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Inner NorthCanberra · ACT

Guide 3 of 6 · Street themes

A theme on nearly every street sign

The ACT place-names register gives nearly every suburb a theme its street names follow, from Aboriginal words in Reid to judges and the legal profession in Watson, and two of the twelve rows in this district name no theme at all.

How to read the plan

Stop
a light rail stop on the avenue, in order from the City
Nature reserve
a reserve at the district's edge, with its height
City Centre
the City, as the district policy names it
Lake Burley Griffin: beyond the City. The extension from Alinga Street to Commonwealth Park is to improve the link between the city and the lake LAKE BURLEY GRIFFIN Black Mountain Nature Reserve: 434 hectares on the northern side of Lake Burley Griffin, its hill 812 metres above sea level under a 195-metre tower Black Mountain Nature Reserve · 812 m on the northern side of Lake Burley Griffin Mount Ainslie Nature Reserve: 637 hectares adjoining Mount Majura Nature Reserve; together they overlook the city of Canberra from its north-east Mount Ainslie Nature Reserve · 842 m overlooking the city from its north-east Mount Majura Nature Reserve: 502 hectares adjoining Mount Ainslie Nature Reserve to the south, its hill 888 metres above sea level, the highest in northern Canberra Mount Majura Nature Reserve · 888 m adjoining Mount Ainslie to the south Northbourne Avenue: the district policy’s own area heading names Braddon, Dickson, Downer, Lyneham, O’Connor and Turner as the Northbourne Avenue area Federal Highway: Transport Canberra’s notice puts the replacement bus stop for Phillip Avenue on the Federal Highway, after Phillip Avenue. Federal Highway Swinden Street: the sixth stop from the City, as Transport Canberra lists it SWINDEN STREET Dickson Interchange: the fifth stop from the City, as Transport Canberra lists it DICKSON INTERCHANGE Macarthur Avenue: the fourth stop from the City, as Transport Canberra lists it MACARTHUR AVENUE Ipima Street: the third stop from the City, as Transport Canberra lists it IPIMA STREET Elouera Street: the second stop from the City, as Transport Canberra lists it ELOUERA STREET Alinga Street: the first stop from the City, as Transport Canberra lists it ALINGA STREET City Centre: the district policy identifies the City Centre Entertainment Precinct; light rail runs from the city to Gungahlin via Dickson. CITY CENTRE The twelve localities, in the order the district policy lists them. Ainslie, named for James Ainslie (1787–1844). Opens the guide to the twelve localities. AINSLIE James Ainslie (1787–1844) Braddon, named for Sir Edward Braddon PC KCMG (1829–1904). Opens the guide to the twelve localities. BRADDON Sir Edward Braddon PC KCMG (1829–1904) Campbell, named for Robert Campbell (1769–1846). Opens the guide to the twelve localities. CAMPBELL Robert Campbell (1769–1846) City, named for City. Opens the guide to the twelve localities. CITY City Dickson, named for Sir James Dickson, KCMG (1832 – 1901). Opens the guide to the twelve localities. DICKSON Sir James Dickson, KCMG (1832 – 1901) Downer, named for Sir John Downer (1843 – 1915). Opens the guide to the twelve localities. DOWNER Sir John Downer (1843 – 1915) Hackett, named for Sir John Winthrop Hackett KCMG (1848 – 1916). Opens the guide to the twelve localities. HACKETT Sir John Winthrop Hackett KCMG (1848 – 1916) Lyneham, named for Sir William Lyne, KCMG (1844 – 1913). Opens the guide to the twelve localities. LYNEHAM Sir William Lyne, KCMG (1844 – 1913) O’Connor, named for Richard Edward O'Connor, QC (1851 – 1912). Opens the guide to the twelve localities. O’CONNOR Richard Edward O'Connor, QC (1851 – 1912) Reid, named for Right Honourable Sir George Reid, PC GCB GCMG KC (1845 – 1918). Opens the guide to the twelve localities. REID Right Honourable Sir George Reid, PC GCB GCMG KC (1845 – 1918) Turner, named for Rt Hon Sir George Turner PC KCMG (1851 – 1916). Opens the guide to the twelve localities. TURNER Rt Hon Sir George Turner PC KCMG (1851 – 1916) Watson, named for Hon John Christian Watson (1867 – 1941). Opens the guide to the twelve localities. WATSON Hon John Christian Watson (1867 – 1941) Lake Burley Griffin: beyond the City. The extension from Alinga Street to Commonwealth Park is to improve the link between the city and the lake LAKE BURLEY GRIFFIN Northbourne Avenue: the district policy’s own area heading names Braddon, Dickson, Downer, Lyneham, O’Connor and Turner as the Northbourne Avenue area Federal Highway: Transport Canberra’s notice puts the replacement bus stop for Phillip Avenue on the Federal Highway, after Phillip Avenue. Federal Highway Alinga Street: the first stop from the City, as Transport Canberra lists it Alinga Street Elouera Street: the second stop from the City, as Transport Canberra lists it Elouera Street Ipima Street: the third stop from the City, as Transport Canberra lists it Ipima Street Macarthur Avenue: the fourth stop from the City, as Transport Canberra lists it Macarthur Avenue Dickson Interchange: the fifth stop from the City, as Transport Canberra lists it Dickson Interchange Swinden Street: the sixth stop from the City, as Transport Canberra lists it Swinden Street City Centre: the district policy identifies the City Centre Entertainment Precinct; light rail runs from the city to Gungahlin via Dickson. City Centre
North is to the rightup. The avenue and its stops are set in Transport Canberra’s order, the City at the line’s southern end and the lake beyond it. No locality is placed on it: the official pages linked here set none on a map, so the register below carries all twelve.

