T G Weston, Canberra’s first forestry officer, chose the site in 1913 as Canberra’s main nursery to supply plants for the new capital. He chose 160 ha for the site, which he divided into four equal areas for a general nursery, a permanent planting of Australian trees, an arboretum (a collection of exotic tree species) , and a pine plantation. The latter three quarters became Westbourne Woods. The general nursery remains in use providing plants for Canberra streets and gardens. It has recently taken on a new life and is a thriving and attractive business.
You can also find other interesting things to see in Weston Park
Yarralumla, Official Residence of the Governor-General was built in 1891 by Frederick Campbell, near the site of an older building known as the Hunting Lodge. Yarralumla was the name of Campbell’s sheep property of some 40 000 acres. The word comes from the aboriginal meaning “where the cry comes back from the mountain”.
The Commonwealth Government resumed the property in 1913, and pending its conversion for Vice Regal use, the residence was used as a hostel for parliamentarians visiting Canberra to inspect progress being made with the commencement of Canberra as the site for the National Capital and the construction of Parliament House.
Conversion work began at Yarralumla in 1924 and Government House was ready for temporary occupancy by the then Governor-General, Lord Stonehaven in 1927, as well as the Duke and Duchess of York, for their visit to open parliament in that year. In 1930 Sir Isaac Isaacs became the first resident Governor-General. Further modifications were made in 1934 and 1939, with the latest additions being completed in 1995.
The present Governor-General is Dr Peter Hollingsworth (2002)
Charles Robert Scrivener, former Director of NSW Lands and Survey Department, recommended in 1908 the Canberra/Yass area as the site for the National Capital. His inspection of the district highlighted the opportunity for creating an ornamental water storeage by damming the Molonglo River. A water body became a key feature in Walter Burley Griffin’s prize winning plan for Canberra.
Work started on the dam in September 1960. In 1964 the lake filled and was inaugurated by Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies.
Scrivener dam consists of a concrete section with 5m high flood gates which can be lowered to release flood waters. Each of the five flood gates is 32m long and can be operated independantly. The maximum height of the dam to the roadway is 36m. The dam creates a lake of 664 ha.
Black Mountain Peninsula is now a popular picnic spot but it was once a major aboriginal camp site. Early European residents of the area observed aboriginals holding coroborees at the site with between 500 and 1000 gathering at one time.
Black Mountain was an important landmark and vantage point for early European explorers to the Canberra area. In 1820 a party consisting of Charles Throsby Smith, Joseph Wild and Constable James Vaughan climbed Black Mountain in search of the Murrumbidgee River.
John MacPherson, whose farm of 640 acres lay at the foot of Black Mountain, was the first resident European landowner, and his wife was the first European woman in the area.
Black Mountain (813 m above sea level) is a residual hill higher than the surrounding plain because its rock type is more resistant to weathering and erosion than the rock of the surrounding area. Black Mountain consists of quartz-rich sandstone which was formed beneath an ancient sea during the Lower Silurian period between 435 and 415 million years ago. Black Mountain Sandstone is thus one of the oldest rock types in the Canberra region.
The older sedimentary rocks crop out on the lower slopes, for example, State Circle Shale (Lower Silurian) outcrops at Black Mountain Peninsula at the southern end of the Reserve. The Pittman Formation exposed on the western slopes is the oldest rock type in the Reserve having been formed during the Middle and Upper Ordovician Period, 475 to 435 million years ago. The Pittman Formation contains sandstones, shales and cherts, all of which are easily found, especially in creek gullies near Caswell Drive.
Sites of geological interest include: 1 .A stone quarry on the eastern side of Black Mountain provided sandstone for many Canberra buildings including historic St John's Church (located close to Anzac Parade, see Ainslie/Majura Ride); 2. At a point about halfway up Black Mountain Drive, road construction has exposed rockfaces with sandstone bedding and folding, particularly the latter; 3. Shoulders of poorly sorted gravels on the hill slopes can be observed from trails on the western slopes. They are colluvial slope deposits laid down under the dominant force of gravity, rather than water as in alluvial deposits. The slope deposits relate to past climates which differed from those of the present period. Tentative dating indicates an age of about 30 000 years, and the processes by which they formed operated under either periglacial or arid conditions.
Reference: Dept of Capital Territory Nature Guide. AGPS, 1976
Black Mountain contains a good example of dry sclerophyll forest in which the trees are predominantly Eucalyptus rossii (scribbly gum), Eucalyptus macrorhyncha (red stringybark), and Eucalyptus mannifera subsp. maculosa (white brittle gum). Other Eucalyptus species occur in limited numbers.
