suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

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 ...

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 ...

Lake Burley Griffin Lake Burley Griffin is an artificial lake in the centre of Canberra, the capital of Australia. It was completed in 1963 after the Molonglo River, which ran between the city centre and Parliamentary Triangle, was dammed. It is named after Walte ...

Scrivener Dam Scrivener Dam is a concrete gravity dam that impounds the Molonglo River in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The dam creates Lake Burley Griffin, which was established for recreational and ornamental purposes. Named in honour of surveyor C ...

Government House Government House is the name of many of the official residences of governors-general, governors and lieutenant-governors in the Commonwealth and the remaining colonies of the British Empire. The name is also used in some other countries. Gover ...

Governor-General of Australia The governor-general of Australia is the representative of the monarch, currently King Charles III, in Australia.Sir Terence Aubrey Murray, who owned Yarralumla sheep station from 1837 to 1859, Augustus Onslow Manby Gibbes, who owned the property from 1859 to 1881, and Augustus' father

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

John George Nathaniel Gibbes Colonel John George Nathaniel Gibbes (30 March 17875 December 1873) was a British army officer who emigrated to Australia in 1834 on his appointment as Collector of Customs for the Colony of New South Wales, an appointment which gave him a sea ...

(1787–1873). The modern suburb of Yarralumla was

gazette A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...

d by the government in 1928 and was home to approximately 3,120 people and many

diplomatic mission A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

s. Notable locations include Lennox Gardens, the

Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no governm ...

and the

Hotel Canberra The Hotel Canberra, also known as Hyatt Hotel Canberra, is a major hotel in the Australian national capital, Canberra. It is located in the suburb of Yarralumla, near Lake Burley Griffin and Parliament House. It was built to house politici ...

. Parliament House and The Lodge lie just outside its boundary. Yarralumla is one of Canberra's most desirable and expensive residential suburbs because of its wide leafy streets, attractive lakeside setting and central location.

Geography

Yarralumla is located in the central Canberra district of

South Canberra South Canberra, or the Inner South, is a central district of Canberra, the capital city of Australia. South Canberra is located to the south of Canberra's City Centre, Australian Capital Territory, city centre and is on the south bank of Lake B ...

in 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. ...

, a

federal territory A federal territory is an administrative division under the direct and usually exclusive jurisdiction of a federation's national government. A federal territory is a part of a federation, but not a part of any federated state. The states constit ...

. It is bordered by Lake Burley Griffin to the north, Commonwealth Avenue and Capital Hill to the east,

Adelaide Avenue Adelaide Avenue is a limited-access road in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The road connects Government House, Canberra, Yarralumla with the Parliament House, Canberra, Parliament House area. Adelaide Avenue is a popular tourism, tour ...

and the Cotter Road to the south, and Scrivener Dam, Lady Denman Drive and part of the

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. ...

to the west. Its southeast corner abuts Capital Hill, the location of Parliament House. The Lodge lies across Adelaide Avenue near its eastern end. file:Map of Yarralumla in Canberra.PNG, 300px, Map of Yarralumla, located south of

Lake Burley Griffin Lake Burley Griffin is an artificial lake in the centre of Canberra, the capital of Australia. It was completed in 1963 after the Molonglo River, which ran between the city centre and Parliamentary Triangle, was dammed. It is named after Walte ...

The streets in Yarralumla are named after Australian Governors of the Australian states, governors and botanists. Most of the older streets in the suburb are laid out on an approximately rectangular grid with some curved sections, while the more hilly eastern end of the suburb, including the embassy district, is set out with contour-guided roads. Major roads in Yarralumla include Banks Street, Novar Street and Hopetoun Circuit in a north–south direction and Schlich Street, Loftus Street and Weston Street running east–west. Being a

dormitory A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university s ...

suburb, there are no major through roads. Access to the rest of the city can be made from Adelaide Avenue, Commonwealth Avenue, Lady Denman Drive and Cotter Road, all of which run along the borders of the suburb. From these roads, entry to the suburb can be gained by turning into roads such as Coronation Drive, Hopetoun Circuit and Novar Street. Yarralumla has wide, tree-lined streets, most of which have been planted with exotic trees such as

atlas cedar ''Cedrus atlantica'', the Atlas cedar, is a species of tree in the pine family Pinaceae, native to the Rif and Atlas Mountains of Morocco (Middle Atlas, High Atlas), and to the Tell Atlas in Algeria.Gaussen, H. (1964). Genre ''Cedrus''. Les F ...

