Tharwa is a village in the district of Paddys River, 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 ...

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 is situated on the southern side of the Australian Capital Territory, south 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 ...

. At the , Tharwa had a population of 82. The village is located on the banks of 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 ...

and at the junction of Tidbinbilla and Naas Roads, and Tharwa Drive. The main public buildings are a general store, a preschool and

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

(now closed), Saint Edmund's Anglican Church, a cemetery, a community hall and tennis courts. The annual Tharwa Fair was hosted by the school, and was held in May until 2006. The Tharwa Fair is now organised by Tharwa Preschool.

History

Tharwa is the oldest official settlement in the

, proclaimed a settlement in 1862. Tharwa was named after the Aboriginal word for Mount Tennent, a nearby mountain peak which is part of

Namadgi National Park Namadgi National Park is a protected area in the southwest of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), bordering Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales. It lies approximately southwest of Canberra, and occupies approximately 46 percent of th ...

. Mount Tennent was named after John Tennant, who was one of the earliest and best-known

bushranger Bushrangers were armed robbers and outlaws who resided in The bush#Australia, the Australian bush between the 1780s and the early 20th century. The original use of the term dates back to the early years of the British colonisation of Australia ...

s in the region. Tennant lived in a hideout on the mountain behind Tharwa from which he raided local homesteads 1827–1828, before being arrested and transported to

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island ( , ; ) is an States and territories of Australia, external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head, New South Wales, Evans Head and a ...

. Tharwa Bridge, opened on 27 March 1895, crosses the

. Tharwa Primary School was opened soon after, in 1899. Tharwa narrowly avoided being burnt in the 2003 Canberra bushfires. More recently, the Tharwa community had two further challenges: closures and repairs to Tharwa Bridge due to extensive rot in its supporting timbers discovered in 2005, and the 2006–07 Australian Capital Territory budget announcement of its plans to close the Tharwa preschool and primary school. The primary school was closed in December 2006, but the preschool remains. The bridge was closed in September 2006 because of safety concerns, traffic then had to detour via Point Hut Crossing. The bridge reopened for light traffic (less than 5 tonnes) in August 2008. Following the completion of restoration works, the bridge was fully reopened for public use on Friday 24 June 2011. The works took two years and involved removal of the old bridge deck and barrier railings as well as installation of new cross girders and sway braces to the permanent trusses. Lambrigg is an historical property near Tharwa where William Farrer conducted his work on genetic selection for his wheat varieties. The De Salis Cemetery is a 19th century pastoral station cemetery on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River. It was established by Count Leopold Fabius Dietegen Fane De Salis when his family moved to nearby Cuppacumbalong. The cemetery has a raised circular stone wall to reduce the risk of river flooding, and the site was repaired after 2012. The 19 recorded burials between 1876 and 1903 are marked by four headstones and the De Salis granite obelisk, which is placed inside another stone circular wall.

Geology

Tharwa is in a different geological structural unit than the rest of Canberra, being on the Cotter Horst. The village itself is built on Tharwa Adamellite. This adamellite is coarsely foliated and contains

biotite Biotite is a common group of phyllosilicate minerals within the mica group, with the approximate chemical formula . It is primarily a solid-solution series between the iron- endmember annite, and the magnesium-endmember phlogopite; more al ...

mica Micas ( ) are a group of silicate minerals whose outstanding physical characteristic is that individual mica crystals can easily be split into fragile elastic plates. This characteristic is described as ''perfect basal cleavage''. Mica is co ...

. It has been dated at 423 ±6 million years old. This places it in the upper Silurian age. The outcrop area is extended to the north north west to Freshford, and includes Castle Hill. It goes as far to the west as Sawyer's Gully. To the south it goes close to Angle Crossing, and on the east side is bounded by the Murrumbidgee Fault. The Tharwa Adamellite is part of the Murrumbidgee Batholith. The latitude and longitude of Tharwa is 35°31'00S 149°04'00E. The

geoid The geoid ( ) is the shape that the ocean surface would take under the influence of the gravity of Earth, including gravitational attraction and Earth's rotation, if other influences such as winds and tides were absent. This surface is exte ...

is 19.356 metres above the theoretical ellipsoid shape of the earth at Tharwa. The astronomical measurement of the position on the Earth's surface is only very slightly distorted by a non-vertical gravitational field 0.3" to north and 0.6" to the west.

Magnetic declination Magnetic declination (also called magnetic variation) is the angle between magnetic north and true north at a particular location on the Earth's surface. The angle can change over time due to polar wandering. Magnetic north is the direction th ...

at Tharwa is 11.817 deg east, total field strength is 43108 nT and magnetic inclination is -66.031 degrees; as at 1 March 2006. Declination is increasing by 0.004 degrees per year. Inclination is increasing by 0.016 degrees per year (as in the rest of Canberra).

Notable residents

* William Farrer * Jo Gullett * Leopold Fane De Salis

References

External links

Tharwa

Birrigai Outdoor School

Lanyon Homestead

Nolan Gallery

Outward Bound Australia
{{authority control Geography of the Australian Capital Territory Towns in the Australian Capital Territory Populated places on the Murrumbidgee River

History

Geology

Notable residents

See also

References

External links