Beneath the eucalypt cover exists a wide variety of shrubs and wildflowers, for example on Black Mountain thirty-seven species of orchid had been recorded by 1969. The Black Mountain vegetation type is regarded as floristically the richest in the Australian Capital Territory, and over 500 species of plants have so far been recorded.
Conservation of this particularly interesting and attractive vegetation type is important especially as scientists have said that destruction of the remaining stands of this alliance in the ACT would accelerate rapidly as increasing areas of pastoral country were taken up by the almost explosive rate of urban development.
Of the nine species of eucalypt found on Black Mountain, Eucalyptus rossii is the most common. The white to pale grey smooth bark is often marked with conspicuous 'scribbles' caused by the larvae of an insect burrowing beneath its bark. This tree has distinct ridges or wrinkles at the base of limbs where they join the trunk and this characteristic helps to distinguish it from Eucalyptus manna subsp. maculosa which also has smooth creamy-white bark. The latter is common and is often confused with Eucalyptus rossii. The third common species, Eucalyptus macrorhyncha, is easily recognised by the brown fibrous and fissured bark.
An interesting example of plant-animal interdependence is demonstrated by the cross-pollination mechanism developed in the trigger plant, Stylidium graminifolium. The flowers have pink petals which attract insects. When the small, black bush bee searches for nectar it triggers a 'spring-loaded' column bearing the anthers which deposit pollen onto the back of the feeding insect. Later the maturing female stigma becomes the functional part of the column. The trigger mechanism is still functional and if a visiting bee is carrying pollen grains from another trigger plant, the stigma picks up some of these when the column once again springs forward. Fertilisation then occurs.
Drosera peltata or sundew is an insectivorous plant. A close-up view reveals a number of globules of sticky material resembling droplets of dew distributed over the tentacle-like hairs on the leaves. When an insect lands on a leaf it is held by this sticky substance and the leaf produces enzymes which slowly digest the insect over a period of several days. Sundews commonly are found in boggy, muddy places.
Glosodia major, a delicate orchid with a bright purple-blue flower, is common in the Reserve during September-October. If you can smell this flower without picking it, you may discover its distinct chocolate aroma, hence its common name, chocolate orchid.
Some plants have been put to interesting uses. Many of the eucalypt species found on Black Mountain were used for firewood in the past. A more interesting use was made of Dodonea viscosa or hop bush. In the years of early settlement when Canberra was remote from centres of trade, use was made of the seed capsules for brewing beer when brewing hops were unavailable.
The necklace fern, Asplenium flabellifolium, derives its specific name from its fan-shaped leaves. This fern is not common on Black Mountain, but can be found in cooler, damp gullies with a southerly aspect.
Lichens are among the smallest yet most interesting plants of the Reserve. Throughout the bush greenish spreading patches grow on rocks, soil, twigs and branches. These are lichens, an association of two kinds of plant, an alga (related to seaweeds) and a fungus (moulds, mushrooms and toadstools) which are so closely interwoven that the lichen form is produced. Examination with a hand lens gives an appreciation of their special structure.
Lichens are called pioneer plants because they grow on bare rock surfaces and assist in the gradual breakdown of rock, an important process in the formation of soil. Lichens are of three different forms: foliose (leaf-like); fructicose (shrubby or beard-like); crustose (crust-like).
The green foliose patches common on rocks are various species of Xanthoparmelia. Crustose forms found on rocks adhere so closely to the surface that they resemble marks or stains. The main species are the bright orange patches of Caloplaca fulgens and the greenish-yellow dots of Rhizocarpon spp.
Common fructicose lichens which are found on soil include green, leafy branching patches of Heterodea muelleri, spiky brown patches of Cladia aggregata and spiky pale green patches of Cladonia capitellata.
Other lichens grow on rotting wood and tree bases. One of these is a fructicose form called Cladonia which looks like a miniature forest of trees. Visitors may be astute enough to find the beautiful Cladonia sydneyensis with miniature bright red heads on long grey-green stalks. Other fructicose forms such as the green beard-like tufts of Usnea spp. and the deep orange tufts of Teloschistes spp. are found on overhanging dry branches of shrubs and in native cherry.
