Calwell () is a medium-sized suburb of
Canberra
Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
in the district of
Tuggeranong
Tuggeranong () is a district in the Australian Capital Territory in Australia. The district is subdivided into divisions (suburbs), sections and blocks and is the southernmost district of the Australian Capital Territory. The district comprise ...
.
Tuggeranong Hill
Tuggeranong Hill is located in Tuggeranong, Canberra. It is sometimes referred to as Mount Tuggeranong due to its prominence.
Lanyon Valley is almost completely surrounded by hills and mountains and consequently television
Televisio ...
is on its southern border and the
Tuggeranong Homestead is to the north. Calwell is located close to the
Monaro Highway
Monaro Highway is a highway in Victoria, New South Wales, and the Australian Capital Territory, in Australia, linking in Victoria to Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) via the Monaro region. From its southern terminus, it fo ...
which provides a direct route to
Canberra City and to
Cooma
Cooma is a town in the south of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south of the national capital, Canberra, via the Monaro Highway. It is also on the Snowy Mountains Highway, connecting Bega, New South Wales, Bega with the Riverina.
...
.
History
The suburb was named after the Labor politician,
Arthur Calwell
Arthur Augustus Calwell King's Counsel, KC (28 August 1896 – 8 July 1973) was an Australian politician who served as the leader of the Australian Labor Party, Labor Party from 1960 to 1967. He led the party through three federal elections, l ...
(1896–1973).
The suburb name was gazetted on 5 August 1975.
Streets in the suburb are named for Victorian politicians.
Outtrim Avenue between Johnson Drive and the Calwell Shopping Centre is named after
Alfred Richard Outtrim
Alfred Richard Outtrim (1845 – 1925) was a long-serving Victoria (Australia), Victorian politician who gained a reputation as a competent government minister and a promoter of women's suffrage and regional development.
Before Federation, he ...
who represented
Maryborough from 1885 to 1920.
Population
At the , there were 5,730 people in Calwell.
* Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 2.6% of the population.
* 78.3% of people were born in Australia. The next most common country of birth was England at 3.1%.
* 83.2% of people spoke only English at home.
* The most common responses for religion were No Religion 41.6%, Catholic 25.2% and Anglican 10.2%.
[
]
Suburb amenities
Calwell Centre
The Calwell Centre is a designated group centre located on Webber Crescent in the north of the suburb. The centre was developed in the early 1990s to serve Calwell, Richardson, Theodore and Isabella Plains. Prior to the development of the Lanyon Market Place in the late 1990s, the Calwell Centre also serviced Conder, Banks
A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets.
As banks ...
and Gordon
Gordon may refer to:
People
* Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters
* Gordon (surname), the surname
* Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War
* Gordon Heuck ...
.
Schools
Government schools
Calwell High School
located on Casey Crescent, opened in 1990 and caters for students in Years 7 to 10.
Calwell Primary School
located on Downard Street, opened in 1989 and caters for students from Preschool to Year 6.
St Francis of Assisi School
located on Casey Crescent, opened in 1988 and caters for students from Kindergarten to Year 6
Non-government schools
St Francis of Assisi Primary School
located on Casey Crescent, is a Catholic school that began operating from Holy Family School, Gowrie in 1988 and caters for students in Kindergarten to Year 6.
Churches

is located on the corner of Were Street and Webber Crescent; in addition to Church services the Parish also manages the Calwell Community Centre
Alliance Church Tuggeranong
is also located on Were Street. Corpus Christi Catholic Parish, based in Gowrie
Gowrie () is a region in central Scotland and one of the original provinces of the Kingdom of Alba. It covered the eastern part of what became Perthshire. It was located to the immediate east of Atholl, and originally included the area aroun ...
, runs services in the hall at St Francis of Assisi Primary School.
The histori
Sacred Heart Church
was relocated to Calwell in 1988, and is used for special occasions.
Transport
Calwell is serviced by several ACTION
Action may refer to:
* Action (philosophy), something which is done by a person
* Action principles the heart of fundamental physics
* Action (narrative), a literary mode
* Action fiction, a type of genre fiction
* Action game, a genre of video gam ...
bus routes.
*R5: Travels through Outtrim Avenue and Calwell Centre. South to Lanyon Marketplace, North to City Interchange via Woden Interchange
*76: Travels via Wanniassa, Gowrie, Chisholm and Richardson. Terminates at Calwell Centre, North to Tuggeranong
*79: Travels through Duggan Street, Were St., Casey Cres and Calwell Centre, as well as the neighbouring suburb of Theodore. South to Tuggeranong Interchange, Terminates at Calwell Centre
*182: (Peak Hour only) South to Lanyon Marketplace, North to City Interchange via Monaro Highway (Monday-Friday only)
All Canberra taxi companies and Queanbeyan taxis also service Calwell.
Geology
Deakin Volcanics green grey and purple 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 Silurian
The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 23.5 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 third and shortest period of t ...
age form the base rock of Calwell.[Henderson G A M and Matveev G, Geology of Canberra, Queanbeyan and Environs 1:50000 1980.]
References
{{Tuggeranong Suburbs
Suburbs of Canberra