Topstad

Topstad
Country	Georgeland
Territory	Federal District
First settled	1878
Established as capital	1904
Government transferred	1911
Seat	Parliament of Georgeland
Government
• Type	Autonomous federal territory
• Body	Legislative Council
• Head of Government	Lois Marks (Liberal Democrat)
Population
• Estimate (2023)	801,394 (2,022)
Demonym(s)	Topstader

Topstad is the capital city of Georgeland, located near the centre of the island of Capitalia. It is the largest inland city in the country, and the sixth-largest overall. Founded in 1904, Topstad formally became the capital of Georgeland in 1911. Topstad is located in the Federal District of Georgeland and is largely coterminous with it. In 2023, Topstad had a population of just over eight hundred thousand.

Topstad was first explored by settlers in the early 19th century, and was home to a small number of agricultural holdings and small settlements along the Gordon River. The first permanent settlement was established in 1878, as Northam-Wolcott, which became known as Sheffield in 1900. The name Topstad became official in 1906, by an official act of the federal Parliament.

As the seat of the national government, Topstad is home to most federal institutions, national monuments, museums and galleries, and defence installations. The Houses of Parliament, Martin Hall (residence of the President of Georgeland), the Residence (office of the Prime Minister of Georgeland) and the Supreme Court of Georgeland are all located within the city. All foreign embassies to Georgeland are situated in Topstad and the city hosts the national offices of many federal or international institutions. Most national civil service agencies are headquartered in Topstad, and the city is home to the National Defence Complex, the headquarters of the United Islands Defence Force, and the Bank of Georgeland, the country's reserve bank.

Cultural institutions in Topstad include the Georgeland Museum, the Georgeland War and Veterans Museum, the National Georgeland Mint, the Georgeland National Library, the National Gallery of the United Islands, the National Archives of Georgeland, and the Georgeland National Portrait Gallery.

Topstad began its life as a planned city, but increasingly has become less so, and the city's sprawl has grown exponentially over a century. The former village of Sheffield, intended to be the core of the city, is actually located about 10km north of the city centre, and is one of the city's largest suburban areas. Influenced by the garden city movement, much of the city's core is surrounded by greenbelt space, although this becomes less pronounced in the suburbs. Many of the city's oldest buildings are designed in an Art Deco, Neoclassical or Edwardian style.

Topstad is a tourism hub, and the 4th-most-visited destination in Georgeland. Tourism contributes around 15% of the city's economy. The largest single employer in Topstad is the federal government, which employs around 35% of the city's workforce. The city has large defence, engineering, and software development employers.

Etymology

The name Topstad had been applied to the area as early as 1840, when German explorers planned a settlement around the bowl-shaped Lake Northam, to which they gave the name Topfstadt, or 'Bowl City'. When English-language maps of the vicinity were made, the German was transliterated incorrectly, although the spelling Topstadt remained common until the 1900s. In 1906 when the National Capital Act was passed, the name Topstad without the second 't' was made the region's official name. The original name of Sheffield survives in the Sheffield district of Topstad, about 4km from the city centre.

History

Pre-settlement

The region now comprising Topstad and the Federal District were first charted by German explorers around 1797. The first recorded party to survey the area was led by Albrecht Grumm in 1799, but the Grumm party found some evidence there may have been a prior expedition that did not return. Around 1805, shortly after the earliest settlements on the island of Capitalia (then called New Ireland) were established, the area became well-trafficked and agriculturally prosperous. It was more than a century before a permanent population centre was established on the side. However, the Gordon River, named for the colonial Governor, Charles Gordon, Marquess of Huntly, provided an excellent source of irrigation for the surrounding farmland, and when the rural population began to soar in the 1870s and 1880s, several homesteads in the region became stopovers for travellers and carters on the journey northwards to New Kikipolis.

Settlement

The first permanent structure to be built in what is now the modern Topstad was Burnett Cottage in 1865, but it was not until 1878 that any kind of permanent population centre arose. The village and later town of Northam-Wolcott, as it then was, became a regional centre and a market for produce in the area. The town was renamed to Sheffield in 1900. The name 'Topstad' was not adopted until 1906 (see below).