s and cherry plums on Banks Street, claret ashes on Loch Street,

pin oak ''Quercus palustris'', the pin oak or swamp Spanish oak, is a tree in the red oak section (''Quercus'' sect. ''Lobatae'') of the genus ''Quercus''. Pin oak is one of the most commonly used landscaping oaks in its native range due to its ease of ...

s on Schlich Street and

English oak ''Quercus robur'', commonly known as common oak, pedunculate oak, European oak or English oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. It is a large tree, native plant, native to most of Europe west of the Caucasus ...

s and hawthorns on Weston Street, along with the indigenous white brittle gums on Empire Circuit and river oaks on Solander Place. Much of the area of Yarralumla consists of open space or non-residential development, including Weston and Stirling Parks, the

Royal Canberra Golf Club The Canberra Golf Club, later known as the Royal Canberra Golf Club, was formed in 1926. Its original grounds were behind the Hotel Canberra on the river flats on both sides of the Molonglo River. History The club's Club House was on a site n ...

, and the grounds of Government House. Many houses are occupied by diplomatic missions. The embassy area of Yarralumla is located towards the eastern end of the suburb next to Stirling Park. It is the hilliest area of Yarralumla. The

Parliamentary Triangle The National Triangle, which is referred to as the Parliamentary Triangle, is the ceremonial precinct of Canberra, containing some of Australia's most significant buildings. The National Triangle is formed by Commonwealth, Kings and Constituti ...

is located to its east. The residential areas of Yarralumla are located in the central and western areas of the suburb. The Yarralumla shops at the corner of Novar and Bentham Streets are in the centre of the western residential area, which has typically flat terrain and streets laid out in a rectangular grid, typically lined by exotic trees. This area has a blend of original weatherboard, monocrete and brick dwellings as well as some recently rebuilt detached houses, dual occupancies and units. Minimbah Court at the corner of Banks and Schlicht Streets is an example of Canberra’s earlier medium-density unit buildings. It was constructed in the 1950s and originally named Solander Court in line with nearby streets named after

First Fleet The First Fleet was a fleet of 11 ships that brought the first European and African settlers to Australia. It was made up of two Royal Navy vessels, three store ships and six convict transports. On 13 May 1787 the fleet under the command ...

botanists. There is an elongated reserve with a walking and bicycle path running in a southwards direction of the Yarralumla Oval, and to the east of this is the central area of the suburb, where the blocks are larger and the streets are more contoured due to the hilly terrain. There is a mixture of housing types in this region, with some larger two-storey houses, and more expansive gardens. The streets in this part of the suburb are typically lined with native trees. Yarralumla is located on the Yarralumla Formation which is a

mudstone Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from '' shale'' by its lack of fissility (parallel layering).Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology. ...

/

siltstone Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility.Blatt ''et al.'' 1980, p ...

formation that was formed around 425

million years ago The abbreviation Myr, "million years", is a unit of a quantity of (i.e. ) years, or 31.556926 teraseconds. Usage Myr (million years) is in common use in fields such as Earth science and cosmology. Myr is also used with Mya (million years ago). ...

during the

Silurian Period 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 ...

. The formation extends from Red Hill and

Woden Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered Æsir, god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, v ...

in the South to Lake Burley Griffin in to the north, passing under the suburb of Yarralumla. The formation is evidence of the last major marine sedimentary period when eastern Australia was still covered by shallow seas. It shows fossil evidence of

trilobite Trilobites (; meaning "three lobes") are extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. Trilobites form one of the earliest-known groups of arthropods. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the At ...

s,

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...

and primitive

crinoid Crinoids are marine animals that make up the class Crinoidea. Crinoids that are attached to the sea bottom by a stalk in their adult form are commonly called sea lilies, while the unstalked forms are called feather stars or comatulids, which are ...

s. The Yarralumla brickworks quarry and the Deakin

anticline In structural geology, an anticline is a type of fold that is an arch-like shape and has its oldest beds at its core, whereas a syncline is the inverse of an anticline. A typical anticline is convex up in which the hinge or crest is the ...

are places where the formation is exposed and easily studied.

