Weetangera Public School Historical Sign 2014-09-12
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Weetangera () is a suburb in the
Belconnen The District of Belconnen () is one of the original eighteen districts of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), used in land administration. The district is subdivided into 27 divisions (suburbs), sections and blocks. The district of Belconn ...
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 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. ...
,
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 ...
. The suburb covers an area of approximately . Located approximately north-west of the
city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
, Weetangera is bounded by Springvale Drive to the south and west, Coulter Drive to the east and
Belconnen Way Belconnen Way is a major road in Canberra, Australia. It connects William Hovell Drive and Kingsford Smith Drive in the west to Barry Drive and Fairfax Street, providing access to Civic and the Inner North via Belconnen Town Centre. In addi ...
to the north. The Pinnacle Nature Reserve, a
Canberra Nature Park The Canberra Nature Park is a series of thirty three separate protected areas in and around Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, ranging from bushland hills to lowland native grassland. Many of the areas have previously been cleared for gra ...
is adjacent to the south of the suburb, across Springvale Drive.


Etymology

Weetangera is named after the original name of the property "Spring Vale", which in turn had been given a name of Aboriginal origin. In 1934, Australian journalist
Frederic Slater Frederic Slater (–10 March 1947) was an Australian journalist, poet, researcher and "authority on aboriginal folk lore". In the 1930s, Slater was founder and president of the short-lived Australian Archaeological and Education Research Society, ...
claimed that the name "Wittanjirra" was an Aboriginal word meaning "to suck, to drink greedily", referring to a spring near the Weetangera Public School. However, Slater does not provide evidence to support this claim.


History

Aboriginal settlement of the Australian Capital Territory dates back over 20,000 years. Grinding grooves located on the Molonglo River to the south of Weetangera provide evidence of Aboriginal use of the region pre-colonisatio

Members of the 'Canberra Tribe' continued to camp near Weetangera until the 1860s. Europeans first settled in the area in the 1820s, with the name Weetangera (also Weetangerra and Weetangara in early documents) applied to the local vicinity from this time. Weetangera was also the name for the historic Weetangera Parish, Murray, Weetangera parish, which included the land from Ginninderra Creek to the Molonglo River. The Weetangera Public School was first built to service the area in 1875, facing onto the Weetangera Road (now Belconnen Way). Samuel Shumack lived at "Spring Vale" in Weetangera between 1866 and 1915. Shumack and his father had taken up the land for farming when Samuel was eight years old. Samuel Shumack lived on the property with his family until it was claimed as land for the nation's capital in 1915. The Southwell family were significant to Weetangera, and various members of the family are buried in the Weetangera Cemetery and former Methodist Church now sited to the west of the adjoining suburb,
Hawker Hawker or Hawkers may refer to: Places * Hawker, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Hawker, South Australia, a town * Division of Hawker, an Electoral Division in South Australia * Hawker Island, Princess Elizabeth Land, Antarct ...
. The modern suburb of Weetangera was officially gazetted by the ACT Government in 1968, with a street theme: 'Pioneers of the Australian Capital Territory'. After the gazetting, the first modern settlers moved into the suburb in 1970 and the first students moved into the Weetangera Primary School, located about a kilometre from the old Weetangera Primary School, in 1973. Today, the suburb is home to over 2500 people.


Political representation

For the purposes of Australian federal elections for the
House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
, Weetangera is in the
Division of Canberra The Division of Canberra is an Australian electoral division in the Australian Capital Territory. It is named for the city of Canberra, Australia's national capital, and includes all of central Canberra, Kowen, Majura, as well as part of West ...
. For the purposes of Australian Capital Territory elections for the
ACT Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory (known in short as the ACT Legislative Assembly) is the unicameral legislature of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It sits in the Legislative Assembly Building on Civic Sq ...
, Weetangera is in the
Ginninderra electorate The Ginninderra electorate is one of the five electorates for the unicameral 25-member Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly. It elects five members. History It was created in 1995, when the three-electorate, Hare-Clark electoral s ...
.


