probably on 9 May as that was the anniversary of the first sitting of the federated Australian parliament.

Another depression began in 1929 with the Wall Street crash and it lasted until the outbreak of the Second World War thanks to some very foolish policies advised by a British economist. It was worst in the early years though.

During the 1930s different government departments were relocated to Canberra as buildings were completed and more followed in the 1950s after the Second World War.

http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/a...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canberra

i think ken has it covered. wikipedia should have it all.