History

European settlement

Like the rest of Canberra, Yarralumla forms part of the traditional lands of the

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 ...

people. The area now called Yarralumla is part of two original

land grant A land grant is a gift of real estate—land or its use privileges—made by a government or other authority as an incentive, means of enabling works, or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service. Grants ...

s made to free settlers for the establishment of farms. In 1828 Henry Donnison, a Sydney merchant who had arrived on the brig ''Ellen'' with his wife and family on 29–30 July 1828, was granted an allotment on the western side of Stirling Ridge. The name 'Yarralumla' was first used on a map by the surveyor Robert Dixon in 1829. A second grant was made to William Klensendorlffe (a German who had served in the British Navy and arrived free in the Colony in 1818), who had bought the land from John Stephen, on 7 March 1839. Donnison's land was named ''Yarralumla'' in a survey of the area conducted in 1834. ''Yarralumla'' or ''Yarrowlumla'' was a name used by the local people for the

Mount Stromlo Mount Stromlo (formerly Mount Strom ) is a mountain with an elevation of that is situated in the Australian Capital Territory, Australia. The mountain is most notable as the location of the Mount Stromlo Observatory. The mountain forms part ...

ridge, which lies to the west of the current suburb. It is said to mean "echo mountain". An area to the west of what is now the suburb was the

Yarrolumla parish Yarrolumla Parish is a former parish of Murray County, New South Wales, a Cadastral divisions of New South Wales, cadastral unit for use on land titles. It was formed in the nineteenth century, and existed until 1 January 1911, when the Seat of ...

. The prominent New South Wales parliamentarian Sir Terence Aubrey Murray (1810–1873) purchased Yarralumla in 1837. He lived there with his wife Mary (née Gibbes, 1817–1858), the second daughter of the Collector of Customs for New South Wales, Colonel John George Nathaniel Gibbes (1787–1873), MLC. Murray settled Yarralumla and part of Winderradeen (near Collector) on his wife in trust so that they would have some property if he became bankrupt. On his wife's death in 1858 Yarralumla passed in trust to her father and her brother Augustus Onslow Manby Gibbes (1828–1897). In May 1859, Augustus' parents came to live with him at Yarralumla homestead. Augustus Gibbes improved the estate and acquired additional land by purchase and lease. In 1881, he sold Yarralumla for 40,000 pounds to Frederick Campbell, a descendant of Robert Campbell, to travel overseas. Frederick Campbell erected a new, three-storey, brick house on the site of the former Yarralumla homestead at the beginning of the 1890s. Campbell's house would later form the basis of what is now the Governor-General of Australia's official Canberra residence, known colloquially as "Yarralumla" or "Government House". Campbell also built the large wooden Yarralumla Woolshed nearby in 1904. In 1908, the Limestone Plains area, including Yarralumla, was selected as the site for the capital city of the newly established Commonwealth of Australia and in 1913 the

Commonwealth Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government ...

purchased the property. Tenant farmers were allowed to stay on the land on annual leases, some remaining until 1963 when the Molonglo River was dammed to form Lake Burley Griffin.

Development

With the construction of Australia's capital city underway, the

Yarralumla brickworks The Yarralumla brickworks, also known as the Commonwealth Brickworks, was one of the earliest construction projects in Canberra, Australia. It was built in the suburb of Yarralumla to produce the bricks used to build many of Canberra's early bu ...

were established in 1913 to supply building material. The bricks were used for many of Canberra's buildings, including the

provisional Parliament House Parliament House, also referred to as Capital Hill or simply Parliament, is the meeting place of the Parliament of Australia, and the seat of the legislative branch of the Australian Government. Located in Canberra, the Parliament building is ...

. The Brickworks tramway, a 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) goods

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

, was constructed for the transportation of bricks to some of the major building sites in central Canberra. This linked the brickworks to places such as Parliament House, and the Kingston Power House. Construction on the Commonwealth nursery and Westbourne Woods

arboretum An arboretum (plural: arboreta) in a general sense is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, man ...

was started in 1914, and a temporary camp was built near the brickworks to accommodate the workers. Thomas Charles Weston was Officer-in-Charge (Afforestation Branch) in the years 1913 to 1926, and later became Director of City Planting and the Superintendent of Parks and Gardens. Weston was responsible for testing and selecting plant species at the arboretum for their suitability to Canberra's environment; from 1913 through to 1924 Weston oversaw the propagation of more than two million trees which were then planted in the Canberra area. Most of the original Westbourne Woods arboretum is now leased to the

Royal Canberra Golf Club The Canberra Golf Club, later known as the Royal Canberra Golf Club, was formed in 1926. Its original grounds were behind the Hotel Canberra on the river flats on both sides of the Molonglo River. History The club's Club House was on a site n ...

, with the remainder forming part of

Weston Park Weston Park is a country house in Weston-under-Lizard, Staffordshire, England, set in more than of park landscaped by Capability Brown. The park is located north-west of Wolverhampton, and north-east of Telford, close to the border with Shrop ...

