Can anyone out there explain why Gungahlin is the only district of Canberra that does not have district signs (to guide and welcome people into Gungahlin)? There are signs for the suburb of Gungahlin, but not for the district. All other districts (such as Tuggeranong, Weston Creek, Belconnen etc) have such signage at the entrances to the district, so why not Gungahlin?
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Also, why is there a sign for Moncrieff on Mirrabei Dr. There’s nothing there, nothing been built or prepared to be built.
What I found really strange was the “Guide to Belconnen” on Gundaroo Dr, but I think that may have been removed now.
I was under the impression that Gunghalin was one of those magical and mythical towns that don’t really exist, like Atlantis and Perth. if it doesn’t exist, no need to signpost it.
I wonder … given there is actually a suburb called Gungahlin, as well as the district of Gungahlin, they are trying to avoid confusion. Tuggeranong has no suburb of the same name. Weston Creek is arguable. Woden has no suburb of same name. Maybe they’re just trying to avoid confusion with the actual suburb, or they’ve just plain forgotten. Just a hunch, not sure though.
I can’t go to Gungahlin yet, as my canberra map doesn’t have it on.
Because no-one outside Gungahlin gives a proverbial?
ant said :
Ha! Time for an upgrade I think. $16.95 local servo. On second thoughts, it’s probably not worth the expense. Just wing it when next on the GDE …
Just pick up one of those free yellow pages mini directories they’ve been handing out at local supermarkets, it’s got a free map and everything.
b2 said :
What?
Gungahlin needs to earn its stripes before being declared as a district of Canberra. Fer christs sakes, they’ve only got two petrol stations!!!
…and my Canberra Street directory doesn’t show Gungahlin either!
Does anybody actually live in Mulanggarri? I’ve never heard of that suburb before.
I’m with CanberraResident – could be to avoid confusion. Belconnen has no suburb either does it? It’s Macquarie/Bruce afaik. Manuka is in Griffith, Jamison is in Macquarie, Tuggeranong is in Greenway, Woden is in Phillip.
Belconnen does have a suburb called Belconnen, as well as it being the name of the wider area.
I thought they were called ‘towns’ not ‘districts’. Is there a formal name they’re supposed to be known as?
Sheez, does it really matter ?
CanberraResident said :
errr, I haven’t been on the GDE yet, either. Not quite sure I even know where it is, or where it goes (except it evidently goes to Gunghalin). I think I might have seen a bit of it when trying to get to Calvary to see an ankle-cutter-upper, in 2006.
Kramer,
It’s got 4, if one counts the Mitchell and Federation Square ones. Plus the fifth “ghost” one in Amaroo.
I thought it was because nobody had anything nice to say about Gungahlin.
“Gungahlin needs to earn its stripes before being declared as a district of Canberra. Fer christs sakes, they’ve only got two petrol stations!!!”
Weston Creek is down to 2 servos… does this mean that they are they no longer a District?
Of course Gungahlin doesn’t have too many signs pointing to it. Non-locals would find the suburb, perhaps drive there out of curiosity and notice the lack of infrastructure. Pools that don’t exist, a town centre that seems to be perennially in the planning stage (they will get to it one day, I’m sure) and a school and a half. There is a police station but not too many police …
Once in Gungahlin you will find plenty of signs. A ‘future school site’ here, a ‘future library site’ there, etc, etc.
I’m sure GungahlinAl can update us where things are.
Still no word on Mulanggarri?
Is it’s a sign?
Mullangarrie must exist as it is listed on the Dept of Health and Ageings national public toilet map as having no toilets. So not a place you’d really want to visit incase you’re caught short.
http://www.toiletmap.gov.au/browse.aspx?type=area&id=3399ed58-1206-4e60-8257-aaeb3d01539e
toiletmap.gov.au lol!
Yeah no doubt, but I thought that people actually lived there, as it seems as such.