Emergence of a capital

In 1891, after Georgeland gained (limited) independence from Britain, the city of Weston (now Santa Christina) was chosen as a capital city, but the constitution specified that the permanent capital would not be in Mainland. Several dozen parliamentary committees and citizens' groups were formed to suggest locations and names for the new capital city. Options considered were Sergiocitta, Georgetown, Dannyburg, Ipswich and Emilypolis, which was the leading candidate for some time. The compromise arrangement of Sheffield was agreed on by the House of Commons in August 1903, and ratified in the National Capital Act of 1904 by the Senate. Georgeland now had a site for a permanent capital city. The name 'Sheffield' was to remain the name of the new capital, but a bill spearheaded by Jonathan Walker successfully changed the name of Sheffield to Topstad.

The first construction of government buildings began in 1905, and continued at a rapid pace. By 1910, the town's population had doubled to almost 11,000, and many thousands more would arrive to take advantage of the sudden boom and the economic opportunities therein. In 1910 construction was completed on the first, preliminary, stage of the Houses of Parliament, and an official residence for the Governor-General of Georgeland, Runsdale Court, had also been completed, though it had been converted from an existing structure. Also around this time, businessman Victor Martin, later Georgeland's first President, began construction of a guest house for himself and his family in the area, which later became Martin Hall, the President's official residence. In December 1910, Prime Minister Nicholas Turner visited the town and proclaimed it "ready to be our home", and declared it to be a city, as it was felt that a capital must be "of sufficient grandeur".

Government moves in

On April 15, 1911, Parliament sat in Topstad for the first time, in a ceremony presided over by the Princess Royal, and formally declared Topstad to be the "capital of Georgeland in perpetuity." The population continued to grow throughout Topstad's early development, reaching 20,000 by the outbreak of World War I. The first drama in the new capital occurred only four months into its life, as a general election voted out the Protectionist government led by Turner and voted the country's first Labour government in, led by Eric Donaldson.

Many found the new capital remote and inhospitable - there were few hotels and recreational areas until the Depression, and no rail access until 1920. In 1924 the first aerodrome on the island of Capitalia was built at Topstad. Among those who hated Topstad was Prime Minister David Turner, ironically the brother of the man who had declared the city ready to be home to the government. In a letter to his son in July 1920, Turner said: "This place is nothing but a barren plain, made barely liveable by the one hotel and barely tolerable by the many fools." The wartime governments of Donaldson, and later Gregory Green conducted much of their business from 'secret war rooms' underneath the Topstad Hotel, which were excavated in 1984.

Mid 20th century

Topstad received its first significant public works funding in 1923 when the government funded a program to double the population of the city within ten years. The ambitious proposal saw the creation of new suburbs and a revitalised central business district, and the development of riverside areas. In 1932, the census recorded Topstad's population at 37,556. It would continue to grow exponentially over the next five decades.

By the end of World War II, Topstad had become the fastest-growing city in Georgeland. Fenton Thomas had conducted all wartime affairs from the city and had somewhat irked his Cabinet and public servants by insisting all Cabinet meetings and all discussions with military leaders take place in Topstad. While the administrative War Office had relocated iin 1916, most military command infrastructure remained elsewhere. In 1944, Defence Command Headquarters was relocated to Topstad from Santa Christina, which brought with it thousands of ancillary staff. The increase in government activity, spurred by the post-war growth of the public sector, brought in new residents and commercial development, including the expansion and updating of the city's rail network, which by 1968 was in use as a civic mass transit system, as opposed to a simple route in and out of the city. In 1972, Topstad's population was more than 140,000.

Late 20th - 21st centuries

The city continued to grow and during the 1970s was one of the country's fastest-growing cities due in part to the large expansion of the federal government and civil service. By the early 1980s, however, population growth had outstripped infrastructure, leading to much of the city being poorly-serviced by transport, sanitation and policing. Topstad during this period gained a somewhat dubious reputation as a city of high crime and poor standard of living; this was not entirely accurate, but popular perception led to a decline in the city's tourism. Around the same time, the city's population began to diversify with an influx of migrants from Africa and South Asia. These communities were often poorly-integrated into the city at large and poverty rates in Topstad remained much higher among migrant families than among white citizens.