. The Yarralumla nursery is still active, albeit on a smaller scale and functioning as a retail nursery selling both wholesale and direct to the public. In 1917, the designer of Canberra,

Walter Burley Griffin Walter Burley Griffin (November 24, 1876February 11, 1937) was an American architect and landscape architect. He is known for designing Canberra, Australia's capital city and the New South Wales towns of Griffith, New South Wales, Griffith and ...

, named the area surrounding the brickworks "Westridge". It was part of the original Griffin plan, and the objective was to provide a 'horticultural suburb' and a 'society suburb'. In Griffin's 1918 document ''Canberra: Plan of City and Environs'', the suburb is shown as an isosceles triangle with two equal length roads leading from Capital Hill to Yarralumla Bay and Clianthus Centre respectively. The latter road is now to location of the arterial

Adelaide Avenue Adelaide Avenue is a limited-access road in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The road connects Government House, Canberra, Yarralumla with the Parliament House, Canberra, Parliament House area. Adelaide Avenue is a popular tourism, tour ...

, and Yarralumla Bay and Clianthus Centre was to be joined along a north-south axis by Novar Avenue (originally to be named Mountain Way), extending all the way to the future lake bearing Griffin's name. Griffin's vision was for Westridge to become a business centre with an urban waterfront and promenade, complemented by the bush surroundings. Griffin's design was based on a strict hierarchy with core services such as housing, communal space and facilities such health and education, and commercial space. These would be connected outward by boulevards linking to transport routes and trams. By 1928, there were over 130 people on the electoral roll for Westridge. The majority of the population consisted of men working at the brickworks and nursery. The suburb was gazetted as Yarralumla on 20 September 1928. Yarralumla nursery from the air with the Molonglo River in the background, taken in 1923 In 1922, a workers' tent camp was erected on the eastern side of Stirling Ridge to house the men working on the main intercepting sewer. The following year saw the start of the construction of 62 small, four-room, unlined timber cottages, to be used as housing for the married tradesmen involved in the construction of the provisional Parliament House. Other camps were established at the eastern end of Stirling Park on the hills opposite modern Lotus Bay. The first of these was contractor John Howie's settlement (1922–1930), consisting of 25 timber cottages for his married men and timber barracks (Hostel Camp) for his single men. Two other single men's tent camps were established nearby—Old Tradesmen's Camp (1923–1927) and No 1 Labourers Camp (1924–1927). The men from Howie's worked on the

Hotel Canberra The Hotel Canberra, also known as Hyatt Hotel Canberra, is a major hotel in the Australian national capital, Canberra. It is located in the suburb of Yarralumla, near Lake Burley Griffin and Parliament House. It was built to house politici ...

and the others on the construction of the provisional Parliament House and nearby administrative buildings. The Stirling Park camps were known as Westlake to their new inhabitants, and previously "Gura Bung Dhaura" (stony ground) to the local Aboriginal people. In 1925, the population of this temporary suburb was 700. This represented roughly one-fifth of the total population of the Federal Capital Territory at the time. In 1956, the Department of Interior decided to clear the settlement so that embassies could be built. In 1960, the member of parliament for the ACT, Jim Fraser, described Westlake as one of two "hidden valleys of disgrace, which are never shown to tourists and are seen by visitors only by chance". The Commonwealth and the states agreed in 1911 that Australia needed adequately-trained foresters, although they did not agree to establish a forestry school until 1920. Prime minister

Stanley Bruce Stanley Melbourne Bruce, 1st Viscount Bruce of Melbourne, (15 April 1883 – 25 August 1967) was an Australian politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Australia from 1923 to 1929, as leader of the Nationalist Party. Born ...

promised to fund it during the 1925 election campaign and construction of the Commonwealth Forestry School commenced in 1926 at Westridge near the brickworks and Westbourne Woods. The now heritage-listed Forestry School and the associated principal's residence Westridge House are located on Banks Street, Yarralumla. The school was initially established in March 1926 at the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...

under the leadership of Charles Lane Poole. After the move to Canberra Lane-Poole acted as principal until 1944. Its permanent building in Yarralumla was designed by

Federal Capital Commission The National Capital Authority (NCA) is a statutory authority of the Australian Government that was established to manage the Commonwealth's interest in the planning and development of Canberra as the capital city of Australia. Timeline of the ...

