Charnwood () is a suburb in the Belconnen district of

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 ...

located within the Australian Capital Territory,

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 ...

Design

Charnwood's estate design was based on the

Radburn principle Radburn design housing (also called Radburn housing, Radburn design'', ''Radburn principle, or Radburn concept) is a concept for planned housing estates, based on a design that was originally used in Radburn, New Jersey, United States. History ...

. Under this design, houses were to face common

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

land, with the suburb's streets servicing garages situated at the rear of the houses. The design failed in its application, however, as home owners built fences around the "park side" of their blocks, effectively screening the houses away from the common parkland. This created long, narrow, fenced walkways, with poor lighting and no neighbourhood surveillance. The original design for the network of pathways was to make it possible to walk from any point in the suburb to any other without directly crossing a road; pedestrian bridges can be used to cross the few major streets within the suburb. Charnwood is the location of the Charnwood centre shopping area which serves surrounding suburbs. The shopping centre includes several fast food outlets, a branch of the Labor Club, a Shell Service Station and a

Woolworths Woolworth, Woolworth's, or Woolworths may refer to: Businesses * F. W. Woolworth Company, the original US-based chain of "five and dime" (5¢ and 10¢) stores * Woolworths Group (United Kingdom), former operator of the Woolworths chain of shops ...

. An emergency services station incorporating ambulance, fire and rescue services was opened in October 2013 by the Minister for Police and Emergency Services, and is located near the Charnwood shops at the south-west corner of Lhotsky Street and Tillyard Drive abutting Ginninderra Dr.

Education

Charnwood is home to Charnwood-Dunlop Primary School, Saint Thomas Aquinas Catholic Primary School, Saint Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church and Charnwood High School (now closed and housing the Canberra

Christian Life Centre Christian Life Centre (commonly abbreviated to CLC) is or was a name given to a number of Pentecostal churches in Australia, many of them affiliated with the Australian Christian Churches (formerly Assemblies of God, or AOG) network. ''Hills Chris ...

and the Brindabella Christian College Charnwood Campus).

Naming

According to the Act Planning and Land Authority website, the suburb is named after: ''" former homestead in the Belconnen District; Henry Hall obtained a grant of of land which he named 'Charnwood', 1833; named after the Forest of Charnwood in England."'' Street names in Charnwood are named after New South Wales pioneers and the suburb name 'Charnwood' was gazetted on 9 September 1971.

Interests

From 2004 to 2018 there was an annual carnival call the 'Charny Carny', a unique event which benefited Saint Thomas Aquinas Catholic Primary School, Charnwood-Dunlop Primary School and Mount Rogers Scout Group. This

carnival Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...

had the traditional purpose of building community spirit and donates funds for both the schools and the Scout Group. On 4 March 2020 the West Belconnen Charny Carny Association Incorporated who run the Charny Carny announced that the carnival would no longer be running, due to not having enough volunteers on the committee to run the event.

Sporting facilities

The Charnwood District Playing Fields are home to the Ginninderra "The Tigers" athletics club during the track season (October – March).

Governance

For the purposes of Australian federal elections for the House of Representatives, Charnwood is in the seat of Fenner. For the purposes of Australian Capital Territory elections for the ACT Legislative Assembly, Charnwood is in the Ginninderra electorate.

Geology

Rocks in Charnwood are from 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. Deakin Volcanics purple rhyodacite is found in most of Charnwood. The Deakin Fault passes in the north west direction on the north east edge of the Deakin Volcanics, The fault dropped down the Deakin Volcanics and raised up the south west side. Hawkins Volcanics green-grey dacite and quartz andesite are in the north east on the other side of Deakin Fault.Henderson G A M and Matveev G, Geology of Canberra, Queanbeyan and Environs 1:50000 1980.

References

{{Belconnen Suburbs Suburbs of Canberra Radburn design housing estates