The federal Labour government of Noel Quarton made a concerted effort to address the city's crime and infrastructure issues during the mid-to-late 1980s, aided by the Labour mayor Neil Coles, elected in 1983 as the city's first left-wing mayor in decades. Massive increases in infrastructure spending, policing and especially education had a significant impact - the city's crime rate had halved by 1990, and literacy rates among the poorer citizens increased by almost 40%. By the mid-1990s the city's economic and social downturn had been reversed. In the early 2000s, local and federal governments made an active effort to promote Topstad as a tourism, finance and technology hub. Under conservative mayors David Duncan and Gary Trent in the 2000s and 2010s, business investment had increased to the point Topstad was ranked third in the country for corporate financial stability. Several major technology companies, particularly in the software development field, moved to or established offices in the city. The Conservative government of Luke Macaulay also provided a significant benefit to the city through its encouragement of growth in defence technology, already one of the city's biggest industries.

The single biggest change to the city's administrative arrangements took place in 2015 when, after decades of reviews, reports and recommendations on the subject, the city was granted self-government. The Federal District Government Act established a Legislative Council, replacing the city's municipal council, and the directly-elected mayor with a parliamentary system headed by a Head of Government, equivalent to a state Chief Minister (though with different powers as the district remains under federal jurisdiction). At the first elections for the new council in 2016, former Deputy Prime Minister Andrea Perkins was elected as Head of Government, leading a government of the Liberal Democrats. In 2019, Perkins resigned and was replaced by Jennifer Dugdale, who was followed by fellow Liberal Democrats Andrew Fisher (2022-23) and Lois Marks (2023-). From 2020, the Liberal Democrats governed in coalition with the Socialist Workers Party. The biggest infrastructure project of the 21st century, the city's new tram network, stretching from parliament to the Octagon and as far south as Northam, was inaugurated in 2023.

Geography

Topstad sits on the Gordon River, which flows through the circular Lake Northam, from which the city was named. The Gordon flows into the lake southwards and eastwards from the lake, with the Upper Gordon flowing via its source in the Breckinridge Mountains and Lake Caedwaller, while the Lower Gordon flows into Lake Garibaldi around 250km away. The confluence of these rivers creates a natural flood plain, and the city's topography is a gentle slope towards the river. The city's urban area takes up roughly 50% of the district, with the remainder devoted to farmland and nature reserve. The urban environment is relatively flat, while the undeveloped areas outside it tend to be hillier. Topstad's average elevation is around 800m above sea level.

Climate and environment

Topstad has a largely oceanic climate, marked by warm summers and mild winters, although climate change has recently influenced temperature extremes, with Topstad's average summer day temperature rising from 32°C in 1990 to 34°C in 2020. The average winter temperature in 2020 was 15°C, though temperatures as low as -13° have been recorded in July. Precipitation averages around 650mm annually. Snow is rare, but sleet is relatively common in winter months.

Urban structure

The city's core is The Octagon, an octagonal road through which four main arterial avenues pass - Republic Way, Pearce Avenue, Constitution Drive, and Federal Boulevard. The Octagon, approximately a kilometre across, contains many of the city's most important buildings either along it or within it, with most major federal departments and agencies headquartered there. The Octagon's interior land also contains commercial and residential sites although the bulk of non-governmental buildings are outside the main city centre. In 2002, the Octagon's interior space was estimated to contain 100,000 parking spaces, which led the national finance minister at the time, Xavier McLaren, to refer to the district as the 'largest carpark in the world'.

Government and politics

Topstad is contained entirely within the Federal District and has no local government of its own. The city limits of Topstad are coterminous with those of the district, even though only about 60% of the district is urbanised. The city is divided into six wards, holdovers from the previous local government from 1938 to 2016, which no longer elect councillors (the entire city votes as one district to elect the Federal District Legislative Council) but serve administrative functions. Each ward has a local council office staffed by civil servants who provide advice and support to the local community and liaise with the various District commissions (departments) and co-ordinate policy with one another and with the Legislative Council and executive government. Topstad's six wards are Central, Gordon, Northam, Paxton, Sheffield and Walcott.