architects J.H. Kirkpatrick, and H.M. Rolland. It is built in the Inter-War

Stripped Classical Stripped Classicism (or "Starved Classicism" or "Grecian Moderne") Jstor is primarily a 20th-century Classical architecture, classicist architectural style stripped of most or all Ornament (art), ornamentation, frequently employed by governmen ...

style as a single storey rendered brick building with a

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Whe ...

and a hipped tiled roof. Various Australian woods, including

Queensland maple ''Flindersia brayleyana'', commonly known as Queensland maple, maple silkwood or red beech, is a species of tree in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to northern Queensland. It has pinnate leaves with between six and ten leaflets, panicles of ...

and walnut (Cryptocarya palmerstonii), red cedar, red mahogany,

hoop pine ''Araucaria cunninghamii'' is a species of '' Araucaria'' known as hoop pine. Other less commonly used names include colonial pine, Queensland pine, Dorrigo pine, Moreton Bay pine and Richmond River pine. The scientific name honours the botanist ...

and

mountain ash Mountain ash may refer to: * ''Eucalyptus regnans'', the tallest of all flowering plants, native to Australia * Mountain-ashes or rowans, varieties of trees and shrubs in the genus ''Sorbus'' See also * Mountain Ash, Rhondda Cynon Taf Mounta ...

, were used throughout the building. It opened in April 1927 and it was completed in June. Due to financial stringency during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

and other priorities during the Second World War, it had few students in its first years. The Forestry School was absorbed by the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

in 1965 and forestry courses are now carried out at its main campus in

Acton Acton may refer to: Places Antarctica * Mount Acton Australia * Acton, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Acton, Tasmania, a suburb of Burnie * Acton Park, Tasmania, a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, formerly known as Acton Canada ...

.

Material was copied from this source, which is available under
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia (CC BY 3.0 AU) license
The

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency responsible for scientific research. CSIRO works with leading organisations around the world. From its headquarters in Canberra, CSIRO ...

(CSIRO) Forestry and Forestry Products subsumed the school in 1975. Westridge House, an impressive Tudor-style structure, was completed in January 1928. CC-BY icon

Material was copied from this source, which is available under
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia (CC BY 3.0 AU) license
It underwent a A$500,000 refurbishment and was later used as a residence for the chief officer of the CSIRO. The former Forestry School and Westridge House are now leased out by the CSIRO.

After World War II

The current geographical boundary of Yarralumla was finalised in the early 1960s with the construction of

Scrivener Dam Scrivener Dam is a concrete gravity dam that impounds the Molonglo River in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The dam creates Lake Burley Griffin, which was established for recreational and ornamental purposes. Named in honour of surveyor C ...

, over which Lady Denman Drive passes, allowing for the Molonglo River to be dammed, creating Lake Burley Griffin. Construction began in September 1960 and the dam was locked on 20 September 1963. The lake reached the planned level on 29 April 1964.Sparke, p. 141. On 17 October 1964, Prime Minister Sir

Robert Menzies The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...

commemorated the filling of the lake. Yarralumla was expanded to include Westlake, which had up until then been part of

Acton Acton may refer to: Places Antarctica * Mount Acton Australia * Acton, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Acton, Tasmania, a suburb of Burnie * Acton Park, Tasmania, a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, formerly known as Acton Canada ...

. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the suburb began to expand rapidly with the construction of many private homes. Yarralumla's image as a lower-class suburb would persist into the 1960s and 1970s. This general perception began to alter once Lake Burley Griffin had been created and its surrounds landscaped into parklands; the area soon gained a reputation for its attractive lakeside location. During the 1980s, house prices began to rise coincident with a rejuvenation of the suburb. Many of the original government-built monocrete, brick, and weatherboard houses have been demolished and replaced by larger dwellings of a variety of more modern styles and materials, although this process was more advanced in the central part of the suburb than in its east in 2004.

Demographics

The population of the Westridge area on the 1928 electoral roll numbered over 130. At the , Yarralumla had a population of 3,120 people. Of these 47.9% were male. The suburb had only 0.9% indigenous Australians, below the national average of 3.2%. The percentage of married people in the suburb was 12 points higher than the national average, and the proportion of residents who had never married was 10 points lower. The higher level of marriage did not translate into a higher level of children; 49.6% of families consisted of a couple without children in the household, compared to the national average of 38.8%. Yarralumla residents had a median age of 50, compared to a Canberra average of 35. The suburb had an older population for a city of young people; the median national age is 38 and 43.5% of Yarralumla residents were 55 or over, compared to the national figure of 29.1%. Yarralumla is a comparatively wealthy suburb with a 2021 median weekly personal income of $1,591; this compares to the figure of $1,203 for the entire

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. ...

