The

suburbs 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 separa ...

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 ...

are organised into a hierarchy of districts, town centres, group centres, local suburbs and other industrial areas and villages. While these divisions have no formal role in the governance or administration of the city, they formed a basis for the planning and development of the city and are significant to the city's commercial and social activities. ''For a complete list, see List of Canberra suburbs''

Suburbs

Most suburbs of Canberra are designed around local shops, centrally located within walking distance of the outer parts of the suburb. Consequently, they are generally smaller in size to the suburbs of other cities. A typical Canberra suburb is bounded on all sides by major roads, and at the centre, contains local shops, or at least a local store. Some also contain a petrol station, a

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chri ...

, or other community facilities. Many also contain a primary

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes co ...

and a preschool. As a result of these commercial and community facilities being located in the centre of suburbs, Canberra lacks strip shopping along major roads and appears to be 'empty' to most visitors. In the older areas, major roads are lined with houses, and in the newer areas they are typically landscaped with mounds of earth and vegetation to form 'parkways'.

Districts

Canberra's residential districts were developed with the intention of being semi-self-contained satellite towns with an intended population of about 80,000 people. The districts contain

town centre A town centre is the commercial or geographical centre or core area of a town. Town centres are traditionally associated with shopping or retail. They are also the centre of communications with major public transport hubs such as train or bus s ...

s which serve as commercial, transport and employment nodes. The districts are separated by nature reserves, and in most cases were designed according to a policy of ''ridges and valleys'' where the urban areas were located in valleys, separated by ridges, containing nature parks. There are seven districts in Canberra, each is divided into between eight and 25 suburbs, but on average about eighteen. Canberra's Territory Plan also contains districts located outside of the urban areas for the purposes of

land administration Land administration is the way in which the rules of land tenure are applied and made operational. Land administration, whether formal or informal, comprises an extensive range of systems and processes to administer. The processes of land administr ...

. Following the transfer of land from the

Government of New South Wales The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the States and territories of Australia, Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales. It is currently held by a coalition of the Liberal Party o ...

to 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 ...

in 1911, eighteen original districts were established in 1966 by the Commonwealth via the

gazettal 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 newspaper ...

of the ''Districts Ordinance 1966 No. 5'' (Cth) which, after the enactment of the , became the . This Act was subsequently repealed by the

ACT Government The Government of the Australian Capital Territory, also referred to as the Australian Capital Territory Government or ACT Government, is the executive authority of the Australian Capital Territory, one of the territories of Australia. The lea ...

and all districts and the land contained within are now administered subject to the . In chronological order of mass residential development, the districts are: , , align="right", , , , , align="right", , , , - , South Canberra , , align="center", 1927 , , align="right", , , , , align="right", , , , , align="right", , , , 27,007 , , , align="right", , , , - , colspan=2, Woden Valley , , align="center", 1963 , , align="center", 12 , , align="right", , , , , align="right", , , , , align="right", , , , 34,760 , , , align="right", , , , - , colspan=2, Belconnen , , align="center", 1967 , , align="center", 27 , , align="right", , , , , align="right", , , , , align="right", , , , 96,049 , , , align="right", , , , - , colspan=2, Weston Creek , , align="center", 1969 , , align="center", 8 , , align="right", , , , , align="right", , , , , align="right", , , , 22,988 , , , align="right", , , , - , colspan=2, Tuggeranong , , align="center", 1974 , , align="center", 18 , , align="right", , , , , align="right", , , , , align="right", , , , 85,154 , , , align="right", , , , - , colspan=2, Gungahlin , , align="center", 1991 , , align="center", 18 , , align="right", , , , , align="right", , , , , align="right", , , , 71,142 , , , align="right", , , , - , colspan=2, Molonglo , , align="center", 14 October 2010 , , align="center", 2010 , , align="center", 13 planned , , colspan=2 align="center", , , colspan=2 align="center", , , align="right", , , , 4,578 , , , align="right", , , , - !colspan=15, Selected historical data for the remaining districts of the Australian Capital Territory , - !rowspan=2 colspan=2 , Districts!!rowspan=2, Gazettal
date!!rowspan=2, First
settled!!rowspan=2, Number of
suburbs!!colspan=10, Estimated residents at

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

, - !colspan=2 align="center", 2001 !!colspan=2 align="center", 2006 !!colspan=2 align="center", 2011!!colspan=2 align="center", 2016!!colspan=2 align="center", 2021 , - , colspan=2,

Booth Booth may refer to: People * Booth (surname) * Booth (given name) Fictional characters * August Wayne Booth, from the television series ''Once Upon A Time'' *Cliff Booth, a supporting character of the 2019 film ''Once Upon a Time in Hollywood ...

, , rowspan=12 align="center", 12 May 1966, , , , 0 , , colspan=6 align="center", 2001–2011: included in Coree, , align="right", 31, , , , align="right", 64, , , - , colspan=2, Coree , , , , 1 , , align="right", 416, , , , align="right", 267, , , , align="right", 425, , , , align="right", 356, , , , align="right", 309, , , - , colspan=2,

Cotter River The Cotter River, a perennial river of the Murrumbidgee catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the Australian Capital Territory, Australia. The Cotter River, together with the Queanbeyan River, is one of two rivers that pr ...

, , , , 0 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , align="right", 0, , , , align="right", 0, , , - , colspan=2,

Hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gre ...

, , , , 1, , align="right", 368, , , , align="right", 338, , , , align="right", 332, , , , align="right", 271, , , , align="right", 298, , , - , colspan=2,

Jerrabomberra Jerrabomberra is a suburb of Queanbeyan in south eastern New South Wales, Australia. Jerrabomberra consists of three sections, The Park, The Heights, and Lakeview. The Park and the Heights are divided by Edwin Land Parkway. At the , it had 9,6 ...

