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 numerical digit, digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, inclu ...

: 2609) is a primarily industrial and agricultural suburb 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 ...

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 ...

. 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 and Symonston Temporary Remand Centre and three caravan parks: Canberra South Motor Park, Sundown Village and Narrabundah Longstay Caravan Park.

Geoscience Australia Geoscience Australia is a statutory agency of the Government of Australia that carries out geoscientific research. The agency is the government's technical adviser on aspects of geoscience, and serves as the repository of geographic and geolo ...

has its headquarters in Symonston, as does the

Therapeutic Goods Administration The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is the medicine and therapeutic regulatory agency of the Australian Government. As part of the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, the TGA regulates the safety, quality, efficacy and advertisi ...

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 Armed forces, military organisation responsible for the defence of Australia and its national interests. It consists of three branches: the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army and the Royal Aus ...

and

. 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 Canberra Airport is an international airport situated in the district of Majura, Australian Capital Territory. It serves Australia's capital city, Canberra, as well as the nearby city of Queanbeyan and regional areas of the Australian Capital ...

and

Fyshwick Fyshwick () is a retail and light industrial suburb of Canberra, Australia, east of the South Canberra district. At the , Fyshwick had a population of 56. It has many motor vehicle dealers, stores selling home furnishings and hardware, and s ...

Geology

Rocks in Symonston are from the

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 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 co ...

underlies most of Symonston. Narrabundah

Ashstone 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 ...

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 mineral, clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g., Kaolinite, kaolin, aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4) and tiny f ...

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 predomina ...

of the Ainslie Volcanics. An unnamed coarse

leucogranite Leucogranite is a light-colored, granitic, igneous rock containing almost no dark minerals. Leucogranites have been reported from a variety of orogenies involving continental collisions. Examples include the Black Hills (Trans-Hudson orogeny ...

has a small out crop east of Jerrabomberra creek.

is the Australian Government organisation tasked with supplying scientific information and knowledge about the geography and

geology of Australia The geology of Australia includes virtually all known list of rock types, rock types, spanning a geological time period of over 3.8 billion years, including some of the oldest rocks on earth. Australia is a continent situated on the Indo-Aust ...

. It has information about the geology of the whole of Australia including Canberra. Geoscience Australia

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 Telopea Park School () is a government international primary and secondary school in Canberra, Australia. It is named after the adjacent Telopea Park. It was founded in 1923, making it the oldest school in Canberra. Telopea Park School is one ...

(for high school) *

Narrabundah College Narrabundah College is a government college that teaches the last two years of secondary education in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It was the first school in Australia to offer the International Baccalaureate (IB), starting the progr ...

Footnotes

{{Jerrabomberra Suburbs Suburbs of Canberra