Yarralumla, Australian Capital Territory

For the Governor-General's official residence, see Government House, Canberra.

Yarralumla locality map

Black swans at Orana bay on the shore of Lake Burley Griffin, Yarralumla

Yarralumla (postcode: 2600) is a suburb in the inner south of Canberra, the capital city of Australia. Located approximately 3.5 kilometres south-west of the city centre, Yarralumla extends for much of the southern bank of Lake Burley Griffin. Yarralumla is notable for its many landmarks and historic interest, both lacking from many more modern Canberra suburbs. In recent years, it has become one of Canberra's most desirable and expensive suburbs.

The area was first settled by Europeans in 1828. In 1834 it was officially named Yarralumla, the local Indigenous Australian name for the area. Fredrick Campbell built a large homestead in the area in 1891 that now serves as Government House, the official residence of the Governor-General of Australia. The Canberra suburb of Yarralumla was officially created in 1928 and is now home to an affluent population of 3026 people.

Geography

Chinese embassy, one of many embassies in Yarralumla.

Yarralumla is located in the central Canberra district of South Canberra. It is bordered to the north by Lake Burley Griffin, Commonwealth Avenue and Capital Hill to the East, Adelaide Avenue and the Cotter Road to the south and Scriviner Dam and part of the Molonglo River to the West.

Yarralumla is one of the largest suburbs in Canberra by area, though the fact that more than half of the suburb is open space and non-residential development means it doesn't have a large population. Weston Park, Stirling Park, the Royal Canberra Golf Club, the embassy area and the grounds of Government House plus the suburb's proximity to the City and Lake Burley Griffin are major reasons for Yarralumla's growing popularity.

The embassy area of Yarralumla is located towards the eastern end of the suburb next to Stirling Park. It is the most hilly area of Yarralumla and was one of the last parts to be developed; Parliament House and the Parliamentary Triangle are located nearby.

The Streets in Yarralumla are named after Governors and Botanists. Many of the older streets in the suburb are laid out on a rectangular grid. The more hilly eastern end of the suburb including much of the embassy area is set out with organic contour guided roads. The major roads in Yarralumla are Banks St, Novar St and Hopeton Cct in a north-south direction and Schlich St, Loftus St and Weston St running east-west. Being a dormatory suburb there are no major through roads. Easy access out to the rest of the city can be made from Adelaide Avenue, Commonwealth Avenue, Lady Denman Drive and the Cotter Road all of which run along the borders of the suburb.

History

The area now called Yarralumla is part of two land grants. One, on the western side of Stirling Ridge is part of an original grant to Henry Donnison in 1828 and sold to Francis Mowatt in 1831. Mowatt built himself a long stone "hunting lodge" with French windows and wide verandahs, from which he hunted kangaroos and dingoes with a pack of foxhounds he imported from England. The location was officially named Yarralumla during surveying of the area in 1834. Yarralumla was the name used by local Aboriginal people, according to ACT Planning and Land Authority it means "echo".

In 1837 Terence Aubrey Murray bought Yarralumla, and in 1858 control of the property passed to his Father-in-law Colonel Gibbes. In 1881 Gibbes sold Yarralumla to Fredrick Campbell a descendant of Robert Campbell a prominent early Canberran. In 1891 having demolished most of Mowatt's original hunting lodge Fredrick Campbell built a new three storey house that forms part of what is now Government House. Fredrick also built a large woolshed nearby in 1904.

The other grant was to William Klensendorlffe. He bought the land from John Stephen before being officially granted it on 7th March 1839. Klensendorlffe mortgaged his land to Peter William Plomer who following Klensendorlffe's inability to pay back a loan the land went to Plomer. He leased the land to Terence Aubrey Murray who in turn sub-leased it to his friend Stewart Mowle (1847-1852). In 1860 Plomer sold the land to George Campbell of Duntroon estate who continued to lease sections of the land to small farmers.

In 1908 the Limestone Plains area including Yarralumla was chosen as the site for the new capital city of Australia. Soon afterwards in 1913, the Commonwealth Government purchased Yarralumla from Fredrick Campbell and also took over Klensendorlffe's land. Tenant farmers were allowed to stay on the land on yearly leases.

The Yarralumla brickworks were established in approximately 1913 and construction on the Commonwealth nursery and Westborne Woods arboretum was started in the following year. A temporary camp was built near the brickworks to house workers. There were separate camps for single and married men. In 1917 Walter Burley Griffin named the area surrounding the brickworks "Westridge".

In the area on the eastern side of Stirling Ridge in 1922 a tent camp was erected to house men working on the main intercepting sewer. The following year construction work commenced on building 62 small four room unlined timber cottages to house married tradesmen required to work on the construction of the Provisional Parliament House.