How street themes work

The ACT place-names register says nearly every suburb in the ACT has a theme by which its streets are named, and that the policy behind it was proposed by the Canberra National Memorials Committee in a 1927 report to the Federal Parliament on the naming of Canberra’s streets and suburbs. The register calls the policy one of the oldest in the ACT and says it has been followed to this day. The ACT Government’s news page dates the proposal to 1927 as well, and names the ACT Place Names Advisory Committee as the body that carries out the process of selecting themes and names. The news page draws its examples from some of Canberra’s 123 suburbs.

Rules set what a theme can produce: only the names of people who are deceased may be used, and at least 12 months must pass before they can be commemorated; no name may be duplicated, because the ACT Government’s page on place names in the ACT says duplication may lead to confusion for members of the public and, critically, for emergency service providers; and street names must not honour a commercial or industrial name, while arterial roads are generally given a more significant name.

Theme by suburb

Each row carries the register’s own theme line for the suburb, in its words. A theme is the field a suburb’s street names are drawn from, and the register says a theme may include people, places, flora, fauna or things relevant and important to the history of Australia. Where a row says so, a suburb may draw on more than one.

  1. Ainslie

    Streets named for
    Pioneers, legislators

  2. Braddon

    Streets named for
    Aboriginal words; legislators and pioneers

  3. Campbell

    Streets named for
    Defence personnel

  4. City

    Streets named for
    Aboriginal words; pioneers and capital cities

  5. Dickson

    Streets named for
    No specific theme

  6. Downer

    Streets named for
    No specific theme

  7. Hackett

    Streets named for
    Mainly scientists

  8. Lyneham

    Streets named for
    Mainly artists and people associated with the development of early Canberra

  9. O’Connor

    Streets named for
    Australian flora, legislators, pioneers, explorers

  10. Reid

    Streets named for
    Aboriginal words

  11. Turner

    Streets named for
    Mainly writers, pioneers and legislators

  12. Watson

    Streets named for
    Judges and members of the legal profession

The themes that cross the district

Some words recur across the rows. ‘Pioneers’ appears in the theme lines of Ainslie, Braddon, the City, O’Connor and Turner; ‘legislators’ in Ainslie, Braddon, O’Connor and Turner; and ‘Aboriginal words’ in Braddon, the City and Reid. The remaining single words appear once each: Australian flora and explorers in O’Connor’s row, writers in Turner’s, capital cities in the City’s, scientists in Hackett’s, artists in Lyneham’s, defence personnel in Campbell’s, and judges in Watson’s.

Four rows carry a theme no other row here mentions: defence personnel for Campbell, mainly scientists for Hackett, judges and members of the legal profession for Watson, and, for Lyneham, mainly artists and people associated with the development of early Canberra.

The ACT Government’s news page shows the same themes reaching beyond this district: it groups O’Malley and Pialligo with Reid for Aboriginal words, groups Evatt with Watson for judges and members of the legal profession, and gives Waramanga’s streets as honouring the names of Aboriginal cultural groups. The same page notes that streets in Lyneham commemorate people associated with the development of early Canberra.

The Canberra Tracks heritage pages tell two of these themes again, in the same words. Braddon’s page says the suburb was gazetted in 1928 and its streets are named after Aboriginal words, legislators and pioneers; O’Connor’s page says the suburb was gazetted in 1928 and its streets carry numerous themes, Australian flora, legislators, pioneers and explorers.

Suburbs without a theme

Two of the twelve rows carry no theme at all: Dickson’s and Downer’s read ‘No specific theme’. The ACT Government’s street-names page gives a third case elsewhere: in some suburbs, like Acton, the streets were named before individual themes were adopted.