Gungahlin () is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

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 ...

, one of the fastest growing regions in Australia. The district is subdivided into

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

s, sections and blocks. ''Gungahlin'' is an Aboriginal word meaning either "white man's house" or "little rocky hill".Search for street and suburb names - Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate - Planning
/ref> Gungahlin comprised sixteen suburbs, including several under construction and a further suburb planned. The town of Gungahlin was part of the original 1957 plan for development in the ACT and in 1991 was officially launched as the fourth 'town' by the ACT Chief Minister. At the time, the population of Gungahlin was just 389 residents. At the , the population of the district was 87,682. Within the district is the northernmost

town centre A town centre is the commerce, commercial or geographical centre or core area of a town. Town centres are traditionally associated with shopping or retail. They are also the centre of communications with major public transport hubs such as train ...

of the ACT, situated north of Canberra City ("Civic" in the local parlance); one of five satellite cities of the ACT, with

Woden Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Emp ...

, Tuggeranong, Weston Creek and

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 ...

Establishment and governance

The traditional custodians of the district are the indigenous people of the Ngunnawal tribe. Following the transfer of land from the

Government of New South Wales The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the executive state government of New South Wales, Australia. The government comprises 11 portfolios, led by a ministerial department and supported by several agencies. Th ...

to the Commonwealth Government in 1911, the district was established in 1966 by the Commonwealth via the gazettal of the ''Districts Ordinance 1966'' (Cth) which, after the enactment of the ''Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act'' 1988, became the ''Districts Act'' 1966. This Act was subsequently repealed by the

ACT Government The Government of the Australian Capital Territory, also referred to as the Australian Capital Territory Government or ACT Government, is the executive branch of the Australian Capital Territory. The leader of the party or coalition with the Con ...

and the district is now administered subject to the ''Districts Act'' 2002. During colonial times and up until the late 1960s, present-day Gungahlin was part of the former farmlands of Ginninderra. Ginninderra Village and later still the village of serviced the needs of the local farming community. Free settlers included farming families such as the Rolfe, Shumack, Gillespie and Gribble families. These settlers established wheat and sheep properties such as 'Weetangara', 'Gold Creek', 'The Valley', 'Horse Park' and 'Tea Gardens'. Much of the local produce supplied the large workforce at goldfields at Braidwood and Major's Creek in New South Wales.

Location and urban structure

Gungahlin is the first district encountered when travelling to Canberra from Melbourne or Sydney via the Barton Highway. The district is a set of contiguous residential and industrial suburbs that surround a town centre, together with undeveloped pastoral leases that border with the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

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 ...

to the north, north-east and east. The main industrial suburb of the district is . The district is separated by open country from the adjacent districts of

to the west and south-west, Canberra Central to the south, Majura to the south-east, and the town of

Hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and the Early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gre ...

to the north-west.

Demographics

At the , there were 87,682 people in the Gungahlin district, of these 49.8 percent were male and 50.2 percent were female.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups, w ...

made up 1.6 percent of the population, which was lower than the national and territory averages. The

median The median of a set of numbers is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a Sample (statistics), data sample, a statistical population, population, or a probability distribution. For a data set, it may be thought of as the “ ...

age of people in the Gungahlin district was 32 years, which was significantly lower than the national median of 38 years. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 23.0 percent of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 7.2 percent of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 54.0 percent were married and 8.9 percent were either divorced or separated. Population growth in the Gungahlin district was 35.6 percent between the 2001 census and the 2006 census, another 50.0 percent to 2011, 50.4 percent to 2016 and another 23.2 percent to 2021. Population growth in Gungahlin district was significantly higher than the national population growth for the same periods, which amounted to 5.8%, 8.3%, 8.8% and 8.6% respectively. The median weekly income for residents within the Gungahlin district in 2021 was 48.6 percent above the national average, but slightly lower than the territory average. In 2021, compared to the national average, households in the Gungahlin district had a significantly higher than average proportion (41.3 percent) where a non-English language was used (national average was 24.8 percent); and a significantly lower proportion (58.0 per cent) where English only was spoken at home (national average was 72.0 percent).

List of suburbs

* Amaroo * Bonner * Casey * Crace * Forde * Franklin *

Gungahlin Gungahlin () is a Lands administrative divisions of Australia#Australian Capital Territory, district in the Australian Capital Territory, one of the fastest growing regions in Australia. The district is subdivided into suburbs, sections and blo ...

