Woden Valley

Woden Valley Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
Woden Valley from Red Hill looking across the suburb of Garran in the foreground to the Brindabella Ranges. The Canberra Hospital is to the left and the Woden Town Centre is to the right in the middle distance.
Location of Woden Valley, shaded.
Coordinates	35°20′43″S 149°05′42″E / 35.3452°S 149.095°E / -35.3452; 149.095Coordinates: 35°20′43″S 149°05′42″E / 35.3452°S 149.095°E / -35.3452; 149.095
Population	34,760 (2016 census)[1]
• Density	1,215.4/km2 (3,148/sq mi)
Gazetted	12 May 1966[2]
Area	28.6 km2 (11.0 sq mi)
Location	7 km (4 mi) S of Canberra City
Territory electorate(s)	Murrumbidgee
Federal Division(s)	Canberra
Localities around Woden Valley: Molonglo Valley Canberra Central Canberra Central Weston Creek Woden Valley Jerrabomberra Tuggeranong Tuggeranong Jerrabomberra

The District of Woden Valley is one of the original eighteen districts of the Australian Capital Territory used in land administration. The district is subdivided into divisions (suburbs), sections and blocks. The district of Woden Valley lies entirely within the bounds of the city of Canberra, the capital city of Australia.

The name of Woden Valley is taken from the name of a nearby homestead owned by Dr James Murray who named the homestead in October 1837 after the Old English god of wisdom, Woden.^[3] He named it this as he was to spend his life in the pursuit of wisdom. However, historian Dr Harold Koch considers that the name may have its origins in the Aboriginal word for possum, either wadyan or wadhan, influenced in interpretation by the term known to English speakers of 'Woden'.^[4]

In 1964 it was the first satellite city to be built, separate from the Canberra Central district. It has its own shopping centre, employment opportunities and accommodation with twelve suburbs arranged around the Woden Town Centre. At the 2016 census, the population of the district was 34,760.^[1]

Establishment and governance

The traditional custodians of the district are the indigenous people of the Ngunnawal tribe.^[5]

Following the transfer of land from the Government of New South Wales to the Commonwealth Government in 1911, the district was established in 1966 by the Commonwealth via the gazettal of the Districts Ordinance 1966 (Cth) which, after the enactment of the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988,^[6] became the Districts Act 1966.^[7] This Act was subsequently repealed by the ACT Government and the district is now administered subject to the Districts Act 2002.^[8]

Location and urban structure

The district is a set of contiguous residential suburbs that surround the Woden Town Centre, which includes a major shopping centre, called Westfield Woden, or more commonly known as Woden Plaza. Woden is also home to the tallest building in Canberra, Lovett Tower, which stands at 22 stories.^[9] Lovett Tower and a number of other buildings host staff from Australian Government agencies; there is also some light industrial development in the town centre.

Within the district are a number of community facilities including the Phillip campus of the Canberra College, a secondary school catering to years 11 and 12 (16 – 18 years old); a library, the Woden Youth Centre, and the Canberra Hospital, which is located in the north of the district.

Demographics

At the 2016 census, there were 34,760 people in the Woden Valley district, of these 48.7 per cent were male and 51.3 per cent were female. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 1.2 per cent of the population, which was lower than the national and territory averages. The median age of people in the Woden Valley district was 40 years, which was slightly higher than the national median of 38 years. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 17.7 per cent of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 19.1 per cent of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 51.6 per cent were married and 10.3 per cent were either divorced or separated.^[1] The median weekly income for residents within the Woden Valley district was significantly higher than the national average, and slightly lower than the territory average.^[1]

At the 2016 census, the most common ancestries reported in the Woden Valley area were English (23.7 per cent), Australian (21.4 per cent), Irish (9.9 per cent), Scottish (7.2 per cent) and Indian (4.0 per cent). 32.3 per cent of residents described themselves as having "No Religion", higher than the national average at 29.6 per cent. Households in the Woden Valley district had a slightly higher than average proportion (25.8 per cent) where a language other than English was spoken at home (national average was 22.2 per cent); and a slightly lower proportion (71.1 per cent) where only English was spoken at home (national average was 72.7 per cent).^[1]

Selected historical census data for the Woden Valley district
Census year			2001[11]	2006[12]	2011[10]	2016[1]
Population		Estimated residents on census night	31,336	31,992	32,958	34,760
		District rank in terms of size within the Australian Capital Territory	4th	4th	5th	5th
		Percentage of the Australian Capital Territory population			9.23%	8.75%
		Percentage of the Australian population	0.17%	0.16%	0.15%	0.15%
Cultural and language diversity
Ancestry, top responses		Australian			24.6%	21.4%
		English			24.1%	23.7%
		Irish			10.0%	9.9%
		Scottish			7.6%	7.2%
		Indian				4.0%
Language, top responses (other than English)		Mandarin	0.9%	1.2%	1.4%	2.2%
		Malayalam			0.9%	2.2%
		Italian	1.4%	1.3%	1.2%	1.1%
		Tamil				0.9%
		Greek	1.1%	1.1%	1.1%	0.9%
Religious affiliation
Religious affiliation, top responses		No Religion	19.5%	23.0%	27.7%	32.3%
		Catholic	28.2%	27.9%	27.5%	25.5%
		Anglican	18.7%	16.2%	14.0%	10.2%
		Hinduism	n/c	n/c	2.6%	3.4%
		Uniting Church	4.6%	4.2%	3.4%	2.6%
Median weekly incomes
Personal income		Median weekly personal income		A$769	A$948	A$1,044
		Percentage of Australian median income		165%	164%	158%
Family income		Median weekly family income		A$1,884	A$2,390	A$2,554
		Percentage of Australian median income		160%	161%	147%
Household income		Median weekly household income		A$1,471	A$1,824	A$2,040
		Percentage of Australian median income		143%	148%	142%

List of suburbs

Places of note and interest

The Sirius building, head office of the Department of Health, located in the Woden Town Centre.

• Australian Department of Health head office, located in the Sirius building, in the Woden Town Centre.
• IP Australia, Australia's equivalent to the US Patent Office, is located in the Woden Town Centre.
• Woden Bus Interchange.
• Woden Storm Water Drain - one of twenty-six legal graffiti sites within the Australian Capital Territory.^[13] The walls of the drain display colourful murals for many hundreds of metres from local, interstate and overseas graffiti artists.

Natural disasters

See also

• Woden Valley Youth Choir

References

External links

• ACTMAPi - the ACT Government’s interactive mapping service
• Woden Valley Churches