Banks is a suburb in the

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

district of

Tuggeranong The District of Tuggeranong () is one of the original eighteen districts of the Australian Capital Territory used in land administration. The district is subdivided into divisions (suburbs), sections and blocks and is the southernmost town cen ...

. It is the most southerly suburb of Canberra. The suburb is named after Sir

Joseph Banks Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the 1766 natural-history expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador. He took part in Captain James ...

(1743–1820), the botanist who accompanied Captain

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

Botany Bay Botany Bay (Dharawal: ''Kamay''), an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cook ...

in 1770. The suburb was gazetted on 12 March 1987. The theme of the street names is botany or natural history. Banks is located adjacent to the suburbs of Conder and

Gordon Gordon may refer to: People * Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters * Gordon (surname), the surname * Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War * Clan Gordon, ...

. It is bounded by Box Hill Avenue, Tom Roberts Avenue and Tharwa Drive. Located in the suburb is Beau and Jessi Park and the Banks Oval. The Rob Roy Nature Reserve, part of Canberra Nature Park, is a hilly region to the east of Banks that includes Mt Rob Roy. Nearer and also to the east of Banks is the smaller mountain Big Monks, accessible from Wollemi Place. Big Monks has a gliding stage near the top, allowing paragliders and hang-gliders to fly over the suburb of Banks. The suburb itself slopes gently to the west-northwest. There is a small shopping centre in the suburb, on the main internal road, Pockett Avenue. It includes 2 small take-away food shops, a pet shop and a small IGA supermarket. Banks 1, Banks' only oval, is used for local events such as the Saint Clare of Assisi Primary School Athletics Carnival.

Geology

Alluvium Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluv ...

is the surface geology for the whole suburb. Beneath the alluvium and making up the surrounding hills are the

Deakin Volcanics The geology of the Australian Capital Territory includes rocks dating from the Ordovician around 480 million years ago, whilst most rocks are from the Silurian. During the Ordovician period the region—along with most of eastern Australia—was p ...

, which erupted during the

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleozo ...

age 414 million years ago.Henderson G A M and Matveev G, Geology of Canberra, Queanbeyan and Environs 1:50000 1980. Banks panorama

References

External links

* {{Tuggeranong Suburbs Suburbs of Canberra