See Kambah Differently

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See Kambah Differently

Local oz-tag competitions run all year at Kambah Playing Fields. Photo: Region Media.

According to urban legend, Kambah may be one of Australia’s biggest suburbs, but there’s more to this sprawling centre than meets the eye. Nestled among Mount Taylor and Urambi Hills, Kambah is an affordable suburb with good local amenities. And its profile is actually quite diverse, attracting a mix of families, professionals, retirees and students.

Thinking about visiting or moving to Kambah? Here’s what you need to know.

History

Kambah was one of the first suburbs to be built in Tuggeranong in the 1970s. At an impressive 1130 hectares, it is genuinely the biggest suburb in the nation’s capital – about four times the size of the Canberra average.

Kambah takes its name from the Kambah Homestead, which was originally located in Tuggeranong.

Shops and eateries

One of the good things about living in Kambah is that you’re never too far from the local shops. Kambah Village Shopping Centre on Drakeford Drive is the main shopping centre in the suburb, with a Woolies, petrol station and various small shops.

Further south on Jenke Circuit you’ll find a discount pharmacy, Hungry Jacks, Club Lime and swim school Aqua Harmony.

Aqua Harmony has a baby and toddler-friendly cafe, Toots Play Space and Cafe, which has heaps of play areas designed by early childhood educators, as well as good coffee.

See Kambah Differently

You can find Lazarri Bros’ Espresso at the local Kambah shops. Photo: Region Media.

Small local shops are also dotted throughout Kambah on Castley Circuit, Carleton Street and Mannheim Street. Little Theo’s at the Carleton Street Shops has earned local renown for its pizzas (try the Hawaii 5-0 if you’re feeling adventurous!).

The closest shopping centre to Kambah is South Point in Tuggeranong, which is a six-minute drive.

Places of interest and things to do

As you might expect from a suburb surrounded by mountains, Kambah’s best attractions are centred around the great outdoors.

  • Take a dip at Kambah Pool. The name can be a little misleading – Kambah Pool refers to a picturesque swimming spot in the Murrumbidgee River, rather than a swimming pool facility. It’s a great spot for swimming, fishing and bird-watching.
  • Hike Mount Taylor. Mount Taylor offers stunning views over Tuggeranong and the Brindabellas to the south and Woden to the north. It has several walking tracks at varying levels of difficulty, as well as picnic and BBQ areas. A walk up Mount Taylor makes for a great day out with family or four-legged friends.
  • Give BMX racing a try. Tuggeranong BMX Club in Kambah is the home track of Olympian and world champion Caroline Buchanan, but you don’t need to be a pro to get started. New members are always welcome, with races held every Saturday.

Parks and playgrounds

See Kambah Differently

Kambah Adventure Playground is arguably the best in playground in Kambah. Photo: Region Media.

The biggest and best playground in Kambah is arguably Kambah Adventure Playground (access via Springbett Street). Located in the expansive Kambah District Park, it’s a particularly popular spot on weekends for kids’ birthday parties.

The playground has a flying fox, spider web, huge swings, climbing equipment and barbeque and picnic facilities. It’s the type of playground that caters to very small children as well as older kids looking for a little more adventure.

There are also smaller playgrounds on Pinkerton Circuit, Ferrett Circuit, Morant Circuit and behind the IGA on Boddington Crescent.

Getting around

Drakeford Drive, which turns into the Tuggeranong Parkway, runs through the centre of Kambah, so it’s an easy drive north to Civic or south to Tuggeranong. Kambah is also bordered on one side by Athllon Drive, which leads to Woden.

If you’d prefer to travel by bike, local cycle paths connect to Tuggeranong, Woden and (eventually) Civic.

Bus routes R4, 70, 71, 180 and 181 run through Kambah.

See Kambah Differently

There are various walking tracks around Mt Taylor for you to explore. Photo: Region Media.

Schools

There are three schools in Kambah:

Why the locals love it

“Kambah didn’t exactly have the most glowing of reputations when I was growing up, but that’s changed as the suburb has matured. You can still pick up a bargain in Kambah if you don’t mind doing a little bit of work, but be warned: the more affordable homes – mostly older, smaller houses on decent blocks – go quickly, and often for more than the asking price. It’s competitive! Many of our neighbours are families that moved to Kambah because it was cheaper than buying over the road in Weston Creek, with basically the same benefits.” – Matt, 29.

