Palmerston, Australian Capital Territory

Infobox Australian Place | type = suburb
name = Palmerston
city = Canberra
state = Australian Capital Territory

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lga = Gungahlin
ACTgov = Molonglo
fedgov = Fraser
est = 1994
postcode = 2913
pop = 5,610 (2001 census)
propval = $365,000 (2008) [http://allhomes.com.au/c/ah?a=uisu&i=588]
near-nw = Ngunnawal
near-n = Ngunnawal
near-ne = Gungahlin
near-w = Nicholls
near-e = Gungahlin
near-sw =
near-s =
near-se = Gungahlin

Palmerston is a suburb in the Canberra, Australia district of Gungahlin. The postcode is 2913. The suburb is named after George Thomas Palmer (1784-1854) who established a settlement in the Canberra region in 1826 called Palmerville, which was later renamed Ginninderra. It was gazetted on 20 March 1991. Streets are named after mountains and mountrain ranges of Australia, with the main street called Kosciuszko Avenue.

It is next to the suburbs of Nicholls, Gungahlin Crace and Franklin. It was the second suburb to be developed in the Gungahlin district, after the industrial suburb of Mitchell. It is bounded by Gungahlin drive and Gundaroo drive.

It has a primary school, Palmerston Primary School (which opened in 1994) and a large neighbourhood oval.

Geology

Palmerston is underlaid by the Canberra Formation from the late middle Silurian age.The area was studied in more detail than many other parts of Canberra by J P Ceplecha from the ANU in 1971.

Mostly the Canberra Formation is slaty shale and mudstone. A layer of ashstone has been folded to form 75 meter wide exposures on the surface. These are in the shape of an ear of corn with the major axis pointing north north east. The major axis is determined by an anticline. A syncline determines the western side of the ashstone, with an anticline further to the west. A triangle of siltstone has been lifted up by faults into the western corner of Palmerston. A long fault aligned with the folds follows along the east side of Ginninderra Creek.The Winslade Fault comes in from the south heads north and joins up with the above long fault.The Gungahlin fault also parallels the folds and cuts through the east side of Palmerston. It forms the eastern limit of the ashstone. [Henderson G A M and Matveev G, Geology of Canberra, Queanbeyan and Environs 1:50000 1980.]

References