Tuggeranong

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Location of Tuggeranong

Tuggeranong Town Centre is located on Lake Tuggeranong

Tuggeranong is the southernmost town centre of Canberra, the capital city of Australia. It comprises 19 suburbs with a total of 30,662 dwellings, housing 86,637 people of the 311,518 people in the Australian Capital Territory (June 2001 Census). The district occupies 117 square kilometres to the east of the Murrumbidgee River.

Tuggeranong is in a valley of the Brindabella Ranges. Cave paintings and Aboriginal artifacts discovered in the area indicate that the Tuggeranong region has been occupied for over 21,000 years. The name is derived from an Aboriginal expression meaning "cold plains".

[edit] History

In 1821, a third expedition to the area known as the Limestone Plains led by Charles Throsby found the Murrumbidgee River and the valley now occupied by the Tuggeranong district. In 1823 Joseph Wild was employed by Brigade Major John Ovens and Captain Mark Currie to guide them to the Murrumbidgee. They travelled south along the river and named the area now known as Tuggeranong Isabella's Plain in honour of Governor Brisbane's infant daughter. Unable to cross the river near the current site of Tharwa, they continued on to the Monaro Plains. The last expedition in the region was undertaken by Allan Cunningham in 1824. Cunningham's reports verified that the region was suitable for grazing, and the settlement of the Limestone Plains followed immediately thereafter.

In 1828, the bushranger John Tennant, known as the 'Terror of Argyle', was captured by James Ainslie and two others near the Murrumbidgee River in Tuggeranong. Tennant had been a convict assigned to Joshua John Moore at Canberry, a property in the present day inner north Canberra. Mount Tennant, behind Tharwa, is named after the bushranger.[1]

Charles Bean and his wife, Effie, in the grounds of Tuggeranong Station between 1919 and 1925.

The first authorised settler was James Murdoch. In 1824 he was offered a land grant on a small plain known by the natives as 'Togranong' meaning 'cold plains'. He took up the grant in 1827. Lanyon station was established in 1835 and originally owned by James Wright and John Lanyon. Wright bought the property from Lanyon, who had only remained in Australia for three years. Wright sold to the Cunningham family in 1848. In 1835 the Macquoid family bought Tuggeranong station then known as Waniassa property (sic). It was sold by the Macquoid family in 1858 to the Cunningham family, owners of the neighbouring Lanyon property. They renamed Waniassa to Tuggranong (sic). Tuggranong homestead was rebuilt by the Cunningham family in 1908. In 1917 it was resumed by the Commonwealth Government for military purposes. The Cunningham family remained at Lanyon until 1926. Charles Bean, together with his staff, wrote the first two volumes of the twelve volume official history of Australia's involvement in World War I at the homestead from 1919 to 1925. Tuggeranong property was leased as a grazing property by the McCormack family from 1927 to 1976. [2]

Aerial view of Lanyon station in 1950

In 1973, the third of the new towns planned for Canberra was inaugurated at Tuggeranong on 21 February. It was originally planned to house between 180 000 to 220 000 people. Planning for the new town had begun in 1969. The first families moved in to the suburb of Kambah in 1974.

The fifth Canberra fire station opened at Kambah in 1979 to service the new developing satellite city. [3]

The view from Tuggeranong Hill, looking down into Tuggeranong Valley in 2002

Urban development is consolidated around the artificial Lake Tuggeranong which was constructed in 1987. The Tuggeranong Town Centre is to the west of the lake. It includes a major shopping mall operated by Leda Group's Retail Division, and is surrounded by government offices and a light industrial area. On the edge of the business district, overlooking the lake is Lake Tuggeranong College, a school catering to years 11 and 12 (16 - 18 years old).

[edit] Places of interest

Places of interest in the district are:

• Tuggeranong Hill - a large mountain overlooking the valley.
• Lanyon Homestead - a historic grazing property that also has the Nolan Gallery
• Tuggeranong Homestead - a historic homestead now operated as a café and function or event centre.
• Tuggeranong Town Centre - the town centre

[edit] Churches

• Alliance Church Tuggeranong, Calwell
• Brindabella Baptist Church, Isabella Plains
• Christian City Church Tuggeranong, Wanniassa
• Christian Outreach Centre, Monash
• Corpus Christi Catholic Parish, Gowrie
• Erindale Christian Centre, Wanniassa
• Harvest Christian Fellowship, Wanniassa
• Lanyon Valley Anglican Church, Gordon
• Lifestream Christian Fellowship, Wanniassa
• Salvation Army, Tuggeranong Corps, Greenway
• St Mary in the Valley Anglican Church, Calwell
• St Matthew's Anglican Church, Wanniassa
• St Stephen's Anglican Church, Kambah
• The Church Of The Good Shepherd Lutheran, Chisholm
• Tuggeranong Baptist Church, Kambah
• Tuggeranong Presbyterian Church, Isabella Plains
• Tuggeranong Uniting Church, Wanniassa

[edit] Suburbs

[edit] External links

• Tuggeranong suburbs map - links to ACT Government street-level maps.
• Canberra region map - all districts
• Australian Bureau of Statistics
  • 80525 Tuggeranong (Statistical Subdivision)
  • ACT - Basic Community Profile and Snapshot - 2001 Census
• Tuggeranong Homestead
• Lanyon Homestead
• Nolan Gallery
• Google Maps Satellite Image of Tuggeranong