Turner, Australian Capital Territory
Encyclopedia
Turner is a leafy early Canberra
suburb, close to Canberra City and the Australian National University
(located in the suburb of Acton
).
Turner is named after Sir George Turner
, a Federalist, legislator and one of the founders of the Australian Constitution. He was a Premier of Victoria, and later Federal Treasurer under prime ministers
Barton
, Deakin
and Reid
. Streets in Turner are mostly named after writers, legislators and pioneers.
or Braddon
, and more consistently wide nature strips and larger parks compared to slightly later suburbs like O'Connor
.
Turner, though a small suburb, can be divided into three logical areas:
David Street which forms Turner's northern boundary is designed to line up with Black Mountain
in one direction and Mount Majura
in the other direction. This provides an impressive vista in either direction whilst driving this street. Greenway Street also provides impressive vistas to Mount Ainslie
and Black Mountain.
Original block sizes were generous in Turner, ranging from around 800 m2 to 1400 m2, with a couple even reaching 1600 m2. 900–1000 m2 is typical. In the postwar period when resources were scarce, surprisingly small houses were built on these large blocks that are now inner city. This has made Turner blocks prime targets for redevelopment, whether it be for units, townhouses, dual occupancies or occasional luxury houses. It was quite usual with the original buildings to have tiny three bedroom and even two bedroom houses on the blocks with floor areas of around 85 m2 - 110 m2. These houses were not only small but typically had tiny windows and were poorly positioned on the block for solar access - an important consideration in Canberra's cold climate. Houses were typically positioned for aesthetic effect with various ideas like inner-corner semi-detached (Hackett Gardens), facing the corner (Macleay Street) or symmetrical arrangements between the houses (Holder Street).
Over the years very few if any houses remain in their original unextended state. Floor plans of the original government designed and built houses can be obtained from the local planning authorities. Many houses have been replaced by multi-story unit developments. The scale of redevelopment post-2000 has been significant - population in the suburb has grown from 1852 people in 2001 to 3010 in 2006.
A number of artifacts of the original design of Turner can still be seen. Firstly, as is typical for Canberra, powerlines are behind the houses so as not to interfere with street trees. Street lamps are low and designed for pedestrians. Several different designs of lamp were installed originally, and examples of each can be still be seen; however, unfortunately, the replacement of lamps has not been historically sensitive. Some streets have footpaths with the house numbers imprinted on the concrete and red fire hydrants can be seen in some areas. Because the suburb's construction was interrupted by the war, various ideas can be seen in the layout of footpaths. For example in the southern areas, footpaths cut off the diagonal of the block. In McKay Gardens it has service lanes as might be found in Balmain in Sydney.
Turner has a generous selection of churches:
It also has a tennis
club (in Condamine Street) and lawn bowls club (in McCaughey Street) and several ethnic clubs, a French
association (the Alliance Française
) (in McCaughey Street) and Polish
club (in David Street) and Croatian
club (in McCaughey Street). There was a police youth club on Watson Street (relocated to West Belconnen in late 2006 due to costly maintenance issues with the building).
Turner is within walking distance of the CBD and it also adjoins the local O'Connor shops. Its proximity to Acton, the location of the Australian National University makes it a desirable location for students and professors to live, although the high rent prices force many students to look elsewhere.
Haig Park in Turner consists of two main sections, cut in half by McCaughey Street. If one counts that part of Haig Park is cut off by Sullivan's creek, there are three parts. Two small sections have been divorced from the park, one for the Scout hall and one for a preschool.
s from the Canberra Formation are overlain by Quaternary
alluvium
. This rock is the limestone of the original title of Canberra "Limestone Plains".
Several earthquake fault lines pass through Turner; and its residents often experience earth tremors.
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
suburb, close to Canberra City and the Australian National University
Australian National University
The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
(located in the suburb of Acton
Acton, Australian Capital Territory
Acton is a suburb of Canberra, Australia. Acton covers an area west of the CBD, bordered by Black Mountain to the west and Lake Burley Griffin in the south...
).
Turner is named after Sir George Turner
George Turner (Australian politician)
Sir George Turner, KCMG, PC , Australian politician, was the 18th Premier of Victoria and the first Treasurer of Australia in the federal Barton Ministry....
, a Federalist, legislator and one of the founders of the Australian Constitution. He was a Premier of Victoria, and later Federal Treasurer under prime ministers
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
Barton
Edmund Barton
Sir Edmund Barton, GCMG, KC , Australian politician and judge, was the first Prime Minister of Australia and a founding justice of the High Court of Australia....
