Mitchell (

postcode A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or numerical digit, digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, inclu ...

: 2911) is a light-industrial estate 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 Gungahlin. Mitchell was named in honour of Major Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell, an explorer of inland

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 ...

and Surveyor-General of New South Wales. The streets in Mitchell are named after Australian industrialists. In the , Mitchell had no recorded population. It is commonly believed by Canberra residents that the suburb of Mitchell contains

Exhibition Park in Canberra Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC) is a 70 hectare showground and multi-building venue for exhibitions, conferences, and events located in the suburb of Lyneham, Australian Capital Territory, Lyneham (though commonly listed in the adjacent Mit ...

(EPIC) and also Thoroughbred Park (Canberra Racecourse). In fact, these facilities are located in the neighbouring suburb of Lyneham. Mitchell is one of the two areas in Canberra where brothels may legally operate, along with Fyshwick. Mitchell also has other adult entertainment industry shops and one strip club.

History

A major fire at a chemical factory on Dacre Street early in the morning of 16 September 2011 saw a 10 kilometre exclusion zone put in place around the suburb. Residents in parts of Gungahlin,

Belconnen Belconnen () is a Lands administrative divisions of Australia#Australian Capital Territory, district in the Australian Capital Territory in Australia. The district is subdivided into 27 divisions (suburbs), sections and blocks. As at the , the ...

and

North Canberra North Canberra, or the Inner North, is a subdivision of Canberra Central in the Australian Capital Territory in Australia. Comprising 14 suburbs. At the , it had 26,699 dwellings housing 61,188 people of the 453,324 people in the Australian Capi ...

were told to remain inside with windows their closed and schools inside the zone closed for the day. Around 100 people and 50 horses were evacuated from an event at nearby EPIC due to toxic smoke. Mitchell was selected as the site for the first Canberra light rail depot, with construction beginning in 2016. The facility opened in March 2019, including maintenance facilities and the network operations centre. Despite this, a passenger stop in Mitchell was not constructed as part of stage one of the project, with the ACT Government sighting low projected passenger numbers. Following lobbying efforts by local businesses and the community, the ACT Government later supported construction of the Sandford Street station which opened to passengers in September 2021.

Geology

Rocks under Mitchell 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 ...

age. Mitchell is built over 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 ...

of the Canberra Formation. From the south to Crace Hill is green-grey to reddish dacite.

References

Suburbs of Canberra {{Canberra-geo-stub