Celebrating Marion Mahony Griffin, the woman who helped shape Canberra

In 1911, the Australian Government launched a competition for the design of a new capital.

The winner was a young man from Chicago, Walter Burley Griffin — but the designs he sent across the seas were actually drawn by his wife, Marion Mahony Griffin.

Marion’s 16 renderings of her husband’s plans for Canberra were a vital part of the winning entry, but her name wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

The story of Canberra’s design is a reflection of a different time, but the National Capital Authority (NCA) is determined to change that.

In the year that would have been Marion’s 150th birthday the NCA is holding a series of events and an exhibition to…