At the 2021 census Acton had a population of 2,848 people,[1] mostly students living at the Australian National University.
History
Molonglo River at Acton in 1920ANU School of Art
Acton was inhabited by Aboriginal Australian groups for thousands of years before European occupation. Part of this history is documented by the ANU Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Trail.[2]Sullivans Creek, which flows through Acton, provided a culturally significant source of food and resources for Aboriginal people. According to historian Bill Gammage, part of the area now used as the South Oval was purposely deforested by Aboriginal people, to form a grassland area that may have been used for hunting kangaroos, camping, or as an area to await smoke signals from nearby. Scarred trees in Acton suggest that their bark provided a valuable resource.
The suburb is named in recognition of one of the region's original homesteads 'Acton' which was sited near the present-day National Museum at the end of Liversidge Street.
With the establishment of the Federal Capital in 1911, territory administrators erected a temporary workers camp in the vicinity of 'Acton Homestead', since demolished, to house staff coordinating the development of the National Capital. The chief Surveyor Scrivener occupied Acton Homestead at an early stage during his survey of the capital site. The Bachelors' Quarters above Lennox Crossing, now renamed Lennox House, became the city's first guest house.
The alignment of Liversidge Street and Lennox Crossing follows the original line of the pre-1911 road towards the major ford across the Molonglo River. A low bridge and causeway was erected in 1911, at the site of the original river ford in an area subsequently inundated by Lake Burley Griffin.[3]
The Acton Tunnel was built below a hill in the suburb between 1976 and 1979 as part on an extension of Parkes Way.
In 2011 a proposal was launched to build the Australia Forum, a major convention centre complex, on the lake shoreline in Acton.
Demographics
In the 2021 census, the population of Acton was 2,848.[1] In 2011, 56.9% of the population was foreign-born, the highest for any Canberra suburb.[4]
The southern part of Acton has a complicated arrangement of sediments that include the Pittman Formation greywacke and the black-coloured Acton Shale Member from the Ordovician age. Then from the Silurian age there is mudstone, State Circle Shale, and Camp Hill Sandstone. Some limestone is found near the National Museum of Australia.[5]
Calcareous shales from the Canberra Formation are overlain by Quaternary alluvium on the north. This rock is the limestone of the original title of Canberra, "Limestone Plains". Tertiary-age pebbly gravels are left from when the Molonglo river was at a higher level.[5]
The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, and serves as the territory's primate city. It is located in southeastern Australian mainland as an enclave within the state of New South Wales. Founded after Federation as the seat of government for the new nation, the territory hosts the headquarters of all important institutions of the Australian Government, most notably Parliament House.
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 Australian city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory at the northern tip of the Australian Alps, the country's highest mountain range. As of June 2023, Canberra's estimated population was 466,566.
The history of Canberra details the development of the city of Canberra from the time before European settlement to the city's planning by the Chicago architect Walter Burley Griffin in collaboration with Marion Mahony Griffin, and its subsequent development to the present day.
Lake Burley Griffin is an artificial lake in the centre of Canberra, the capital of Australia. It was completed in 1963 after the Molonglo River, which ran between the city centre and Parliamentary Triangle, was dammed. It is named after Walter Burley Griffin, the architect who won the competition to design the city of Canberra.
The Molonglo River is a perennial river that is part of the Murrumbidgee catchment within the Murray–Darling basin. It is located in the Monaro and Capital Country regions of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, in Australia.
Yarralumla is a large inner south suburb of Canberra, the capital city of Australia. Located approximately 3.5 km (2.2 mi) south-west of the city, Yarralumla extends along the south-west bank of Lake Burley Griffin from Scrivener Dam to Commonwealth Avenue.
Reid is a suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. With a population of 1,544 at the 2021 census, located directly next to Civic, Reid is one of the oldest suburbs in Canberra. It is named after George Reid, the fourth prime minister of Australia.
Parkes is an inner southern suburb of the Canberra Central district of Canberra, located within the Australian Capital Territory of Australia. Located southeast of the Canberra central business district, Parkes contains the Parliamentary Triangle and many of the national monuments of Australia's capital city.