(ACT) and $805 for all of Australia. The public service or defence force employed around 20.8% of the workforce, somewhat less than the ACT average of 22.9%. This compared to 1.8% for Australia as a whole. The higher incomes were derived from the suburb's white-collar base; 68.0% of Yarralumla's workforce was employed as professionals or in managerial posts, compared to 37.7% nationally. In contrast, only 2.9% were engaged in blue-collar occupations, compared with 15.3% for the nation as a whole. The proportion of the population working as tradesmen and technicians was almost four times lower than average across Australia. The proportion of people with a university degree, 57.0%, is higher than the ACT and national averages of 42.9% and 26.3% respectively. The median monthly housing loan repayments in Yarralumla in 2021 were $3,425, compared to the ACT figure of $2,080 and a federal average of $1,863. At $547, the weekly rent was more than 40% higher than the national average. Yarralumla's median house price was about $1.5m in 2020 versus $1.2m for the inner south and $720,000 for the whole of the ACT. The rate of home ownership in the suburb was 47.8%—much higher than the national average of 31.0%. 23.0% of the households rented. Accommodation was mostly separate houses (65.1%), although the number of residences in the suburb has been increasing through conversion of blocks to dual occupancy and other medium-density-type developments. Despite this, only 7.5% of residences were apartments or units, slightly more than half of the national average. The population of Yarralumla in 2021 was predominantly Australian-born, with some 67.8% of its residents being born in Australia. The second most prevalent birthplace was England at 5.1%, followed by India and the United States with 2.2% and 2.1% respectively. The suburb was more oriented towards the Anglo-Celtic majority than the rest of Australia; English was spoken at home by 79.3% of the population, compared to the national average of 72.0%. Every other language was spoken by less than 3% of the population. Mandarin, Italian, Hindi, Spanish and Vietnamese were all spoken by at least 0.8% of the population. The most popular religious affiliations in descending order were no religion,

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

,

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

and

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

. The proportion of the population professing to having no religion was 42.5%, higher than the national average of 38.4%, but below the ACT average of 43.5%.

Suburb amenities

The Yarralumla local shopping centre is located on the corner of Bentham and Novar Streets. It contains a

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...

, dry-cleaners,

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

, gift shop, restaurants and speciality shops.

Weston Park Weston Park is a country house in Weston-under-Lizard, Staffordshire, England, set in more than of park landscaped by Capability Brown. The park is located north-west of Wolverhampton, and north-east of Telford, close to the border with Shrop ...

is situated on a peninsula near the western end of Lake Burley Griffin. The park includes swimming areas, children's play equipment and wading pools, and a miniature railway, and is a popular

barbecue Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke t ...

spot on weekends. Weston Park forms part of a string of parks that line the southern shore of Lake Burley Griffin; other parks include Yarralumla Bay, Lennox Gardens (incorporating a Japanese garden named Canberra Nara Park) and Stirling Park. With its waterfront location on Lake Burley Griffin, Yarralumla Bay is the base of the Canberra Rowing Club, ANU Sailing Club, the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

Rowing Centre and the YMCA Sailing Club, while the Southern Cross Yacht Club is based at Lotus Bay opposite Lennox Gardens. Yarralumla Neighbourhood Oval is adjacent to the suburb's primary school as well as a community hall and some tennis courts. Yarralumla's only scheduled public transport is provided by

ACTION Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

buses. Route 57 provides a service from Yarralumla to

Woden Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered Æsir, god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, v ...

and

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 ...

Interchanges along Novar Street, Schlich Street and Hopetoun Circuit. The business case for the proposed second stage of the

Capital Metro The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority, officially stylized as CapMetro, is a public transportation provider located in Austin, Texas. It operates bus, paratransit services and a commuter rail system known as the Capital MetroRail i ...

light rail system that was released in 2019 included stops at Albert Hall on Commonwealth Avenue on the eastern edge of Yarralumla and at the intersections of Adelaide Avenue with Hopetoun Circuit and with Novar and Kent streets on the southern edge. Yarralumla is home to three places of worship: St Peter Chanel's on the corner of Weston and Loch Streets, Yarralumla Uniting Church on Denman Street, and the Canberra Mosque on Empire Circuit.

Education

Yarralumla's first school, the Catholic St Peter Chanel's Primary School, opened in 1956; it closed in the 1990s.

Yarralumla Primary School Yarralumla () is a large inner south suburb of Canberra, the capital city of Australia. Located approximately south-west of the city, Yarralumla extends along the south-west bank of Lake Burley Griffin from Scrivener Dam to Commonwealth Av ...

