![Westlake sign December 2013](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Westlake_sign_December_2013.jpg)
Westlake in Canberra is a ghost town on the outskirts of
Yarralumla,
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. ...
. Westlake used to be a suburb 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 ...
from 1922 until 1965. Remnants of constructions and buildings are still visible today.
At its peak it had a population of around 700. In 2014, Pip Buining and Louise Morris created a theatrical event called ''Anthology'' celebrating the township.
Show review
/ref> She says "the site is Ngunnawal
The Ngunnawal people, also spelt Ngunawal, are an Aboriginal people of southern New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory in Australia.
Language
Ngunnawal and Gundungurra are Australian Aboriginal languages from the Pama-Nyungan ...
land, ''guru bung dhaura'' (stony ground) a traditional pathway, and from the 1920s was the site of one of the camps created to house the workers building the new city of Canberra. Tents and a hall were erected at Westlake followed by 61 temporary cottages, designed by architect H. M. Rolland and built in 1923, for married tradesmen, and their families, who came to Canberra to build the infrastructure for the new Federal Capital of Australia."
She continues "Westlake was planned and built. Families were moved in, went to work, built friendships, got married, had children, created gardens, held funerals. The temporary suburb became a community. But when it had served its purpose and the workers were no longer required, the houses were sold off one by one and taken away on the backs of trucks. Westlake was erased."
Westlake remains a tourist attraction today. It sits in a picturesque corner of the nation's capital, surrounded by embassies and bush.
References
External links
{{coord, -35.3022961, 149.1143121, display=title
Dave Reid's site
Suburbs of Canberra
Ghost towns in Australia