Other camps were established on the eastern end of Stirling Park on the hills opposite modern Lotus Bay. The first was Contractor John Howie's settlement (1922-1930)that consisted of 25 timber cottages for his married men and timber barracks (Hostel Camp) for his single men. Nearby two single men's tent camps were established - Old Tradesmen's Camp (1923-1927) and No 1 Labourers Camp (1924-1927). The men from Howie's worked on the Hotel Canberra and the others on the construction of the Provisional Parliament House and nearby Administrative buildings.

This area was known as Westlake. In 1925 the population of this temporary suburb was 700. Only Molonglo Settlement was larger with a population of 750. The 700 represented roughly one fifth of the population of the FCT.

The site was chosen so that it was near to Parliament House but hidden from direct line of site from anywhere important. The cottages and camp sites are now part of Stirling Park near the embassy area of Yarralumla. Some evidence of the dwellings still remain today, and historical signs have been put up commemorating these pioneering people of early Canberra.

The Commonwealth forestry school was established in 1926 and opened in 1927. The historic forestry buildings are still located on Banks Street, Yarralumla. In 1928 over 130 people were on the electoral roll for Westridge. A number were forestry school students who lived in small cubicles in the area of modern Solander Place. The main population of the area, however, consisted of men working at the Brickworks and the nursery.

A range of accommodation styles was used in the area of Westridge. Up until around 1921 when around 10 small brick cottages were erected for workmen and a few ex-Molonglo internment Camp buildings brought to the site, the married men built humpies for their families and the single men lived under canvas in tent camps.

The small brick cottages built in 1921-1922 are now heritage listed buildings. These are in section 64 and can be seen in Hutchins Street near the Yarralumla shops.

In 1926 a number of timber dwellings were erected for workers. These were followed by a limited number of brick cottages.

The suburb was gazetted and officially named Yarralumla in 1928. The new suburb included the areas previously called Westlake and Westridge. The residential part of the suburb of Yarralumla was situated adjacent to the proposed site for Lake Burley Griffin close to Westborne Woods and the 53 hectare grounds of the Governor General's residence.

Initially Yarralumla (like most of early Canberra) was almost entirely government built housing.

People who worked in Canberra in the early years were allocated houses according to ability to pay rent. The rent was based on a percentage of the construction costs of housing.

Public servants who arrived in 1926/27 were allocated houses. The lower paid public servants were moved to Ainslie, Braddon & Reid on the north side of the Molonglo and some to Kingston. Better paid public servants were moved to Blandfordia (Forrest), Barton and other suburbs in what is now the "Inner South".

Westridge was not an area where public servants were placed. It was for people working in the area (nursery & brickworks). Even the buses did not travel to Westridge - with the exception of school buses. People had to walk to catch the bus at the Prime Minister's Lodge.

After the second World War, the suburb began to grow with houses being constructed at a rapid rate.

 

Far into the 1960s and 1970s Yarralumla retained it's image as a lower class suburb. Lake Burley Griffin was filled in 1963 and the lake surrounds have been landscaped into attractive park areas, giving the suburb an attractive lakeside location. During the 1980s house prices began to rise leading to a rejuvenation of the suburb. Large numbers of the original government monocrete, brick and weatherboard houses have now been demolished for the construction of large new houses, and the suburb is now amongst the most desirable in Canberra.

The small cottages at Westlake were removed from around the mid 1950s and the last one removed in 1965.  Many now sit with a coat of paint in Queanbeyan.

Ann Gugler - Westlake One of the Vanished Suburbs of Canberra. 1997.

Demographics

Weekly income statistics

The population of the Westridge area on the 1928 electoral roll numbered over 130. On census night 2001 Yarralumla had a population of 3026 people.

[Westridge was renamed Yarralumla in the 1950s and from 1963 the nearby area of Westlake (now Stirling Park) was removed from the suburb of Acton and became part of the new suburb of Yarralumla.]

The 2001 census shows that Yarralumla residents have an average age of 41 compared to a Canberra average of 34. Yarralumla is a comparatively wealthy suburb with 50% of the population earning over AU$1000 a week, this compares to a Canberra wide figure of 29% and an Australia wide figure of 18.6%.

The population of Yarralumla is predominantly Australian-born, 70.5% of people being born in Australia. With 7.5% of the population the second most popular birth place is the United Kingdom. Accommodation is mostly separate houses, although the construction of medium density townhouses has been gaining in popularity in recent years.




Reference 1928 Electoral Roll for Westridge - transcribed by Ann Gugler - on-line under ACT Electoral Rolls

Suburb amenities

The Yarralumla local shopping centre is located on the corner of Bentham and Novar Streets. The centre contains a supermarket, bakery, drycleaners, video store, chemist and newsagent as well as several restaurants and speciality shops. The shopping area has undergone much redevelopment in recent years including the addition of a two storey office block.

