This week we’re exploring a place, rather than a suburb, just to mix things up a bit.
Kippax is an area in the Belconnen region which is located within the suburb of Holt. Most of Kippax is a comprised of a shopping mall (yep, you guessed it, Kippax Fair), but the name was also taken on board by the nearby Kippax Uniting Church and Kippax District Playing Fields.
As for the shops specifically, there’s pretty much everything you need there in terms of basics like supermarkets, a pharmacy, banks, a library, a newsagent, a post office and a heap of restaurants and cafes. One person I spoke to mentioned a jeweller that made beautiful custom jewellery and provided traditional, old-fashioned jeweller services. They were unsure if the store was still around though, so if you know of this jeweller please let us know in the comments.
I’ve only been to Kippax a handful of times, once to pick up a takeaway McDonalds coffee, and more recently I had breakfast at Café Okrich (it was okay, a bit all over the place but the food was decent). I expected Kippax to be a lot busier than what it was, there was hardly anyone there on a Saturday morning.
When I asked other Canberrans what they knew about Kippax, the majority told me it was a dodgy/scary/unsafe area, and 100 per cent referred to the recent jewellery store ram raid. That particular jeweller has been broken into three times in the last 12 months so they’ve got a tough gig at present.
However, the people that were around when I visited were extremely pleasant and friendly. I didn’t get a vibe of dodginess at all. As I said, a bit quiet, but that could possibly be attributed to it being a cold, cloudy morning and maybe people just wanted a sleep in.
Although not overwhelmingly present on the day, it seems that Kippax has a strong community vibe with its own dedicated Facebook page in which many positive suggestions have been made for how Kippax could be improved for the benefit of locals.
Some of the suggestions include the establishment of a skate park, pool, and perhaps a cinema, to provide entertainment and activities for teenagers, public BBQs for family use as well as a bike track and playground. It’s always great to see people putting in effort to make their community better, I really hope all (or at least some) of these suggestions come to fruition.
All in all, I think Kippax gets a bad rap. Sure, it’s not the fanciest place on earth and there’s a bit of crime from time to time but I don’t think it’s unsafe. A nice little suburban area away from the hustle and bustle of Belconnen and Civic with pleasant people. Sounds alright to me.
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