Acton, Australian Capital Territory

Infobox Australian Place | type = suburb
name = Acton
city = Canberra
state = act

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lga = North Canberra
ACTgov = Molonglo
fedgov = Fraser
postcode = 2601
pop = 1846
est = 1928
near-nw = Black Mountain
near-n = O'Connor
near-ne = Turner
near-w = Black Mountain
near-e = City Centre
near-sw = Yarralumla
near-s = Yarralumla
near-se = Parkes

Acton (postcode: 2601) is a suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Acton covers an area west of the CBD, bordered by Black Mountain to the west and Lake Burley Griffin in the south. The Australian National University campus covers most of the suburb, though also located in Acton is National Film and Sound Archive, a branch of the CSIRO and the National Museum of Australia.The population of Acton on census night 2001 was 1846 people, mostly students living at the Australian National University.

Acton was named in approximately 1843 by Lieutenant Arthur Jeffreys, RN, after a town in Denbighshire, Wales. The name of the area was kept as the suburb name when Canberra was built. [http://www.actpla.act.gov.au/actlic/places/]

Geology

The southern part of Acton has a complicated arrangement of sediments that include the Pittman Formation greywacke and the black coloured Acton Shale Member from the Ordovician age. Then from the Silurian age there is mudstone, State Circle Shale, and Camp Hill Sandstone. Some limestone is found near the National Museum of Australia.

Calcareous shales from the Canberra Formation are overlain by Quaternary alluvium on the north. This rock is the limestone of the original title of Canberra "Limestone Plains". Tertiary age pebbly gravels are left from when the Molonglo river was at a higher level. Geology of the Australian Capital Territory covers more of the geology of the ACT.