Quick facts

  • Median age: 40 years
  • Median weekly household income: $1916
  • Median weekly rent: $345
  • Houses vs. apartments: 86.1% houses; 11.9% townhouses, <2% apartments
  • Suburb sales record (excludes land sales): $1.4 million in 2017

Source: 2016 Census.

Want to find the latest real estate listings for sale and rent in Kambah? Zango can help you find them:

Do you live, or have you previously lived, in Kambah? What are your favourite things about the suburb? What advice would you give to people considering moving there? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Kambah almost didn’t come into being. The original plans and street layout for part of the area was for a suburb called Village Creek. Those plans were scrapped and replaced with the current Kambah. Also, there was supposed to be a link road between Tuggeranong Parkway and what is now Kambah Pool Road going thru the current BMX park on Sulwood Drive. On some maps the link is still shown as a dotted line. Kambah Pool Road was supposed to be an extension of Tuggeranong Parkway and go past Kambah Pool and the Murrumbidgee River to other suburbs in the Tidbinbilla Valley. Zed has been trying to resurrect that scrapped development.

Great Article – I am a former Kambah resident for over 20 years, but moved away about 5 years ago.
It is a tragedy how the ACT Government have ignored the suburb and its residents. It always amazed me that people in Kambah didn’t complain loudly and publically about their lack of facilities and entertainment options.

I remember when they announced a Kambah Village redevelopment to much fanfare. Turned out to be 5 steel sheep and some scattered stuff that a farmer threw out. I also think they replaced the cereamic toilets with steel ones (didn’t touch the horrendous cement bunket they were housed in). Woop de doo chief minister!

I was also angry at an (unamed) Labor politician at the St Thomas fete who was complaining about the lack of proper and attractive shade trees, gardens and nice grass. Then he said that Kambah people don’t like the European look but prefer gum trees and simple Australian outback look. I thought “no we don’t” we just get dumped with the cheapest to install and maintain trees and gardens. About time Kambah got some much overdue love from ACT Government (and I don’t live there anymore).

Ezy said :

puggy said :

Ezy said :

Oh, and I can tell you that it was space invaders at Theos.

It wasn’t Space Invaders, it was Galaxian, it’s just that there was some Space Invaders labels under the glass of the cocktail cabinet. The poor cabinet suffered a bit from local hoodlums and their thirst for free cigarettes and 20c coins.

THAT SNEAKY GALAXIAN!

Speaking of arcades – did anyone ever visit the small arcade that was located in the back room of a video store on the Marconi Cres shops? I thought that was the best thing to spend an afternoon there playing the neo-geos. There was a small arcade parlour at the Kambah Village shops for a while as well.

Yes, I remember both. I’ve lives in Kambah for almost 40 years, grew up here and love it so much I bought a neighbouring property to the family home to raise my own. I’ll always think of the Marconi Shops as Wally’s, Livingstone Avenue as Rosanne’s and the Mannheim Street ones as The Co-Op.

Just before we left Canberra in July,’73,I stood at the first intersection of the new suburb of Kambah and slowly did a 360` turn with a home movie camera(if the average age now is 36,very few will know what they look like).There were maybe a dozen houses nearby,then nothing but open grasslands all the way to Tharwa.

Crazed_Loner12:40 am 02 May 15

Yes, it was meant to be a number of separate suburbs; not sure how they stuffed that up but it obviously wasn’t impossible. I heard a rumour it was some sort of nutty cost-saving measure.
Anyway, I grew up in the inner north but spent 14 fairly happy years in west Kambah (Crozier Cct), only moving north again in the end as a result of a silly life decision. Mind you, I was pretty glad we’d moved on the day of the bushfires. We were close to Urambi Hills and the golf course and plentiful other green space where I did lots of running; we even had a swamp wallaby thumping around in our back yard one Boxing Day. I used to joke that our location was really Gleneagles Heights but, besides that, it had a special appeal with one of Australia’s longest rivers just down the hill and a backdrop of the Bullen and Tidbinbilla Ranges behind it. There were lots of interesting birds that came through our yard, too.
One thing that has changed is the closure of lots of the small supermarkets dotted through the suburb, and sometimes the whole little neighbourhood shopping centres; only a couple seem to have survived. I can also vouch for Theo’s, certainly as it was back then; nothing like a good local takeaway. My ex still frequents the hairdressers at the back of the Village, too, from way over in the deep north.
Our neighbour across the road originally set up Brew Your Own but then moved on to something else, as he did. Lots of good memories.