* Harrison * Jacka *

Kenny Kenny is a surname, a given name, and a diminutive of several different given names. In Ireland, the surname is an Anglicisation of the Irish ''Ó Cionnaith'', also spelt ''Ó Cionnaoith'' and ''Ó Cionaodha'', meaning "descendant of Cionnaith". ...

* * Mitchell * Moncrieff *

Ngunnawal The Ngunnawal people, also spelt Ngunawal, are an Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal people of southern New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory in Australia. Language Ngunnawal–Gundungurra language, Ngunnawal and Gundungurr ...

* Nicholls * Palmerston * Taylor * Throsby Asterisk indicates undeveloped suburbs as of 2022.

Transport

The primary mode of transport within the district is the private car. Despite continued discussion about the need for sustainable public transport, especially light rail, Gungahlin's development is still based on a reliance on private personal transport and an extensive road network.

Public transport

Bus

The ACTION bus service provides public transport throughout Canberra. Services from the suburbs and other town centres connect with the interchange at Gungahlin Place () in the town centre. Nearby is the terminus for the light rail service which runs direct to Civic.

Light rail

A light rail network linking the Gungahlin Town Centre to

Civic Civic is something related to a city or municipality. It also can refer to multiple other things: Civic or CIVIC can also refer to: General *Honda Civic, a car produced by the Honda Motor Co. *Civics, the science of comparative government * Civic ...

opened in April 2019. It was intended to lessen peak-hour congestion on Northbourne Avenue by encouraging public transport use. The terminus is located on Hibberson Street () near the bus interchange.

Private transport

Private transport is the dominant mode of transport for Gungahlin residents. The major arterial roads to North Canberra and the city centre are Northbourne Avenue via the Barton Highway, Horse Park Drive and Flemington Road. Gundaroo Drive is the main connection to the district of Belconnen. With the completion of the Gungahlin Drive Extension in 2008, Gungahlin motorists can bypass the city centre to reach city's southern suburbs via Gungahlin Drive and onto William Hovell Drive and the Tuggeranong Parkway. A number of projects have improved road access to the Gungahlin district, including: * Duplication of the remaining single lane sections of the Gungahlin Drive Extension (completed 2011). * Clarrie Hermes Drive extension to the Barton Highway (completed May 2012). * Flemington Road was upgraded to a dual carriage way between Gungahlin Town Centre and Well Station Drive in 2010. As part of the light rail construction project, the remaining section from Well Station Drive to the Federal Highway was also duplicated, completed in 2019.

Public facilities

While the Gungahlin district is serviced by Calvary Hospital and The Canberra Hospital for emergency treatment, a number of private medical practices have established in the town centre and surrounding suburbs. The ACT Government Health Directorate also operates a Community Health Centre, providing access to allied health and outpatient services including mental health services, children's dental and nutrition,

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

clinic,

pathology Pathology is the study of disease. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in the context of modern medical treatme ...

collection and drug and alcohol counseling services. The clinic opened on 3 September 2012. The Australian Capital Territory Emergency Services Agency operates the Gungahlin Joint Emergency Services Centre which provides the Gungahlin district with a local operations centre for

Ambulance An ambulance is a medically-equipped vehicle used to transport patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport. Ambulances are used to respond to ...

and

Police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

as well as ACT Fire and Rescue and the Rural Fire Service.

Community and sports organisations

The Gungahlin Community Council is the peak community representative organisation for the district. Gungahlin local sport teams include the

Gungahlin Eagles The Gungahlin Eagles is a rugby union club based in Gungahlin, Australian Capital Territory. Club history The club was founded as the Daramalan RUFC club in 1967, going on to win two premierships. In 1999 the club moved to Gungahlin, where the c ...

(

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

), the Gungahlin Bulls (

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

), Gungahlin United (

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

) and the Gungahlin Jets (

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

). All four clubs play matches at Gungahlin Enclosed Oval. Gungahlin is also represented in the ACT Cricket Association by the North Canberra Gungahlin Cricket Club.

Schools

* John Paul College
Gold Creek SchoolHoly Spirit Primary SchoolGood Shepherd Primary SchoolPalmerston Primary SchoolAmaroo SchoolBurgmann Anglican SchoolNgunnawal Primary SchoolHarrison SchoolGungahlin CollegeMother Teresa School
File:Decorations on the exterior of Gungahlin Library April 2017.jpg , Exterior, public library File:Alexander Bunyip, Gungahlin.jpg, Alexander Bunyip — ''The Monster that Ate Canberra''

References

External links

ACTMAPi
- the ACT Government's interactive mapping service {{ACT Districts and Suburbs Districts of the Australian Capital Territory 1966 establishments in Australia