Demographics

People who live in Weetangera are called Weetangerans. At the , Weetangera had a population of people. The census shows that Weetangera residents have a median age of 43 which is older than the ACT median of 35 and the Australian median of 38. The median weekly household income was , significantly more than the ACT median of $2,070 and the Australian median of $. Weetangera's population is predominantly Australian-born; 75.0 per cent on census night 2016. The second most common birthplace was England at 4.3 per cent. The most common religion is 'no religion', with 41.0% of the population reporting they were not religious.


Suburb amenities

Weetangera has a small shopping centre containing a bakery, beauty salon, dentist, coffee shop, gym, Pakistani restaurant and cleaner. The suburb is also home to the ''Weetangera Neighbourhood Oval''. The ACT Government announced restoration plans for the oval in June 2012, committing $4 million to three ovals, including the Weetangera oval, over a three-year period. The money is for the installation of irrigation systems, synthetic cricket wickets and practice nets, floodlights and a small pavilion and toilet block.


Educational institutions

Both
Weetangera Primary School Weetangera Primary School is a public coed primary school located in the suburb of Weetangera in Canberra, Australia. It caters for children in kindergarten to grade 6. The school's Principal is currently Julie Cooper. History Weetangera Pri ...
(1973–present) and Weetangera Preschool.


Historic Public School

The first Public School (pre-High School) was sited on land of the original farming property, and opened on 27 April 1875, with 27 students. The first teacher was Mr Ewan Cameron, a member of the Weetangera community and a parent of a student. The site is between (beside) the present Belconnen Way (north) and Smith and Kinleyside Streets (south). It now a park, with children's play area, with several lines of pine trees that were planted by students of the original school in about 1919 and 1928/9 (
Arbor Day Arbor Day (or Arbour in some countries) is a secular day of observance in which individuals and groups are encouraged to plant trees. Today, many countries observe such a holiday. Though usually observed in the spring, the date varies, dependi ...
).