Politically Topstad has swung between long periods of rule by either the Conservative Party of Georgeland or a left-wing party (Labour until the 21st century, thereafter the Liberal Democrats). The city elected Labour mayors from 1930 to 1951, Conservatives from 1951 to 1983 and again from 2007 to 2016. Since 2016 and the establishment of self-government, Topstad has been governed continuously by the Liberal Democrats, but since 2020 they have been in coalition with the Socialist Workers Party, the only jurisdiction in Georgeland in which the SWP has ever held any government position. The city's electorate has been becoming more left-wing since the 1990s, and while some neighbourhoods and wards are more reliably conservative, the combined left-wing vote has grown at every election in the 21st century.

Topstad and the Federal District elect five members of the House of Commons under the d'Hondt count and two senators under Single Transferable Vote, in each case voting as a single electorate. At the 2023 election, Topstad elected two MPs from the Reform Alliance (Adrian Hopkins and Linda Losik), one Liberal Democrat (Jennifer Dugdale), one Independent (Brian Hughes), and one from the Socialist Workers Party (Patricia Omar). Its current senators, elected in 2019 and 2022 respectively, are Petunia Kennedy and Julia Reubens, both from the Reform Alliance.

Education

Topstad is home to two public universities - the University of Topstad, established in 1939, and Sheffield University, founded in 1977. The National Army Academy is also in Topstad, located outside the city proper close to the Capitalian town of Canniford, just over the border. The city has 130 public primary schools, 33 public high schools, 12 Catholic primary and K-12 schools, and 3 independent K-12 schools, including the prestigious St. Joseph's.

Sport and recreation

Topstad is home to the T-Mobile National Stadium, which despite the name is not a national institution but does serve as the main sporting hub for the city, and home to three of its prominent sporting teams. The Topstad Tigers are the city's premier association football team and have a large following; the club's women's team, the Tigresses, have gained popularity in recent years and have a stronger overall record than the men's team; in 2020 the men's team was relegated to the Second Division while the women's team won the championship trophy. The National Stadium also serves as the home ground for the city's rugby team, the Topstad Titans, though multiple games are also played at the Sheffield Cricket Ground.

The city is also represented in state and national cricket competitions. The city is considered part of Capitalia for domestic cricket, and participates in Capitalia's local league. The aforementioned Sheffield Cricket Ground is the city's largest sporting venue in terms of seating, and is used for various state and international matches, as well as Prime Minister's XI matches.

Topstad is represented in the National Basketball Competition by the Topstad Thunder (men's) and Topstad Rexes (women's, aka the 'T-Rexes'), in netball by the Topstad Talons, and in rugby league by the Capital Comets. Recently an amateur Australian Rules football league has emerged.

Transportation

Topstad is serviced by Highway 5, which runs across Capitalia north-to-south, and Highway 6 which runs east-to-west. The city has a high ratio of cars to residents, and recent attempts to encourage public transportation use have met with mixed success. The city's primary public transport system is its railway, which connects with Capitalia's state rail system, and runs between the major urban and suburban hubs. The Topstad Metro, a light rail system, opened in 2021, running between the city centre and the Octagon.

The city also runs a municipal bus service, which covers a larger volume of the city than the railway. The district government, in 2020, announced a plan to upgrade all the city's buses to a green biofuel variety by 2027.

Topstad is serviced by three cab companies; Capital Cabs, Dulux Taxies, and Yellow Cabs. Ride-sharing services, including Uber, Lyft and MyDriver, began operating in the city unregulated around 2010; the city legalised ridesharing in 2015.

Notable people

The following is a partial list of notable people who are associated with Topstad.

Arts and music

• Kevin Cazares
• Jordan Grimes
• Adnan Jack
• Dag Phan

Business

• Peter Gall
• Kelly Lachlan
• Colin Leech

Media and entertainment

• Adriana Giannini
• Freddie Frink
• Kyle Messner
• Frankie Hunt
• Ben Yaxley

Military

• George Depford
• Lucy Anne Summers

Politics

• Lois Daniels
• Jennifer Dugdale
• Andrew Fisher
• Charlotte Lang
• Lois Marks
• Andrea Perkins
• Peter Tsau

Sport

• Freddie Holden
• Kelly Huong
• Fiona Jeffords
• Chas Judd
• Ben Kingston
• Ian McLeod
• Sam Stirling
• Peter Tranter
• Scott Yates

Other

• Joanna Dingle
• Margaret Marr
• Clayton Poole