Reference: Dept of Capital Territory Nature Guide. AGPS, 1976
Red Hill covers 487.2 hectares including the Hill. Residential land in the suburb of Red Hill was offered for sale in the first Canberra land auction conducted on 12 December 1924. Of the 47 blocks offered, 25 were sold at prices ranging from 200 pounds to 500 pounds.
Red Hill welcomed its first families in 1927 and by 1933 had a population of 132 people. Its population peaked in 1971 with 4100 residents. Current population is around 3249 with a forecast decline to 3000 in the year 2000.
The name 'Red Hill' was gazetted as a suburb name in 1928. This was the name associated with the hill since the days of the early settlers and probably suggested by the red soil in the area. The fifty streets are named after Ships and Explorers with the well known Mugga Way named after an Aboriginal word also associated with the locality since the days of the early settlers.
The Red Hill ridge, situated behind Mugga Way, is a conspicuous natural feature acting as an attractive backdrop to the suburb. The ridge reaches a height of 725 metres and its 'Lookout' facilities provide residents and visitors with spectacular views of Canberra.
The ridge is an erosion residual and results from the metamorphism of the Yarralumla Formation sediments by a small granite intrusion to the south. This thermal metamorphism has toughened the rock and provided the resistant core of the ridge. The granite is deeply weathered and does not outcrop but is evident by the smooth slopes and deep red soils on the lower slopes by the road to the Federal Golf Course.
Situated at 24 Mugga Way, Calthorpes' House provides an opportunity to step back to the 1920s and relive family life in Canberra during the city's first development phase.
The house was built for Queanbeyan stock and station agent Harry Calthorpe, his wife Dell, and their two daughters. The family lived together in the house until World War II when both daughters married serving army officers and moved from the family home. Harry died in 1950, and Mrs Calthorpe remained living there until shortly before her death in 1979.
The property was purchased from the two daughters by the Commonwealth Government and later transferred to the ACT Government to be preserved for present and future generations.
The interior of the house is remarkably intact and original floor coverings, domestic appliances and utensils, household accounts, contents of cupboards and drawers, games, pianola rolls and gramophone records are just a few of the items on display which document fifty years of occupation by one family. It is believed to be the most complete surviving example of a family home in the 1920s in Australia.
Source: Land Information Newsletter No 26, December 1995. ACT Government.
The Red Hill Precinct is bounded by Mugga Way, Moresby Street, Arthur Circle, Monaro Crescent and Flinders Way, and is an example of spacious garden city planning in its overall layout. Th major streets of Red Hill were include in an outline plan for the earl development of Canberra prepared by Walter Burley Griffin in 1918. It streetscape and landscape character reflect 1920s garden city planning, an thus presents a remarkably intact window into a significant planning period of Canberra's past.
The blocks in Red Hill were planned to be larger than those in any other area of Canberra and, unlike other suburbs, were reserved for private sale with none restricted exclusively for purchase by government staff. The large size of the blocks demonstrate the intention to maintain low density housing. This also allowed an opportunity for households to be self sufficient, which created a semi-rural landscape character as evidenced by the many remnant orchards.
In 1924 there were 47 blocks in the Precinct and a building covenant was imposed which stipulated a minimum cost of building at 1200 pounds. Many of the blocks brought higher prices than expected at an auction and buyers included senior public servants, estate agents and rural landowners, many of whom were involved in the establishment of Australia's seat of government.
By 1929, 22 houses had been built. However, by 1955 there were 64 houses, reflecting the Government decision to subdivide some of the large blocks in Sections 1 and 3. These subdivisions occurred on several blocks originally planned for orchards. Part of Section 3 was redesigned to incorporate a small park in Wickham Crescent.
The Precinct demonstrates the philosophy of past land use planning and a system of values which is no longer prevalent. Housing was planned for different socioeconomic groups within the community, which reflected the social conventions of the time.
The Precinct is spaciously proportioned and well treed, with a picturesque quality. The original planning intent was to create a residential area of large landscaped blocks, set within winding roads at the base of Red Hill and to maintain a low density residential area. This was still apparent after the 1943 re-subdivision of the Precinct and continues today.
The street trees are a distinctive part of the landscape. The species planted are historically significant within Canberra's overall planning as they were part of a theme developed for the suburbs in the 1920s. These are the result of a deliberate overall planting design intended to complement the residential character.
Source: Land Information Newsletter No 26, December 1995. ACT Government.