, a public school, opened in 1957. The Montessori preschool on Loftus Street is a

preschool A preschool, also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, or play school or creche, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin compulsory education at primary school ...

and Little Lodge on Macgillivray Street is a day care facility. There are no secondary schools in Yarralumla. The zoned government high school (Years 7–10) is

Alfred Deakin High School Alfred Deakin High School is a government secondary school in Deakin, Australian Capital Territory, covering years 7 to 10 in the Territory's education system. It is named after the second Australian Prime Minister, Alfred Deakin. History T ...

in the adjoining suburb of Deakin to the south and the zoned senior secondary college (Years 11–12) is

Narrabundah College Narrabundah College is a government college that teaches the last two years of secondary education in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It was the first school in Australia to offer the International Baccalaureate (IB), starting the progr ...

, several kilometres to the southeast. Nearby private schools are Canberra Girls Grammar School and Canberra Grammar School in Deakin and Red Hill respectively. The

Canberra Japanese Supplementary School Inc. A Japanese supplementary school provides supplementary Japanese education to Japanese residents living abroad. There are three major Japanese supplementary schools in Australia, all designated by MEXT as a Hoshū jugyō kō, providing Japanese ...

, a Japanese weekend educational programme established in 1988, has its school office in the Japanese Embassy Consular Section in Yarralumla, and holds classes at Alfred Deakin High School.

Politics

Yarralumla is located within the federal

electorate Electorate may refer to: * The people who are eligible to vote in an election, especially their number e.g. the term ''size of (the) electorate'' * The dominion of a Prince-elector The prince-electors (german: Kurfürst pl. , cz, Kurfiřt, ...

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 ...

, which has been represented by

Alicia Payne Alicia Emma Payne (born 24 July 1982) is an Australian politician who has been a member of the House of Representatives since the 2019 federal election. She is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and represents the Division of Canberra ...

of the Labor Party in 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 ...

since the 2019 election. In 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 ...

, Yarralumla is part of the electorate of Murrumbidgee, which elects five members on the basis of proportional representation; as of 2020, the members are two Labor, two

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

and one Greens. Polling place statistics are shown to the right for the ''Yarralumla'' polling place at

Yarralumla Primary School Yarralumla () is a large inner south suburb of Canberra, the capital city of Australia. Located approximately south-west of the city, Yarralumla extends along the south-west bank of Lake Burley Griffin from Scrivener Dam to Commonwealth Av ...

at the 2022 federal election and 2020 ACT elections. Only 655 votes were cast at the Yarralumla polling place in 2020 due to early voting at centralised polling places to avoid crowding in response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

.

Notable places

Yarralumla has a large number of landmarks and places of historical interest. The

Governor-General Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...

's residence

Government House Government House is the name of many of the official residences of governors-general, governors and lieutenant-governors in the Commonwealth and the remaining colonies of the British Empire. The name is also used in some other countries. Gover ...

, which shares the name ''Yarralumla'', is located at the western end of the suburb in of parkland. It sits alongside Lake Burley Griffin, next to the

Royal Canberra Golf Club The Canberra Golf Club, later known as the Royal Canberra Golf Club, was formed in 1926. Its original grounds were behind the Hotel Canberra on the river flats on both sides of the Molonglo River. History The club's Club House was on a site n ...

and Scrivener Dam. The house was built in 1891 as the headquarters for the ''Yarralumla'' property. Also located alongside Scrivener Dam is the

National Zoo & Aquarium The National Zoo and Aquarium is a privately owned zoo and aquarium in the Australian capital city of Canberra. It is located in Yarralumla at the western end of Lake Burley Griffin, next to Scrivener Dam. It recently had a major expansion, wi ...

. The nearby Yarralumla woolshed is available for event hire, often playing host to parties and bush dances. The land surrounding the woolshed has been developed as an

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: * Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes i ...

park, including areas for

showjumping Show jumping is a part of a group of English riding equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics. Sometimes shows ...

,

eventing Eventing (also known as three day eventing or horse trials) is an equestrian event where a single horse and rider combine and compete against other competitors across the three disciplines of dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. Thi ...

and

endurance riding Endurance riding is an equestrian sport based on controlled long-distance races. It is one of the international competitions recognized by the FEI. There are endurance rides worldwide. Endurance rides can be any distance, though they are rare ...

. The Yarralumla brickworks were the first industrial manufacturing facility in the ACT; they were closed temporarily several times due to the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

and both

World Wars A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...

