Spence () is a residential suburb in the

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 ...

district 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 ...

, located within 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 ...

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 ...

. It was gazetted on 2 November 1972, and streets are named after

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

ists. The suburb was originally named solely after William Spence (1846–1926), one of the founders of the

Australian Workers' Union The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) is one of Australia's largest and oldest trade unions. It traces its origins to unions founded in the pastoralism, pastoral and mining industries in the late 1880s and it currently has approximately 80,000 ...

and later a member of the first

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Australian Senate, Senate. Its composition and powers are set out in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. ...

. In 2023, it was co-named retrospectively to commemorate suffragette

Catherine Helen Spence Catherine Helen Spence (31 October 1825 – 3 April 1910) was a Scottish-born Australian author, teacher, journalist, politician, leading suffragist, and Georgist. Spence was also a minister of religion and social worker, and supporter of el ...

as well.

Location and features

Spence is located adjacent to the suburbs of

Fraser Fraser may refer to: Places Antarctica * Fraser Point, South Orkney Islands Australia * Fraser, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb in the Canberra district of Belconnen * Division of Fraser (Australian Capital Territory), a former federal ...

, Melba and Evatt. Nearby is a

CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency that is responsible for scientific research and its commercial and industrial applications. CSIRO works with leading organisations arou ...

property. The suburb is to the south of Owen Dixon Drive and Kuringa Drive and also bounded by Alpen Street and Copland Drive. The local primary school, Spence Primary School, was established in 1977. It later merged with Melba Primary School to become Mount Rogers Community School—Spence Campus. The school closed at the end of 1998 due to a lack of enrolment. Students were encouraged to move to the Melba Campus. The former school buildings now house a number of community-based organisations including the Mount Rogers Community (Anglican) Church. A donation only cafe called "Coffee Corner" is run by the church. Spence has a neighbourhood oval, bordering Clarey Crescent, which has been in great disrepair since the drought of 2002 / 2003. The other area of bush and open space is the water tower in the northwest of the suburb. The "tower" is built into a hill with only a small portion showing. The local shopping centre has a butcher, hairdresser, baker, chemist and supermarket, along with a petrol station. The supermarket includes a coffee shop. Another local supermarket, known as the Spence/Evatt Shops, is located on Copland Drive. Next to it is the Tongan Community Centre, rebuilt in 2007 after it burned down earlier in that year.

Political representation

For the purposes of Australian federal elections for the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

, Spence is in the Fenner. For the purposes of Australian Capital Territory elections for the

ACT 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 Squa ...

, Spence is in the

Ginninderra electorate The Ginninderra electorate is one of the five Electorates of the Australian Capital Territory, electorates for the unicameral 25-member Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly. It elects five members. History It was created in 1995, wh ...

Geology

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 Hawkins Volcanics green-grey

dacite Dacite () is a volcanic rock formed by rapid solidification of lava that is high in silica and low in alkali metal oxides. It has a fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic texture and is intermediate in composition between andesite and rhyolite. ...

and quartz

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 ...

are in the centre and west of Spence. A green grey dacitic porphyry intrusive rock with white

feldspar Feldspar ( ; sometimes spelled felspar) is a group of rock-forming aluminium tectosilicate minerals, also containing other cations such as sodium, calcium, potassium, or barium. The most common members of the feldspar group are the ''plagiocl ...

crystals is in the southeast of the suburb. There is a Hawkins Volcanics

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 ...

lens patch in the south central part.Henderson G A M and Matveev G, Geology of Canberra, Queanbeyan and Environs 1:50000 1980.

References

{{Belconnen Suburbs Suburbs of Canberra