Kingston is the oldest and one of the most densely populated suburbs of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. The suburb is named after Charles Cameron Kingston, the former Premier of South Australia and minister in the first Australian Commonwealth Government. It is adjacent to the suburbs of Barton, Fyshwick, Griffith and Manuka. The suburb of Kingston is situated about 4 km from the centre of Canberra.
Lennox Gardens, a park in Canberra, Australia, lying on the south side of Lake Burley Griffin, close to Commonwealth Avenue Bridge and Albert Hall in the suburb of Yarralumla. Before the construction of Lake Burley Griffin a road ran through the present garden, this road being one of two main crossing points across the Molonglo River. The name of the road was Lennox Crossing from which the present garden takes its name. The northern segment of the road is still present on Acton peninsula. The garden was officially named in 1963. Lennox Crossing was named after David Lennox, an early bridge builder in NSW and Victoria.
The history of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) as a separate administrative division began in 1911, when the land that would comprise the Territory was transferred from New South Wales to the Australian federal government. The territory contains Australia's capital city Canberra and various smaller settlements. Until 1989, it also administered the Jervis Bay Territory, a small coastal region.
The geology of the Australian Capital Territory includes rocks dating from the Ordovician around 480 million years ago, whilst most rocks are from the Silurian. During the Ordovician period the region—along with most of eastern Australia—was part of the ocean floor. The area contains the Pittman Formation consisting largely of quartz-rich sandstone, siltstone and shale; the Adaminaby Beds and the Acton Shale.
The Molonglo Plain generally refers to the flood plain of the Molonglo River and specifically the one located in the Australian Capital Territory that was inundated during the mid-1960s in order to create Lake Burley Griffin. This plain was one of fours plains - the Ginninderra Plain, the Limestone Plain, and the Tuggeranong Plain are the others - upon which the city of Canberra is situated.
Springbank Island is an island located on Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. Springbank Island is named after a former agricultural property that was partially submerged to create Lake Burley Griffin. An elevated part of the former property now comprises the island.
Scrivener Dam is a concrete gravity dam that impounds the Molonglo River in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The dam creates Lake Burley Griffin, which was established for recreational and ornamental purposes. Named in honour of surveyor Charles Scrivener, the dam was officially inaugurated on 20 September 1963 and the official filling of the lake commemorated on 17 October 1964 by the Prime Minister, Robert Menzies.
Canberra Central is a district in the Australian Capital Territory in Australia. Consisting of both the subdivisions of North Canberra and South Canberra. The district is subdivided into divisions (suburbs), sections and blocks. The district of Canberra Central lies entirely within the bounds of the city of Canberra, the capital city of Australia.
Sullivans Creek, a partly perennial stream of the Murrumbidgee catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, is located in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
The first hospital in Canberra was the Canberra Hospital in Balmain Crescent Acton in 1914, predominately for the workers building the new capital of Canberra. Called later the Canberra Community Hospital in 1929 after additions to the older building which became necessary due to the influx of government staff following the opening of Parliament in Canberra in 1927. In 1942 a new hospital was built on Acton Peninsula also known as the Canberra Community Hospital until 1972 when it earned its title as the Royal Canberra Hospital. It grew to become the major hospital in Canberra before being closed in 1991 and later demolished in 1997.
Molonglo Valley is a district in the Australian Capital Territory in Australia. The district is subdivided into divisions (suburbs), sections and blocks and is the newest district of the ACT. The district is planned to consist of thirteen suburbs, planned to contain 33,000 dwellings, with an expected population of between 50,000 and 73,000. To be developed in three stages over more than ten years, the district will contain a principal town centre and a secondary group centre, with residential suburbs located to the south and north of the Molonglo River; located to the west of Lake Burley Griffin.
Scott's Crossing Road was a former roadway connecting north and south Canberra, across the Molonglo River floodplain. It was named after John Scott, who was an early settler in the region, and whose homestead was located at its southern end. It was submerged by the filling of Lake Burley Griffin.
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