| Dickson Canberra, Australian Capital Territory |
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| Population: | 1,947 (2006 census)[1] | ||||||||||||
| Established: | 1928 | ||||||||||||
| Postcode: | 2602 | ||||||||||||
| LGA: | North Canberra | ||||||||||||
| Assembly Electorate: | Molonglo | ||||||||||||
| Federal Division: | Fraser | ||||||||||||
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Dickson (postcode: 2602) is a suburb in the Inner North of Canberra, Australia. It is named after Sir James Dickson (1832–1901) who was a Queensland advocate of Australian Federation and one of the founders of the Australian Constitution. There is no specific theme for street names.
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Between 1926 and 1928, a small runway called Northbourne Aviation Ground was located where the Dickson Library and playing fields are now. This was Canberra's original airport. Dickson was gazetted on 28 September 1928, but the suburb was not settled until the 1960s. The suburb is characterised by leafy streets, detached single dwelling houses, and double story duplex townhouses.
The suburb is bounded by Northbourne Avenue, Antill Street, Phillip Avenue, Majura Avenue, Limestone Avenue and Wakefield Avenue. Dickson contains no hills or significant slopes. Sullivans Creek passes through the middle of Dickson draining storm water from east to west.
The suburb contains the Dickson Centre, a significant commercial centre in Canberra’s Inner North containing the Woolworths Supermarkets outlet with the greatest turnover in Australia. The centre contains an ambulance station, office buildings, many shops and the Dickson Baptist Church.
Outside the Dickson Centre, the suburb contains the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Canberra radio and television studios. Two colleges are located in the suburb, Dickson College, a public senior secondary school, and Daramalan College, a Catholic high school. The Daramalan Junior school was once located in Dickson, which operated between 1986 and 1997. It was a school for boys in years 5 and 6, and was near St. Brigid's Church.
Dickson has large playing fields with several ovals, which are used to play many sports including soccer, cricket and rugby, as well as the venue for schools carnivals, and are a popular place on weekends. Organisations calling the playing fields home including the Majura Junior Soccer Club and Corroboree Little Athletics. Near the playing fields is a walking track between rows of pine, oak and gum trees which leads to the Dickson shopping centre. Hawdon Street is where the Downer Club and Observatory used to be located before being destroyed by fire in 2010. The street is cut in half by a stormwater drain, which has sometimes led to confusion.
Calcareous shales from the Canberra Formation dates from the Silurian period. This rock is the limestone of the original title of Canberra "Limestone Plains". Quaternary alluvium lies on top of the shale in the flatter parts of Dickson.[2]