, Deakin
Alfred Deakin
Alfred Deakin , Australian politician, was a leader of the movement for Australian federation and later the second Prime Minister of Australia. In the last quarter of the 19th century, Deakin was a major contributor to the establishment of liberal reforms in the colony of Victoria, including the...
and Reid
George Reid (Australian politician)
Sir George Houstoun Reid, GCB, GCMG, KC was an Australian politician, Premier of New South Wales and the fourth Prime Minister of Australia....
. Streets in Turner are mostly named after writers, legislators and pioneers.
Design
Turner was developed in the 1940s and 1950s. It was one of the last suburbs developed with the garden city theme of super-wide nature strips. In fact it is said that Turner represents the pinnacle of spacious garden city design with wide 12 yard nature strips with generously wide roads that give a more spacious feel than older suburbs such as ReidReid, Australian Capital Territory
Reid is a suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Located directly next to Canberra City, Reid is one of the oldest suburbs in Canberra....
or Braddon
Braddon, Australian Capital Territory
Braddon is an inner north suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Located north of the Canberra CBD, Braddon contains a commercial area centred on Mort and Lonsdale streets, which run parallel to Northbourne Avenue...
, and more consistently wide nature strips and larger parks compared to slightly later suburbs like O'Connor
O'Connor, Australian Capital Territory
O'Connor is a suburb of Canberra, Australia in the North Canberra district. It was named after Richard Edward O'Connor , 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...
.
Turner, though a small suburb, can be divided into three logical areas:
- The south east area which is bounded by Northbourne AvenueNorthbourne Avenue, CanberraNorthbourne Avenue is a major road in Canberra, Australia. It extends from City Hill in the south to the Federal Highway in the north.It is a north-south running road which has three lanes for motorised traffic, and one lane for bicycles running in each direction, with a large median strip with...
, Barry Drive, Watson Street and Masson Street (Haig Park). This area was first developed in the 1940s and originally consisted of detached dwellings. Very few of these houses are left after a development boom from 2000-2005 demolished them to build blocks of units. - The western part which is bounded by Barry Drive, David Street and McCaughey Street consists of detached dwellings.
- The northern part of the suburb which is bounded by Northbourne Avenue, David Street, McCaughey Street and Greenway Street consists of mainly detached dwellings and some medium density.
David Street which forms Turner's northern boundary is designed to line up with Black Mountain
Black Mountain (Australian Capital Territory)
Black Mountain is situated close to the central business district of Australia's capital city Canberra. Like all major hills in Canberra it is protected from development by the Canberra Nature Park. It is covered in native bushland and is a haven to native wildlife.With its peak at 811.987m AHD,...
in one direction and Mount Majura
Mount Majura
Mount Majura, is a small mountain located in Canberra, Australia. Mount Majura lies close to the more prominent Mount Ainslie and at 888 metres is the highest point in Canberra...
in the other direction. This provides an impressive vista in either direction whilst driving this street. Greenway Street also provides impressive vistas to Mount Ainslie
Mount Ainslie (Australian Capital Territory)
Mount Ainslie or Mount Ainslie-Majura is a part of Canberra Nature Park. It borders on the inner suburbs of Campbell, Ainslie and Hackett...
and Black Mountain.
Original block sizes were generous in Turner, ranging from around 800 m2 to 1400 m2, with a couple even reaching 1600 m2. 900–1000 m2 is typical. In the postwar period when resources were scarce, surprisingly small houses were built on these large blocks that are now inner city. This has made Turner blocks prime targets for redevelopment, whether it be for units, townhouses, dual occupancies or occasional luxury houses. It was quite usual with the original buildings to have tiny three bedroom and even two bedroom houses on the blocks with floor areas of around 85 m2 - 110 m2. These houses were not only small but typically had tiny windows and were poorly positioned on the block for solar access - an important consideration in Canberra's cold climate. Houses were typically positioned for aesthetic effect with various ideas like inner-corner semi-detached (Hackett Gardens), facing the corner (Macleay Street) or symmetrical arrangements between the houses (Holder Street).
Over the years very few if any houses remain in their original unextended state. Floor plans of the original government designed and built houses can be obtained from the local planning authorities. Many houses have been replaced by multi-story unit developments. The scale of redevelopment post-2000 has been significant - population in the suburb has grown from 1852 people in 2001 to 3010 in 2006.