Mt Ainslie and Mt Majura are of volcanic origin, and their rock type collectively is named the 'Ainslie volcanics'. Recent investigations indicate that these rocks were formed when volcanic activity deposited layers of ash and rock material over the existing sediments. This activity occurred during the Upper Silurian period of about 400 million years ago.
Both sedimentary and volcanic material were then broken and folded by earth movement. Subsequent erosion was more severe on the nearby softer sedimentary rocks and today the remaining Ainslie volcanics stand above the surrounding areas.
Reference: Dept of Capital Territory Nature Guide. AGPS, 1976
One of the interesting features of Ainslie-Majura is the way in which the patterns of vegetation differ so markedly from the vegetation patterns of its neighbour across the city, Black Mountain. Black Mountain and much of Mt Ainslie have experienced relatively less disturbance than Mt Majura and therefore have vegetation types more similar to that existing before European settlement.
In 1915, an ACT timber inspector wrote that 'on Majura, there were very few trees and the trees that were there were of poor quality'. He further commented that there had been widespread vandalism and destruction of the existing trees; large areas of Mt Majura had been extensively cleared and grazed and were almost devoid of vegetation. The same timber 'inspector recommended that Mt Majura be reserved for tree-planting purposes and that grazing be stopped. Five years later, 20 000 trees and shrubs were planted on the mountain. These plantings explain the occurrence of some species which otherwise might not grow there, for example kurrajong. The vegetation history of Ainslie/Majura illustrates an important modern-day concept in conservation: that today's users of the Reserve owed enjoyment of its timbered slopes to the forward thinking of the people of fifty years ago.
It is difficult to say just what the original vegetation of Ainslie-Majura looked like. As mentioned previously, land use over the last 100 years has altered much of the vegetation. For example, various landholders treated their land in different ways, adding diversity to the range of factors leading to the formation of today's vegetation.
Drought, too, has played a part. Eucalyptus rossii (scribbly gum) died in large patches on Ainslie-Majura in 1965. Local residents attribute the scarcity of large trees on Mt Majura to the drought of 1897-1903. It is likely that the natural consequences of drought were aggravated by interaction with rabbits, grazing and land clearing by the early pastoralists.
However, it is thought that most of the natural flora probably still remains, but it is now present in communities whose structure has changed since the first European settlement.
Two species of particular interest are the kurrajong (Brachychiton populneum) and the she-oak (Casuarina stricta). Historical records indicate that kurrajong was planted on Mt Majura. It spread to occupy a definable micro-climatic range, cooler and moister, at the highest elevation of Mt Majura. Its virtual absence from Mt Ainslie suggests that it was introduced only to Mt Majura.
That she-oak has become a dominant tree is due at least in part to the exclusion of grazing which acted to suppress its regeneration on cleared land before 1920. It is a natural component of communities in these hills and occurs in association with eucalypts on Mt Ainslie.
Both she-oak and kurrajong were valued by early pastoralists as drought fodder, when grass was not available. Dense stands of she-oak can be seen on the Mt Majura walking trail towards the top of the mountain. Kurrajong is restricted to the summit area of Mt Majura on the eastern side.
One area of interest is an old quarry on the eastern slopes of Mt Ainslie, which is an artificial refuge for three uncommon ACT ferns, Cyathea australis, Adiantum aethiopicum and Histiopteris incisa. The vertical walls of the quarry give shelter from the northern sun and water seeps from rock crevices. These species are common towards the coast where humidity is consistently higher.
Reference: Dept of Capital Territory Nature Guide. AGPS, 1976
The Surveyor's Hut is all that remains of the original Federal Capital survey camp established circa 1910. The hut is constructed of concrete walls and floor with a curved corrugated iron roof and heavy steel door. It has remained unaltered over time since its construction and is in excellent condition.
The Surveyor's Hut has notable associations with the first surveyor of the Federal capital, Charles Robert Scrivener, and his team of surveyors. The hut was used as a secure archive structure for the safe storeage of his maps and documanets during his surveying work of Canberra. The use of steel, iron and concrete ensured the protection of plans and documents from fire.
The Surveyor's Hut was gazetted to the Australian Capital Territory Interim Heritage Places Register on 1 December 1993.
Source: Land Information Newsletter No 26, December 1995. ACT Government.
The Australian war Memorial has been described by Guy Freeland * as the “Spirtual Centre of the National Capital”. Some may have other candidates for that title, but there is no doubt the Memorial has a unique attarction for visitors to Canberra.