, , , , 4 , , align="right", 1,214, , , , align="right", 830, , , , align="right", 1,241, , , , align="right", 1,240, , , , align="right", 1,425, , , - , colspan=2, Kowen , , , , 0 , , align="right", 30, , , , align="right", 49, , , , align="right", 34, , , , align="right", 38, , , , align="right", 25, , , - , colspan=2, Majura , , , , 1 , , align="right", 347, , , , align="right", 232, , , , align="right", 246, , , , align="right", 174, , , , align="right", 299, , , - , colspan=2, Mount Clear , , , , 0 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , align="right", 0, , , , align="right", 0, , , - , colspan=2, Paddys River , , , , 1 , , colspan=6 align="center", 2001–2011: included in Coree, , align="right", 150, , , , align="right", 158, , , - , colspan=2, Rendezvous Creek , , , , 0, , , , , , , , , , , , , , align="right", 0, , , , align="right", 0, , , - , colspan=2, Stromlo , , , , 0, , align="right", 86, , , , align="right", 64, , , , align="right", 71, , , , align="right", 61, , , , align="right", 75, , , - , colspan=2, Tennent , , , , 0, , , , , , , , , , , , , , align="right", 0, , , , align="right", 0, ,

The City Centre

Canberra's

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

, also known as Civic, is the main commercial centre in Canberra. It is larger than the town centres and contains many

Australian 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 Governmen ...

department offices, large office buildings and retail outlets such as department stores and specialty stores and recreational facilities such as cinemas, bars, nightclubs, restaurants and theatres. The

Australian Capital Territory 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 ...

is contained within its boundaries; as is the Canberra Theatre and Playhouse, Territory Courts, and the Federal Court.

Town centres

Outside Canberra's central business district, there are five

s within Canberra. As well as serving as commercial nodes, town centres also serve as centres of employment. Most contain at least one major Australia government department. For example: *

Belconnen Town Centre Belconnen Town Centre is located in the suburb of Belconnen on the south-western shore of Lake Ginninderra in Canberra, Australia. It is the town centre for the Belconnen district. Belconnen Town Centre contains several Federal and Territory ...

contains the head offices of the

Department of Immigration and Border Protection The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) was a department of the Government of Australia that was responsible for immigration, citizenship and border control (including visa issuance). It has now been subsumed into the Depart ...

and the

Australian Bureau of Statistics The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is the independent statutory agency of the Australian Government responsible for statistical collection and analysis and for giving evidence-based advice to federal, state and territory governments ...

; *

Tuggeranong Town Centre Tuggeranong Town Centre services the southernmost Canberra district of Tuggeranong. It is located on the south-western side of Lake Tuggeranong and composed of a large two-storey mall called South.Point Tuggeranong, as well as smaller shopping c ...

contains the head offices of the Department of Social Services and the Executive Agency Services Australia; and *

Woden Town Centre Woden Town Centre is the main commercial centre of the district of Woden Valley in Canberra, Australia. It is located in the Canberra suburb of Phillip, Australian Capital Territory, Phillip. The town centre has a variety of shops and amenities, ...

contains the head office of the Department of Health. , neither the

Weston Creek Centre Weston (postcode: 2611) is a suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. At the , Weston had a population of 4,000 people. Weston was named after a former homestead built in the area sometime around 1835. The Weston Creek gra ...

nor the Gungahlin Town Centre contain any substantive Australian government department head office. Town centres also provide services such as mechanical workshops, gyms, pubs and clubs, cinemas, restaurants and fast food outlets, petrol stations and car dealerships. They also usually contain a public library, police station and a community centre. The Woden Town Centre has high rise office buildings and resembles a 'mini city centre'.

Group centres

Group centres are commercial and community centres smaller than town centres but larger than local shops which are designed to serve a "group" of suburbs – typically about four or five. A typical group centre contains such local commercial facilities such as a supermarket, a petrol station, specialty stores such as a pharmacy, hairdresser, butcher, video store, baker, deli,

health food store A health food store (or health food shop) is a type of grocery store that primarily sells health foods, organic foods, local produce, and often nutritional supplements. Health food stores typically offer a wider or more specialized selection of ...

, betting agency and medical centre. Some larger group centres may also contain banks, a few restaurants and fast food outlets. They will typically also contain recreational and social facilities such as a swimming pool, church, and a tavern or club. These are intended to provide "weekly shopping" type services to the residents of adjoining suburbs.

Industrial areas

The suburbs of

Mitchell Mitchell may refer to: People *Mitchell (surname) *Mitchell (given name) Places Australia * Mitchell, Australian Capital Territory, a light-industrial estate * Mitchell, New South Wales, a suburb of Bathurst * Mitchell, Northern Territ ...

, Fyshwick and

Hume Hume most commonly refers to: * David Hume (1711–1776), Scottish philosopher Hume may also refer to: People * Hume (surname) * Hume (given name) * James Hume Nisbet (1849–1923), Scottish-born novelist and artist In fiction * Hume, ...

are Canberra's industrial areas and are located away from residential suburbs. While they are the location of light industry (Canberra has no heavy industries), they also contain a large number of retail outlets such as furniture stores, hardware stores, car dealerships, bicycle shops, camping stores and wholesale outlets.

Villages

The Australian Capital Territory also contains a number of smaller villages located outside the urban area. Historically some of these are farming or forestry villages and some were damaged or destroyed in the fires of January 2003. The village closest to the urban area is

which is located just past Belconnen near the

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

border.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suburbs of Canberra