Symonston (

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 digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, included in a postal a ...

: 2609) is a primarily industrial and agricultural suburb of

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Symonston is named after Sir

Josiah Symon Sir Josiah Henry Symon (27 September 184629 March 1934) was an Australian lawyer and politician. He was a Senator for South Australia from 1901 to 1913 and Attorney-General of Australia from 1904 to 1905. Symon was born in Wick, Caithness, Sco ...

a Legislator, Federalist and one of the Founders of the Constitution of Australia. Located in Symonston are the

Periodic Detention Centre Periodic detention or weekend detention is a type of custodial sentence under which the offender is held in prison between Friday and Sunday evenings each week, but is at liberty at other times. Promoted by prison reformers as an alternative to i ...

and

Symonston Temporary Remand Centre Symonston (Postcodes in Australia, postcode: 2609) is a primarily industrial and agricultural suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Symonston is named after Sir Josiah Symon a Legislator, Federalist and one of the Founder ...

and three caravan parks: Canberra South Motor Park, Sundown Village and Narrabundah Longstay Caravan Park. Geoscience Australia has its headquarters in Symonston, as does the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

Planning

The Symonston area has traditionally been denoted 'Broadacre' area by the planning authorities, meaning that it has retained a traditionally rural character with some larger institution uses, particularly by the

Australian Defence Force The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of the Commonwealth of Australia and its national interests. It consists of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Forc ...

and Geoscience Australia. With the release of the Canberra Spatial Plan by the ACT Government, the area and the adjoining Majura Valley has been denoted as an employment corridor centred on Canberra Airport and Fyshwick.

Geology

Rocks in Symonston are from the

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 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 shortest period of the Paleozo ...

age Mount Painter Volcanics dark grey to green grey dacitic

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock cont ...

underlies most of Symonston. Narrabundah Ashstone Member is found in the northern corner near the motor park. Canberra Formation, calcareous

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

found to the east of the ashstone. Further to the east and over to Harman is found 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 predomi ...

of the Ainslie Volcanics. An unnamed coarse leucogranite has a small out crop east of Jerrabomberra creek. Geoscience Australia is the Australian Government organisation tasked with supplying scientific information and knowledge about the geography and geology of Australia. It has information about the geology of the whole of Australia including Canberra.

Education

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

Archive
. Education Directorate, Australian Capital Territory. Retrieved 8 February 2016. *Depending on the address: Forrest Primary or Red Hill Primary * Telopea Park School (for high school) * Narrabundah College

Footnotes

{{Jerrabomberra Suburbs Suburbs of Canberra