O'Connor, Australian Capital Territory

O'Connor
CanberraAustralian Capital Territory

Population: 4911 (2006 census)[1]
Established: 1928
Postcode: 2602
District: North Canberra
Assembly Electorate: Molonglo
Federal Division: Fraser
Suburbs around O'Connor:
Kaleen Lyneham
Bruce O'Connor
Black Mountain Acton Turner

O'Connor is a suburb of Canberra, Australia in the North Canberra district. It was named after Richard Edward O'Connor (1851–1912), who was a judge in the High Court and a founder of the Australian constitution. Street names in O'Connor are named after explorers, Australian flora, legislators and pioneers. The suburb name was gazetted on 20 September 1928.[2]

O'Connor is bounded by Wattle and David streets, and also includes the Bruce/O'Connor ridge nature reserve, the hilly area with many trees that lies between the houses in O'Connor, and the Australian Institute of Sport (in the suburb of Bruce). Sports such as soccer, rugby and cricket are often played at the ovals at O'Connor district playing fields.

O'Connor has a small shopping centre with a pub/bar, supermarket, a couple of restaurants and a pharmacy.

In the central part of O'Connor are a series of cul de sacs which contain houses which are known as Tocumwal Houses. These are heritage listed ex-government housing which were transported from RAAF Station Tocumwal after the Second World War to cover the housing shortage in Canberra in the 1950s.[3]

Contents

Suburb Amenities

The O'Connor Cooperative School (a government run early childhood school) and St Joseph's primary school (run by the Catholic Church) are both located in O'Connor. The Anglican church of St Philip's in O'Connor was dedicated in 1961, and consecrated in 1981. The O'Connor Ridge is a large strip of land that is use for bush walking and mountain biking and is a part of the Canberra Nature Park. At the O'Connor shops there can be found, the "All Bar Nun" bar and restaurant, a popular fish and chip shop called "Flat Heads", a small IGA supermarket, a hairdresser, a bicycle shop, a pharmacy, an Italian restaurant "Marinetti's", and a Vietnamese restaurant the "Tudo". Along the road from these are Canberra's Alliance Française, a Croatian Club and a Polish Club.

Geology

Calcareous shales from the Canberra Formation is overlain by Quaternary alluvium. This rock is the limestone of the original title of Canberra "Limestone Plains". The higher parts of O'Connor in the west are different. Towards the south near Black Mountain is the Black Mountain Sandstone. Towards the north, and including O'Connor Ridge can be found Greywacke from the Ordovician age Pittman Formation.

References

External links