Woden Valley
Encyclopedia
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...
, the capital city of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Its name is taken from the name of a nearby homestead owned by Dr James Murray who named the homestead after the Old English god Woden
Woden
Woden or Wodan is a major deity of Anglo-Saxon and Continental Germanic polytheism. Together with his Norse counterpart Odin, Woden represents a development of the Proto-Germanic god *Wōdanaz....
in October 1837. He named it this as he was to spend his life in the pursuit of wisdom and Woden was amongst other things, the God of wisdom. In 1964 it was the first "satellite city" to be built, separate from the Central Canberra district. It has its own shopping centre, employment opportunities and accommodation with 12 suburbs arranged around the Woden Town Centre
Woden Town Centre
Woden Town Centre is the main commercial centre of the district of Woden Valley in Canberra, Australia. It is located in the Canberra suburb of Phillip....
. Woden Valley has an approximate population of 31,991. http://www.oktravel.com.au/au/act/woden-valley/
Places of note and interest
- Woden Town CentreWoden Town CentreWoden Town Centre is the main commercial centre of the district of Woden Valley in Canberra, Australia. It is located in the Canberra suburb of Phillip....
is the major shopping and office complex in the Woden Valley. It includes a substantial indoor shopping mall called Westfield WodenWestfield WodenWestfield Woden is a large shopping centre located in the Woden Town Centre in the suburb of Phillip of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory...
. Locally the Mall is known as Woden Plaza as this was the original name of the mall when it first opened. - Canberra HospitalCanberra HospitalThe Canberra Hospital is a public hospital located in Garran, Canberra. It is a tertiary level centre with 500 beds and caters to a population of about 520,000...
, which was previously named the Woden Valley Hospital, is Canberra's primary hospitalHospitalA hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
. The hospital is the biggest of the three major hospitals in Canberra, and serves the surrounding regions of New South WalesNew South WalesNew South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
. - Woden Bus Interchange.
- IP AustraliaIP AustraliaThe Australian Patent Office is a division of IP Australia which is an agency of the Australian Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research. APO issues patents for inventions. APO was established in 1904 by the Commonwealth of Australia and since 1998 has been located in one building,...
, Australia's equivalent to the US Patent OfficeUnited States Patent and Trademark OfficeThe United States Patent and Trademark Office is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that issues patents to inventors and businesses for their inventions, and trademark registration for product and intellectual property identification.The USPTO is based in Alexandria, Virginia,...
, is located at the Woden Town Centre. - Woden Storm Water Drain - Legal Graffiti site. Woden is either famous or infamous for its legal GraffitiGraffitiGraffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
site. The walls of the drain display colourful murals for many hundreds of meters from local, interstate and overseas GraffitiGraffitiGraffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
artists. http://www.tams.act.gov.au/play/community_art/graffiti/legal_graffiti_sites
Bushfires
While the majority of the destruction caused by the Canberra bushfires of 2003 occurred in Weston Creek, houses in the Woden suburbs of CurtinCurtin, Australian Capital Territory
Curtin is a suburb in the Canberra, Australia district of Woden. The postcode is 2605.It is next to the suburbs of Yarralumla, Deakin, Hughes, Lyons and Weston...
(3), Lyons
Lyons, Australian Capital Territory
Lyons is a suburb in the Canberra, Australia district of Woden. The postcode is 2606.The suburb was named after Joseph Lyons, Labor Premier of Tasmania from 1923 to 1928 and a Minister in the James Scullin government from 1929 until his resignation from the Labor Party in March 1931...
(4) and Torrens
Torrens, Australian Capital Territory
Torrens is a suburb in the Woden Valley district of Canberra, Australia. It is located along the district's southern edge. The suburb is named after Sir Robert Torrens, a former Premier of South Australia. The suburb was gazetted on 12 May 1966. Streets in Torrens are named after South Australian...
(2) were also destroyed. Curtin, in particular, has been threatened by bushfires several times since its construction.
Floods
On Australia DayAustralia Day
Australia Day is the official national day of Australia...
in 1971 a flash flood at Yarra Glen killed seven people. Bystanders described the flood as "not that flash" . The drains and roads in the area have since been redesigned to avoid future flood casualties. (See 1971 Canberra flood
1971 Canberra flood
The 1971 Canberra flood was a flash flood that occurred on Australia Day, 26 January 1971, in the Woden Valley of Canberra, Australia. The flood killed seven people including four children, injured 15 and affected 500 people. The insurance damage was estimated at A$ 9 million. It was estimated that...
.)
Churches
- Canberra Austral Asian Christian Church http://www.caacc.org.au/
- Hughes Baptist Church http://hughesbaptist.org/
- Immanuel Community Church http://www.immanuellutheran.org.au/
- St George's Anglican Church
- St James Uniting Church
- Sts Peter & Paul's Catholic Church
- St Sava Serbian Orthodox Church
- The Salvation Army, Woden Valley
- Woden Valley Bible Church http://www.wvbc.com.au
Sport
Woden Valley is a vital area when it comes to sport in the ACTAustralian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory, often abbreviated ACT, is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and is the smallest self-governing internal territory...
. Its football (soccer)
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
club, Woden Valley FC (Woden Rival), is very popular amongst juniors. Woden Valley also has a rugby league team (Woden Rams) and an Australian rules football team (Woden Blues). It also has a tenpin bowling centre and produced NSW champion and award-winning sports journalist Reagan Murphy, who lived in Garran and attended Woden Valley High School in the 1970s.
External links
- Canberra region map - all districts
- Woden Valley Churches http://www.godinthecity.com.au/churches_woden.htm