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Fyshwick () is a retail and light industrial 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, east of the South Canberra district. At the , Fyshwick had a population of 56. It has many motor vehicle dealers, stores selling home furnishings and hardware, and stores that sell goods wholesale. Fyshwick also has the Canberra Outlet Centre and the Fyshwick Fresh Food Markets. There are also some cafés and fast-food outlets. It was named after Sir
Philip Fysh Sir Philip Oakley Fysh (1 March 1835 – 20 December 1919) was an English-born Australian politician. He arrived in Tasmania in 1859 and became a leading merchant in Hobart. He served two terms as premier of Tasmania (1877–1878, 1887–1892) ...
, a
Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
n politician who assisted in bringing about Australia's Federation. The suffix "wick", from Old English, means "dwelling place"and, by extension, "village" or "district". Its streets are named after Australia's industrial towns and regionsfor example,
Mount Isa Mount Isa ( ) is a city in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines (MIM) is one of the most productive mines in world history, based on co ...
is represented by Isa Street and
Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...
is represented by Townsville Street. Fyshwick is also known for its adult entertainment industry. Fyshwick and Mitchell are the two places in the ACT where strip clubs and
brothel A brothel, strumpet house, bordello, bawdy house, ranch, house of ill repute, house of ill fame, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in Human sexual activity, sexual activity with prostitutes. For legal or cultural reasons, establis ...
s may operate legally.
Prostitution Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, no ...
in the ACT was decriminalised in 1992, but strip clubs and brothels are restricted to those two suburbs. Fyshwick was also known for firework retailers before their 2009 ban from public purchase in the
Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...
. The only railway line into Canberra runs through the middle of Fyshwick, dividing the area into halves. Ipswich and Newcastle Streets as well as the Monaro Highway cross the railway line, uniting both halves of Fyshwick. The Fyshwick
sewage treatment Sewage treatment is a type of wastewater treatment which aims to remove contaminants from sewage to produce an effluent that is suitable to discharge to the surrounding environment or an intended reuse application, thereby preventing water p ...
works was built in 1967 to treat
waste water Wastewater (or waste water) is water generated after the use of freshwater, raw water, drinking water or saline water in a variety of deliberate applications or processes. Another definition of wastewater is "Used water from any combination of do ...
that could not easily be pumped to the other side of Canberra. It is now used to treat industrial waste water, which is then used to water the Duntroon grounds and
golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, tee box, a #Fairway and rough, fairway, the #Fairway and rough, rough and other hazard (golf), hazards, and ...
. File:Fyshwick Markets - 15 May 2020 (49993989286).jpg, The Fyshwick Fresh Food Markets File:Canberra Outlet Centre.jpg, The Canberra Outlet Centre


History

One noteworthy portion of Fyshwick, located between the railway line and Canberra Avenue, was built as an
internment camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without Criminal charge, charges or Indictment, intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects ...
during early 1918. It was known as the Molonglo Internment Camp, although it was also referred to as a
concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...
. The site was intended to accommodate 3,500 German and Austrian nationals being expelled from China, however once the camp had been established in May 1918 these internees were no longer destined for Molonglo. Instead, the camp housed 150 internees transferred from the Bourke Camp in
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
. The camp was closed in late 1919 after the internees were deported to Germany. Most of the camp's buildings were sold off, with the remaining buildings being converted to house construction workers, some of whom were unemployed returned servicemen. It was then called Molonglo Settlement. Gradually the camp buildings were moved to other camp sites around Canberra and the roads used to service the camp became the first streets of Fyshwick. The internment camp's hospital at what is now Tennant Street became the Molonglo Public School. This school closed in 1942 and then became a naval auxiliary wireless station. This operated until 1946. The station consisted of one wooden T-shaped building and a fibro mess hall. This station operated the receivers for the strategic fixed radio links to Australia for
Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London, England. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It ...
, Halifax and Bombay Fort. During this period 14 WRANS operated the equipment. Marion Stevens was a Petty Officer in charge of the station from 1943 to 1946. She was notable as the only woman in charge of a transmitting station. The station was part of the Harman radio network, as was connected via a landline to the main Harman site. Equipment at the Molonglo station included
teleprinter A teleprinter (teletypewriter, teletype or TTY) is an electromechanical device that can be used to send and receive typed messages through various communications channels, in both point-to-point (telecommunications), point-to-point and point- ...
s for use when reception was good. During poorer
radio propagation Radio propagation is the behavior of radio waves as they travel, or are wave propagation, propagated, from one point to another in vacuum, or into various parts of the atmosphere. As a form of electromagnetic radiation, like light waves, radio w ...
periods morse code
radiotelegraphy Wireless telegraphy or radiotelegraphy is the transmission of text messages by radio waves, analogous to electrical telegraphy using cables. Before about 1910, the term ''wireless telegraphy'' was also used for other experimental technologies f ...
had to be used. After the war the Molonglo station became a dog training school. In the early 1980s the buildings were demolished.


Geology

Most of the north of Fyshwick is underlain by Canberra Formation, calcareous
shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of Clay mineral, clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g., Kaolinite, kaolin, aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4) and tiny f ...
. On top of this to the east and west of Jerrabomberra creek are
Tertiary Tertiary (from Latin, meaning 'third' or 'of the third degree/order..') may refer to: * Tertiary period, an obsolete geologic period spanning from 66 to 2.6 million years ago * Tertiary (chemistry), a term describing bonding patterns in organic ch ...
pebble gravels, and also
quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...
alluvium. There are two
andesite Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...
dykes intruded across Gladstone Street. South of the South Fyshwick fault is the dacitic
andesite Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...
of the Ainslie Volcanics. The South Fyshwick Fault starts in Narrabundah, runs east from Lithgow St to Tennant Street, crosses the Molonglo river and heads north east to Dundee Hill to join Sullivans Fault.


Education

Fyshwick residents get preference for:Priority Enrolment Areas 2015 by Suburb

Archive
. Education Directorate, Australian Capital Territory. Retrieved on 8 February 2016. *A shared Priority Enrollment Area (PEA) of Forrest Primary and Red Hill Primary * Telopea Park School (for high school) *
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 ...


References

* ''A History of HMAS Harman and its people: 1943–1993'', by Lieutenant Annette Nelson, RAN, Canberra 1993, pub DC-C Publications.


Footnotes

{{South Canberra Suburbs Suburbs of Canberra