Isabella Plains is a suburb in the

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 ...

district of Tuggeranong. The postcode is 2905. The suburb is indirectly named after Isabella Maria Brisbane (1821–1849), who was the daughter of Sir

Thomas Brisbane Major-general (United Kingdom), Major General Sir Thomas MacDougall Brisbane, 1st Baronet, (23 July 1773 – 27 January 1860), was a British Army officer, administrator, and astronomer. Upon the recommendation of the Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke ...

, the colonial

Governor of New South Wales The governor of New South Wales is the representative of the monarch, King Charles III, in the state of New South Wales. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia, Governor-General of Australia at the national level, the governor ...

when the area was first explored by white settlers in 1823. Joseph Wild was employed by Brigade Major John Ovens and Captain Mark Currie to guide them to the

Murrumbidgee River The Murrumbidgee River () is a major tributary of the Murray River within the Murray–Darling basin and the second longest river in Australia. It flows through the Australian state of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, desce ...

. They travelled south along the river and named the area now known as Tuggeranong "Isabella's Plain". This name was adopted, with a slight change of spelling, for the name of the new suburb. It was gazetted on 5 August 1975. Streets are named after New South Wales parish names. It is next to the suburbs of Monash, Bonython, Richardson and Calwell. It is bounded by Isabella Drive, Drakeford Drive, Johnson Drive and Ashley Drive. Located in the suburb are a small group of shops, the senior campus of St Mary MacKillop College, Isabella Plains Primary School, the Tuggeranong automatic weather station and Isabella Plains neighbourhood oval.

Facilities

Shops

A small shopping centre is located on the corner of Ellerston Avenue and Galloway Street. This includes a small supermarket, a hairdresser, a pathology clinic, a chemist and a takeaway shop. There is also an Isabella Plains Neighbourhood house, and a small doctors surgery opposite and to the right of the shops.

Schools

Government schools * Isabella Plains Primary School, a P-2 school. Isabella Plains Primary School was changed from a full primary school to a Prep - Year 2 school in 2009, due to low population. Isabella Plains residents get preference for: *Isabella Plains Early Childhood School *A shared Priority Enrollment Area (PEA) of Bonython Primary, Monash Primary, and Richardson Primary * Calwell High School * Lake Tuggeranong College Non-government schools * St Mary MacKillop College

Community facilities

An early childhood centre exists next to Isabella Plains Primary School on Ellerston Avenue, offering day care and children's health services. Since 2011 this has been run by Communities at Work. After school care is also available through Isabella Plains Primary School. A Neighbourhood Centre shares a car park with the shops. This centre is available for general hire by the community and hosts, among other things, several daytime playgroups for mothers with young children in connection with the Playgroups Association.

Churches

* Isabella Plains is in the Catholic parish of Corpus Christi which has its church in Gowrie.

Gallery

Isabella Plains Primary School.jpg, Isabella Plains Primary School Isabella Plains Neighbourhood House.jpg, Isabella Plains Neighbourhood Centre, located next to the shops Isabella Plains Aerial.jpg, Aerial photo from south east

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 ...

underlies the suburb. These rocks are from the

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 ...

period. But it is overlaid by alluvium in the low-lying parts.Henderson G A M and Matveev G, Geology of Canberra, Queanbeyan and Environs 1:50000 1980.

References

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20080824051510/http://www.ga.gov.au/bin/gazm01?placename=Isabella%20Plains&placetype=R&state=ACT {{Tuggeranong Suburbs Suburbs of Canberra