A number of artifacts of the original design of Turner can still be seen. Firstly, as is typical for Canberra, powerlines are behind the houses so as not to interfere with street trees. Street lamps are low and designed for pedestrians. Several different designs of lamp were installed originally, and examples of each can be still be seen; however, unfortunately, the replacement of lamps has not been historically sensitive. Some streets have footpaths with the house numbers imprinted on the concrete and red fire hydrants can be seen in some areas. Because the suburb's construction was interrupted by the war, various ideas can be seen in the layout of footpaths. For example in the southern areas, footpaths cut off the diagonal of the block. In McKay Gardens it has service lanes as might be found in Balmain in Sydney.
Suburb amenities
Turner has an excellent combined Special-Education and Mainstream Public school situated between David, Hartley and Condamine Streets, with a combined Pre-school. There are also a number of child-care centres:- Christopher Robin's Children's Garden (Watson Street)
- Treehouse In The Park (Ormond Street)
Turner has a generous selection of churches:
- a Baptist Church (Condamine Street),
- a Ukrainian Orthodox ChurchUkrainian Autocephalous Orthodox ChurchThe Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church is one of the three major Orthodox Churches in Ukraine. Close to ten percent of the Christian population claim to be members of the UAOC. The other Churches are the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kiev Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Russophile Orthodox...
(McKay Gardens), - a Seventh-day Adventist ChurchSeventh-day Adventist ChurchThe Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...
(MacLeay Street), - a Lutheran ChurchLutheranismLutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
(Watson Street) - a Friends Meeting HouseFriends meeting houseA Friends meeting house is a meeting house of the Religious Society of Friends , where meeting for worship may be held.-History:Quakers do not believe that meeting for worship should take place in any special place. They believe that "where two or three meet together in my name, I am there among...
(Quakers Church) (Corner of Bent and Condamine Streets) - a Korean Full Gospel churchChristianity in KoreaThe practice of Christianity in Korea revolves around two of its largest branches, Protestantism and Catholicism, accounting for 8.6 million and 5.1 million members respectively. Roman Catholicism was first introduced during the late Joseon Dynasty period...
meeting at the Baptist church.
It also has a tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
club (in Condamine Street) and lawn bowls club (in McCaughey Street) and several ethnic clubs, a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
association (the Alliance Française
Alliance française
The Alliance française , or AF, is an international organisation that aims to promote French language and culture around the world. created in Paris on 21 July 1883, its primary concern is teaching French as a second language and is headquartered in Paris -History:The Alliance was created in Paris...
) (in McCaughey Street) and Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
club (in David Street) and Croatian
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
club (in McCaughey Street). There was a police youth club on Watson Street (relocated to West Belconnen in late 2006 due to costly maintenance issues with the building).
Turner is within walking distance of the CBD and it also adjoins the local O'Connor shops. Its proximity to Acton, the location of the Australian National University makes it a desirable location for students and professors to live, although the high rent prices force many students to look elsewhere.
Open space
Turner has a high proportion of parks and open space. This is due to a number of factors:- It contains half of Haig Park - an enormous park of pine trees originally built as a barrier to reduce dust from affecting the city, when Canberra was still mostly a sheep stationSheep stationA sheep station is a large property in Australia or New Zealand whose main activity is the raising of sheep for their wool and meat. In Australia, sheep stations are usually in the south-east or south-west of the country. In New Zealand the Merinos are usually in the high country of the South...
. - It contains a flood/drainage reserve associated with Sullivan's creek which makes up a large portion of parkland that is technically subject to flooding, although this is on a very infrequent basis.
- It contains several public sports ovals.
- It contains Turner primary school which has a generous oval and open space.
- It contains a Tennis club attached to Haig Park.
- It enjoys the generous 12 yard nature strips on most streets with two streets — Holder Street and Hackett Gardens — with their own private pocket parks. It is a remarkable thing that in this suburb that adjoins the CBD almost half the streets face a park or open space.
Haig Park in Turner consists of two main sections, cut in half by McCaughey Street. If one counts that part of Haig Park is cut off by Sullivan's creek, there are three parts. Two small sections have been divorced from the park, one for the Scout hall and one for a preschool.
Geology
Calcareous shaleShale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...
s from the Canberra Formation are overlain by Quaternary
Quaternary
The Quaternary Period is the most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the ICS. It follows the Neogene Period, spanning 2.588 ± 0.005 million years ago to the present...
alluvium
Alluvium
Alluvium is loose, unconsolidated soil or sediments, eroded, deposited, and reshaped by water in some form in a non-marine setting. Alluvium is typically made up of a variety of materials, including fine particles of silt and clay and larger particles of sand and gravel...
. This rock is the limestone of the original title of Canberra "Limestone Plains".
Several earthquake fault lines pass through Turner; and its residents often experience earth tremors.