Yarralumla Primary School is a government run school established in 1957. Half of the original primary school is now used as a behavioural centre that works with problem students from around Canberra. St Peter Chanel's catholic primary school located nearby opened in 1956 and was closed down in the 1990s. Yarralumla also has two pre-schools Yarralumla Preschool located at Hill Corner and Yarralumla Montessori School located in the old St Peter Chanel's buildings which also includes lower primary school.

Like most of Canberra, Yarralumla's only scheduled public transport is ACTION buses. Three bus routes run through Yarralumla, bus numbers 31, 32 and 84 all run an identical route through the suburb via Novar St, Schlich St and Hopetoun Cct. Buses 31 and 32 run from Woden Town Centre to Civic while bus 84 runs from Woden to Manuka and Kingston. As a general rule ACTION bus routes run every 30 to 60 minutes from 7am to 11:30pm.

Politics

Yarralumla is located in the federal electorate of Canberra. The electorate of Canberra is currently represented in the House of Representatives by Annette Ellis. Historically both federal electorates in the ACT are safe Labor seats. In the ACT Legislative Assembly Yarralumla is part of the electorate of Molonglo which elects seven members on the basis of proportional representation.

The Yarralumla Residents Association (YRA) is a registered organization formed to represent the views of Yarralumla residents and business. The group stands against government plans for "urban consolidation", supporting open space and the conservation of low-density housing. The organisation has been very vocal in opposing government plans for further development of Yarralumla.

Local political issues include:

*Urban infill development.
*Future plans for the Yarralumla Brickworks site.

Notable places

Tourist Drive 6 Road Sign

Embassies

See: List of embassies in Canberra.

Yarralumla is home to many of Canberra's foreign embassies and high commissions, many built in the traditional style of their home country. Good examples of regionally styled embassies include the embassies of Saudi Arabia, Thailand, India, Papua New Guinea and China. Canberra tourist drive six is designed to take tourists past many of the embassies in Canberra including those in Yarralumla.

Government House

Government house

Government House, also known as Yarralumla, is set in 53 hectares of park land beside Lake Burly Griffin. Built in 1891 as the homestead for the Yarralumla property, it is now the official residence for the Governor-General of Australia.

Hotel Canberra

The Hotel Canberra was built to house politicians who moved to Canberra with the opening of Parliament House. The first section of the Hotel opened in December 1924 and the second section in 1925. The hotel was closed down in 1974 and between 1976 and 1984 it was used as an annexe for parliament house, providing extra office space for parliamentary staff. In 1987 it re-opened as the new five star "Hyatt Hotel Canberra".

Weston park and Yarralumla nursery

Weston Park

Weston Park is situated on a peninsula near the western end of Lake Burley Griffin. Weston park is named after Thomas Charles Weston who in the years 1913 to 1926 was Officer-in-Charge (Afforestation Branch), later Director of City Planting, and finally the Superintendent of Parks and Gardens.

The peninsula's original use was as the Commonwealth Nursery and Westbourne Woods arboretum. Thomas Weston was responsible for testing and selecting plant species suited to the harsh Canberra environment. The plantings made at Westborne Woods were used to assess how certain tree species adapted to growing in Canberra. From 1913 through to 1924 Weston was responsible for the planting of over 2 Million trees in the Canberra area.

Most of the original Westbourne Woods arboretum is now leased to the Royal Canberra Golf Club. The rest of the peninsula is now called Weston Park, and has largely been developed for recreational use. The park includes swimming areas, children's play equipment, wading pools and is a popular barbeque spot on weekends. The Yarralumla nursery still exists in a reduced form, located between the golf club and the recreational part of Weston Park. There is now a retail business selling directly to the public and also a wholesale section still supplying trees for Canberra's landscaping.

The Commonwealth Forestry School was established on Banks Street near Westbourne Woods in 1927. In 1975 it was subsumed by CSIRO Forestry and Forestry Products, which has extensive research facilities in Yarralumla.

Yarralumla Brickworks

Yarralumla Brickworks

Main article: Yarralumla brickworks

The Yarralumla brickworks were one of the earliest construction projects in Canberra, opening in around 1915. The bricks it produced were used to build many of Canberra's early brick buildings. The brickworks were shut down in 1942 and today are closed to the public and in a state of disrepair. Future plans for the site are still undecided.

Yarralumla Woolshed and Equestrian Park

The Yarralumla Woolshed was built in 1904 by Frederick Campbell. It is now available for event hire, often playing host to parties and bush dances. The land surrounding the woolshed had been developed as an equestrian park, including areas for showjumping, eventing and endurance riding.

Other places

Also located in Yarraluamla are Albert Hall, The Royal Canberra Golf Club, CSIRO Forestry and many parks and gardens along the southern shore of Lake Burley Griffin including Yarralumla Bay, Sterling Park and Lennox Gardens.




{| align=center cellpadding=5 cellspacing=0 class="toccolours"|align=center colspan=3 style=background:#efefef|Canberra suburbs near Yarralumla
South Canberra