It was built between 1927 and 1941 from Hawkesbury sandstone and the dome is sheathed in weathered copper. Located at the head of Anzac Parade it sits at the opposite end of Walter Burley Griffin’s ‘land axis’, with Parliament House at the other end across Lake Burley Griffin.
The memorial describes itself as a museum, archive and research centre, which “commemorates the sacrifice of those Australians who have died in war”, and “seels to do this by assisting Australians to remember, interpret and understand the Australian experience of war.”
The Memorial is open between 10am and 5pm every day except Christmas Day, and admission is free.
* “Canberra Cosmos” by Guy Freeland. Primavera Press, Sydney 1995
There are more than eight Memorials placed symetrically along both sides of Anzac Parade. They vary greatly in style, from the ‘classical’ realistic bronze horses and riders of the Desert Mounted Corps Memorial so favoured by earlier sculptors, through the highly abstract Royal Australian Air Force Memorial, to the massive, bulky bronze ‘heroic’ figures of the Army and Navy Memorials, which would not look out of place in any number of totalitarian countries. By far the most atmospheric and emotive is the Vietnam Memorial, situated half way up Anzac Parade on the west side. While all the Memorials deserve attention, the Vietman Memorial is one to enter and spend a few minutes absorbing the atmosphere while reading the long inscription on one of the walls.
Reference: “Canberra Cosmos” by Guy Freeland. Primavera Press, Sydney 1995, and National capital Planning Authority, Canberra.
Woden-Weston Creek was the first of Canberra's four towns to be developed (the other towns are Belconnen, Tuggeranong and Gungahlin) . Woden Valeey consists of a long narrow valley and some seconadry ones opening out into the main valley on the eastern side.
Weston Creek is wider, but shorter than the Woden Valley, and is separated from it by a ridge ending in Mt Taylor at its southern end.
Chapman was the seventh of Weston Creek's eight suburbs to be developed and its first families took up residence in 1973. Its population peaked at 3,600 in 1984.
The suburb is named after Sir Austin Chapman, KCMG (1864-1926). Sir Austin was a member of the NSW Legislative Assembly (1891-1901) and Federal Parliament (1901-1903). The street name 'theme' for Chapman is the 'Australian Film Industry' and commemorates notable artists from the industry such as William Pilbeam Goffage (Chips Rafferty) and Eliza Winstanley, who wrote the novel 'For Her Natural Life' in 1876.
Source: Land Information Newsletter No 40, August/September 1996. ACT Government.
Gossan refers to the weathered iron cap covering a mineral deposit. At Gossan Hill copper and other minerals have been leached from the surface rock by percolating water, leaving a concentration of iron on the surface. There are some reddish outcrops to the west of Radford College.
Mulligans Flat Nature Park is a relatively low lying area of grassland, woodland and open forest. It was initially intended to be included in the town of Gungahlin, but was declared one of Canberra's Nature Parks in 1994, after its special attributes were pointed out.
Mulligans Flat is a combination of habitat areas, with many rare and unusual plants and animals, and also has a rich Aboriginal and European history.
Aboriginals maintained a hunting and gathering lifestyle in and around this region for thousands of years, leaving many Aboriginal sites with artefact scatters or isolated artifacts as evidence.
The area contains one of the few areas of lowland native grassland left, after 99.5% of the original grasslands disappeared over the last 200 years. Native grasslands were attractive to European farmers for grazing sheep and cattle, as as a consequence most of these areas have been changed by grazing and pasture improvement. Mulligans Flat is unusual in that it has retained areas of kangaroo and wallaby grass and has few introduced grass or weeds.
Europeans first settled the area in 1820, and the old coach road from Murrumbateman to Bungendore railway station passes through the Park. There is also evidence of the Mulligans Flat school, huts, fences and shearing sheds.
The large dam in the Park attracts many species of birds and is a good place to watch birds and animals around dusk or dawn.
The native plants are designed to link Parliament House with the surrounding landscape and symbolically with the country as a whole. The plantings are cut by grass corridors which reinforce radial sight lines from the House outwards towards significant vistas.
There is a diversity of conditions around the House, which permits the growth of several species of plants which the Australian States and the ACT have adopted as floral emblems, including the Royal Bluebell (ACT), Waratah (NSW), Common Heath (VIC), Sturt's Desert Pea (SA) and the Blue Gum (TAS).
An excellent leaflet about the gardens can be purchased for $1 from the shop at the front entrance to Parliament House.