People honoured in the streets of Weetangera

The street names in Weetangera are predominantly named for ACT pioneers: *Abernethy Street James Abernethy (1830–1920), an
overseer Overseer may refer to: Professions * Supervisor or superintendent; one who keeps watch over and directs the work of others *Plantation overseer, often in the context of forced labor or slavery *Overseer of the poor, an official who administered re ...
and later superintendent of ` Station', 1857–63; schoolmaster and clerk at St John the Baptist Church, 1863–80. *Bambridge Street Edwin Elijah Bambridge (1815–1879), who planted some of the first willow trees along the Molonglo River. *Belconnen Way "Belconnen" was originally the name of a pioneer's homestead and later of a rural district of the ACT. *Coppin Place John Coppin (born ''circa'' 1840). Coppins Crossing, across the lower
Molonglo River The Molonglo River, a perennial river that is part of the Murrumbidgee catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the Monaro and Capital Country regions of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, in Australia. ...
, is also named for John Coppin. *Coulter Drive Robert Charles Coulter (1864–1956); an architect and landscape painter and the co-designer of an award-winning plan in the competition for a Design for the National Capital held in 1911. *Crace Street
Edward Kendall Crace Edward Kendall Crace (1844–1892) was an Australian pastoralist who owned extensive land holdings around Canberra. Crace was the son of the English interior designer John Gregory Crace (1809-1889) and his wife, Sarah Jane Hine Langley. Crace ...
(1844–1892); one of the original settlers in the Gungahlin area becoming one of the largest landholders in the district; purchased the 'Gungahlin' and 'Ginninderra' properties from William Davis in 1877 and also acquired 'Charnwood'. *Darmody Street John Darmody (1817–1877); employed at ' Duntroon Station' in 1858. *Davis Street William Davis, senior (1821–1876); arrived in the colony from England on 6 March 1842 on the ''Palestine'' with his wife, Jane Elizabeth (née Weston) and several of their children; went to 'Lanyon', home of his daughter and son-in-law; the family moved to Booroomba, where they remained until the early 1860s; sold the property to Charles McKeahnie; Davis then moved to Ginninderra Cottage where he remained until the early 1870s after which he moved to Goulburn; he died in 1876 and his wife died in 1888. *De Salis Street Leopold Fabius Dietegen Fane de Salis (1816–1898); a pioneer pastoralist and politician. He purchased Cuppacumbalong Station in 1856; De Salis was the Member for Queanbeyan, 1864–69 and a Member of the Legislative Council of New South Wales, 1874–98. *Gibbes Place Augustus Onslow Manby Gibbes (1828–1897); owned Yarralumla sheep station between 1858 and 1881, purchased from Sir Terence Aubrey Murray and sold to Frederick Campbell. *Gillespie Street John Gillespie (1809–1889); owned 'Horse Park Station', Ginninderra, 1856–89. *Harcourt Street George Harcourt (died 1893), a storekeeper in Ginninderra. *Jones Place Thomas Jones (1812–1887); arrived in the district in 1825; carpenter and farmer; held land at Rocky Gully near Mulligan's Flat, Gungahlin District. *Kilby Crescent William Kilby (1811–1902); settled at 'Lands End' in Weetangera. *Kinleyside Crescent George Kinleyside (1820–1886); was a blacksmith and the Postmaster at between 1884 and 1886. *Line Place Thomas Harrington Line (1828–1878); a schoolteacher at Canberra, 1858–60; Superintendent of 'Duntroon Station', 1860; also worked the 'Glebe Farm', 1859. *Mathieson Crescent William Mathieson (1837–1882); a shepherd on 'Ginninderra Station' from 1860 to 1882. *Mayo Street Alfred William Mayo (1856–1936); a pioneering farmer of the Majura area. *McKeahnie Street Charles McKeahnie (1809–1903); owner, at various times, of properties in Boboyan, Gudgenby, Orroral and Booroomba areas. He and his wife Elizabeth came to Australia from Scotland in 1838. They were the grandparents of Charlie McKeahnie, who some historians believe to be the inspiration for the poem '
The Man from Snowy River The Man from Snowy River may refer to: * "The Man from Snowy River" (poem), an 1890 Australian poem by Banjo Paterson. * '' The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses'' an 1895 poetry collection by Banjo Paterson (including the above) * ''The Man ...
' by
Banjo Paterson Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, (17 February 18645 February 1941) was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the ...
. *McLachlan Crescent Allan McLachlan (1835–1878); the manager of "Duntroon Station" in 1876. *Morton Street Andrew Morton (1812–1881); a pioneer medical practitioner and coroner in the Queanbeyan district. *Mowle Place Stewart Majoribanks Mowle (1822–1908); employed at 'Yarralumla Station' between 1838 and 1845. *O'Rourke Street Terence O'Rourke (1831–1896); employed on 'Duntroon Station' during the 1850s. *Packer Street William James Packer (1793–1881); the first settler at Gundaroo in 1824, who owned 'Esthermead Estate'. *Plummer Street Levi Plummer (1822–1876); settled at Weetangera in the early 1870s; died after falling from a horse in 1876; his wife, Frances (née Guthridge), died in 1891. *Shumack Street Richard Shumack (1817–1887); father of Samuel Shumack and employed at 'Duntroon Station' between 1856 and 1858 and later with his son, Samuel, established 'Springvale Station' at Weetangera. *Smith Street named for ACT pioneer clergymen. *Southwell Street Thomas Southwell (1813–1881); the owner of "Parkwood" station from 1854. Southwell was responsible for the introduction of Methodism into the Weetangera area. *Springvale Drive named for a homestead in the Weetangera area established by Samuel Shumack and his father Richard Shumack in 1866. *Vest Place Richard Vest (1855–1922); an overseer at 'Yarralumla Station', 1897–1911. *Webb Place George Solomon Webb (1783–1868); a pioneer settler in the Tidbinbilla area, 1833; married to Sarah Rolfe, the step-daughter of Timothy Beard. Their eldest daughter Eliza Webb married John McDonald, the son of the original settlers at Uriarra. Mount Eliza in Tidbinbilla is believed to be named in her honour. *Weetangera Place the name has been associated with the area since the days of the early settlers.


Geology

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 green grey
rhyodacite Rhyodacite is a volcanic rock intermediate in composition between dacite and rhyolite. It is the extrusive equivalent of those plutonic rocks that are intermediate in composition between monzogranite and granodiorite. Rhyodacites form from rapid ...
of the Walker Volcanics underlie the whole suburb.Henderson G A M and Matveev G, Geology of Canberra, Queanbeyan and Environs 1:50000 1980.


References

{{Belconnen Suburbs Suburbs of Canberra