. Proposals to modernise the brickworks were rejected by the

National Capital Development Commission The National Capital Authority (NCA) is a statutory authority of the Australian Government that was established to manage the Commonwealth's interest in the planning and development of Canberra as the capital city of Australia. Timeline of the ...

in the early 1970s and they closed permanently in 1976; the site is closed to the public and is in a state of disrepair. The unfenced parkland around the brickworks is a popular recreation area for Yarralumla residents. As of 2020, residential development is proposed for the site, which is , to initially include 1,800 new dwellings, although the project has been scaled down. The eastern end of Yarralumla is home to many of the

diplomatic mission A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

s in Canberra, many of which are built in a traditional style reflecting that of their respective home countries. Examples of regionally styled chanceries include the embassies of

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

and

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

, and the High Commissions of India and

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

. The

United States embassy The United States has the second most diplomatic missions of any country in the world after Mainland China, including 166 of the 193 member countries of the United Nations, as well as observer state Vatican City and non-member countries Kosovo a ...

was the first embassy built in Canberra, with the foundation stone laid on the

Fourth of July Independence Day (colloquially the Fourth of July) is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the Declaration of Independence, which was ratified by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing the United States ...

, 1942. The embassy compound was built in a "typically American"

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

style, using Australian materials, and was inspired by several buildings designed by

Christopher Wren Sir Christopher Wren PRS FRS (; – ) was one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history, as well as an anatomist, astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 churches ...

for

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

at the beginning of the 18th century. The French embassy includes the French-Australian War Memorial opened in 1961, which has a sculpture by

André Bizette-Lindet André Bizette-Lindet (28 February 1906 – 28 December 1998) was a French sculptor. He won the Prix de Rome for sculpture in 1930. His work is held in many churches, public buildings and memorials in France and other countries. Biography And ...

called Winged Victory. Canberra tourist drives take tourists on a car-based tour past many of Canberra's embassies including those located in Yarralumla, zig-zagging through the eastern side of Yarralumla past many of the missions. The Lennox Gardens, Yarralumla Yacht Club,

Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no governm ...

and the

Hotel Canberra The Hotel Canberra, also known as Hyatt Hotel Canberra, is a major hotel in the Australian national capital, Canberra. It is located in the suburb of Yarralumla, near Lake Burley Griffin and Parliament House. It was built to house politici ...

are located in the eastern end of the suburb. Located on Commonwealth Avenue, the Hotel Canberra opened in 1924 to accommodate politicians when Parliament was in session; Prime Minister

James Scullin James Henry Scullin (18 September 1876 – 28 January 1953) was an Australian Labor Party politician and the ninth Prime Minister of Australia. Scullin led Labor to government at the 1929 Australian federal election. He was the first Catho ...

stayed there to avoid the running costs of the official residence, The Lodge during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. It has been heritage listed as an example of the distinctive Garden-Pavilion style of architect

John Smith Murdoch John Smith Murdoch (29 September 186221 May 1945) was a Scottish architect who practised in Australia from the 1880s until 1930. Employed by the newly formed Commonwealth Public Works Department in 1904, he rose to become chief architect, ...

in line with the garden city design of Burley Griffin. The hotel was closed in 1974 and the buildings served as an annexe for Parliament House between 1976 and 1984. The Hyatt Hotel Group re-opened the hotel in 1987. Adjacent to the Canberra Hotel is the Canberra Croquet Club. The only croquet club in Canberra, it was opened in 1928 and was restricted to females until 1975. As with the hotel, the clubhouse was built in federation-style architecture and has been heritage-listed along with the croquet lawns. Immediately to the north of Canberra Hotel on Commonwealth Avenue is Albert Hall, built in 1927, which was in the early years of Canberra, one of the main centres of social, musical, theatrical, ceremonial and artistic activity in the capital. It was opened by Prime Minister

Stanley Bruce Stanley Melbourne Bruce, 1st Viscount Bruce of Melbourne, (15 April 1883 – 25 August 1967) was an Australian politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Australia from 1923 to 1929, as leader of the Nationalist Party. Born ...

and the subject of royal visits. Although its functionality has been superseded by more specialised entertainment and cultural institutions built in modern times, it is still frequently used for community events. It has been heritage listed for its social and historical value, and as an example of early Canberra architecture.

References

Footnotes

Sources

* * * * * * * * *

External links

Yarralumla Residents Association
�
Yarralumla Page
{{South Canberra Suburbs Diplomatic districts Suburbs of Canberra