Suburb #18 Symonston

On the way back north, we decided to stop in on Symonston - which is really an industrial suburb in Canberra.

Symonston is named after Sir Josiah Symon, a lawyer, politician and one time Attorney General of Aystralia. He was also one of the founders of the Constitution of Australia, and apparently had a collection of more than 10,000 books - which seems a bit odd given the nature of the suburb.

 

There is not a lot in Symonston to be honest - unless you have a burning need to visit Geoscience Australia or the Therapeutic Goods Administration, or involuntarily get sent to the detention centre there.  

The old Mugga Mugga cottage from the 1870s is, however, there. Unfortunately, it was not open when we were there, so I didn't get to go in - but the views from the front are still pretty impressive. Unexpectedly, there is also an olive grove apparently blessed by a greek goddess - again fairly strange given the surrounding, and several caravan parks...

 Oddly Symonston felt a bit like 'the end of Canberra' although it is realistically quite close to the centre.

Suburb #17 Theodore

From big Wanniassa it was over to little Theodore who ironically had a slightly larger party at the shops going on.

Theodore is named after Edward Glanville Theodore who was a QLD premier and also Treasurer twice (after being forced to resigned in the middle following the Mungana affair when we has found to have corruptly profited by authorising the purchase of a copper mine by the state). Streets are apparently named after people involved in the civilian war effort during the wars.

Theodore is really very small. The local shops are impressively just a local shop - i.e. the bottle shop (glad they have their priorities right around here). But unlike Wanniassa the locals managed a band for their party, plus cool streamers and chalk drawings :)

 There are some gorgeous trees in Theodore and overall it feels very peaceful and quiet.

 Even the mushrooms seemed happy there :)

Suburb #16 Wanniassa

This weekend was another trip to the deep South of Canberra. First off was Wanniassa. I don't think I had ever been here before - except possibly for a lifeline book fair. We went there as there was a party on at the shops.

Wanniassa is named after an older pastoral property in the area which was actually named after Wanajassa in West Java, Indonesia. The streets are named after Victorian state politicians.

Going to Wanniassa was a bit like going to a goth club. We complained about it while we were there, but now that I am back and looking at the photos it seems like it was much more fun.

No but seriously, as a wise man once said, Wanniassa is a suburb of contrasts. It is a very large suburb. It has some beautiful parks and trees.

The locals at the smaller set of shops also seemed very friendly - or perhaps that was just because they wanted to sell us tupperware....

On the other hand, I was not a big fan of the larger Erindale shops which seemed somewhat depressing - even the dog seemed to think so. There was also unfortunately lots of the grass that I am allergic to everywhere :(

As usual there were nevertheless a number of unexpected things in Wanniassa from fairies doing their makeup to smoked pigs ears for sale, pigeon conferences and free stuff.

Plus just had to take this one for Mr Phelan :)

Suburb #15 Nicholls

We also went to Nicholls last week since we were already a long way from home and were desperately in need of lunch.

Nicholls is named after Sir Douglas Nicholls, a former Governor of the South Australia. So called 'Pastor Doug' was the first aboriginal person to be knighted by the Queen. Among other things he was a 'church planter' and an AFL football player, apparently he also taught the American army to throw a boomerang during the war and was a freemason. He was really known for his work with the indigenous community though. Streets in Nicholls - I assume because he was a footballer - are named after sports people.

I found Nicholls a rather odd place. It contains the touristy Gold Creek (i.e. Cockington green land for you non-Canberrans), where you can see parts of the old Ginninderra Village that was here long before Canberra itself and buy really good tea.

Then there is the actual 'suburb' which made me feel like I was stuck in a soapie from the 80s. It all looks very new and yet dated at the same time - particularly the McDonalds  street lights.

But there were lots of beautiful colours and unexpected things everywhere...

Nevertheless, I was starting to get very cranky with Nicholls particularly as the rain began to fall and there were no GF cupcakes at the 'house of cake'. But then I found possibly the best potato salad in Canberra at a local takeaway. The chips were pretty good too :)

We also found a cute little cul-de-sac near the lake where I would live it I had to live in Nicholls....though hopefully my garden would be a bit more tasteful.