Look on the bright side, at least Gungahlin’s on the Toilet Map……
As a resident of the real part of Canberra, the Inner North, I must say there is no “Civic”, “City” or “Inner North” sign to designate our Town Centre.
People know they’re in Gungahlin by virtue of all the McMansions, no need for a sign.
Mullungarrie was on some of the older concept plan maps I was flicking through in some of GCC’s old records the other day, but I guess that was before they realised that the area and beyond to the north is one of the largest remaining grassy box woodlands around, and instead established the Goorooyaroo Nature Reserve.
No loos, but plenty of trees…
Troy’s fishing for a bite, so I’ll seize the opportunity to provide a snapshot of what we’ve been up to.
On the town centre Master Plan Review , ACTPLA reps and the transport plan consultants will be coming to the GCC meeting at Palmerston on Wednesday 14 May at the community centre Tiptree Crs (7.30pm). There has been plenty happening on that front and we’ve already been involved in some workshops. Key concerns we have been discussing revolve aroundthe stupid design of Flemington Road that currently directs all the through traffic right into the main street instead of around it. So we are trying to get this fixed, so the town centre becomes about destination traffic.
Ideally, Hibberson Street would (in my view anyway) be something like Childers St in the uni precinct – semi-pedestrianised, buses, deliveries, cars allowed but too slow to discourage through traffic, all while preserving some traffic so the shops maintain the casual surveillance that is lacking in malls.
But I guess the reason it is in the “planning stage” again is because we expressed concern that the current situation would not allow adequate employment and commercial expansion. Andrew Barr and Neil Savery took our concerns on board, and it is all being revisited.
On the college, the working group is to reconvene in a couple of weeks to look at the latest revision of the architects’ plans, and the library is an integral part of that. Those facilities are slated to open for the 2010 school year.
The aquatic centre master planning has been done. We’ve been emphasising the need for a 50/25/wader combination. The latest I saw seemed to have dropped the 25 but when I met with Andrew Barr a couple of weeks back I pointed out that a 25 is critical for all the learn-to-swim classes. Hopefully the budget will include initial funding to kick that project off. The “enclosed oval” next door has also had master planning well under way. Similar funding commitments will be looked for in the next budget (it being an election year…).
You can read about some of this in the latest edition of our newsletter, which goes to some 14,000 homes.
But yes – it has all been taking too long up until recently. Now everything is being accelerated in line with our requests, but it is almost too much for us to keep up with now, and we could sure use some extra people. If any RA readers who live out our way would like to get involved in achieving some of these sorts of hands-on outcomes, please drop me a line!
[off soapbox]
It’s practically south Campbelltown anyway. So I guess there are signs to assist you leave, but not return. TAKE THE DAMN HINT! Especially if you have a tasteful 3 or 4 bedroom place in Nicholls, or overlooking the golf course.
(Sorry, there are no points for guessing what I’m in the market for.)
Thanks for all that Gungahlin Al, that was very informative.
However, you didn’t mention anything about the lack of district signage for Gungahlin, which is the topic of this thread.
Regards.
Morgan said :
Morgan, there are in fact quite nice new illuminated signs for “City Centre”, which replaced some of the large black and white ones. There are also some district signs for North Canberra, as there are for South Canberra. Some of the signage is almost historic, I might add; look at the “City Centre” one in Edinburgh Avenue opposite the swanky new NewActon complex.
Meconium said :
As GnT said, Belconnen is the name of the central suburb of the district of Belconnen. Think about where Lake Ginninderra College, Belconnen Mall, and Emu Ridge estate are – this is all the suburb of Belconnen. I used to live there!
And yes, having a suburb and a district with the same name is confusing – but the powers that be were determined to repeat that Belconnen (so-good-they-named-it-twice) blunder with Gungahlin…and so it came to pass.
Emu Ridge, by the way, is an estate within the suburb of Belconnen; exactly like Swinger Hill in Phillip, and Gleneagles in Kambah, and Harcourt Hill in Nicholls.