I heard Kambah was to be 4 suburbs, but some mismanagement resulted in the 4 suburbs becoming “Kambah”. Early Tuggeranong planning maps show names like Mitchell etc in the area.
If you look at the map you can see where it would be split into 4.

Kambah is one of the largest suburbs of Canberra. Because of its size, there is a wide range of socio-economic levels. Gleneagles estate is one of the most affluent housing estates in Australian Capital Territory. It is quite an affluent and newer estate in Kambah containing a golf course and country club, where as other parts of Kambah, especially the older estates where there is government housing does appear dilapidated. The older group centre, which is Kambah Village shops contains a Woolworths supermarket. There is also a newer group centre in Kambah which contains an IGA supermarket and Namadgi School, which was constructed recently. The majority of traffic to and from Tuggeranong (Greenway) passes through Kambah along the main thoroughfare, which is Drakeford Drive. Many families in Kambah also enjoy the Kambah Pool recreation reserve.

puggy said :

Ezy said :

Oh, and I can tell you that it was space invaders at Theos.

It wasn’t Space Invaders, it was Galaxian, it’s just that there was some Space Invaders labels under the glass of the cocktail cabinet. The poor cabinet suffered a bit from local hoodlums and their thirst for free cigarettes and 20c coins.

THAT SNEAKY GALAXIAN!

Speaking of arcades – did anyone ever visit the small arcade that was located in the back room of a video store on the Marconi Cres shops? I thought that was the best thing to spend an afternoon there playing the neo-geos. There was a small arcade parlour at the Kambah Village shops for a while as well.

Ezy said :

Oh, and I can tell you that it was space invaders at Theos.

It wasn’t Space Invaders, it was Galaxian, it’s just that there was some Space Invaders labels under the glass of the cocktail cabinet. The poor cabinet suffered a bit from local hoodlums and their thirst for free cigarettes and 20c coins.

Anyone who went to Kambah High and graduated between 1983 and 1987 (particularly 1985 as 30 years this year) we are arranging a reunion for the October long weekend. If you are interested or know anyone please look up Kambah High School on Facebook we are trying to get as many people as possible to hear about it. Share far and wide.

We’re new to Kambah, & while the Tavern & shops are a shock, it’s working out to be a great spot. Right on highway for fast trip to city, & we ship the kids over the hill to “out of area” schools in Weston. BMX track is great, cycle paths, Cooleman Ridge for dog walks & cycling, Kambah Pool was great fun over summer. we were hoping to buy in Waramanga originally but Kambah is a good price compromise. We are located in the Sulwood drive/ Drakeford Drive /Boddington St area & it’s quite nice.

TheFoodMarshall12:43 pm 25 Apr 15

Having been in Kambah for the better part of 27 years I’ll concur with the post. There’s something about Kambah that draws you back as an adult, for me anyway. My family and friends are all here and my kids are also going to the same school I went to. I feel a real connection to the suburb and surrounds. I’m not well travelled but I have had the choice to live wherever I wanted to. I feel safe here. And even though we’ve had a few Fords and Holdens in our driveway, we’re not bogans. We live in the dizzying heights of Learmonth Dve, but, worst house on best street scenario.

The redevelopment of Kambah Village is decades overdue. For the biggest suburb in Canberra, it sure has the shittiest suburban shopping centre! I look forward to watching the redevelopment. If it ever gets started.

And I’ll vouch for that bloke Col, from BYOAH, cos he’s my dad.

I remember doing ceramic painting on plates and cups etc at the ceramic painting place.

Not sure why it ever left there, as they did classes and it looked to be a reasonably successful business Does anyone know if there is an equivalent shop in Canberra do to that stuff these days? I still have a zebra plate I made over 20 years ago. lol

pajs said :

Brew Your Own at Home, round the back of the Kambah shops, is a gem. Best option in Canberra for brewing & home winemaking gear. Colin’s a good bloke too.

Endorsed.

Brew Your Own at Home, round the back of the Kambah shops, is a gem. Best option in Canberra for brewing & home winemaking gear. Colin’s a good bloke too.

vintage123 said :

Ezy said :

I am proud to say that I would be an expert in this suburb. Below are my qualifications.

– Born in Kambah 34 years ago.
– Have lived in most parts of the suburb having lived in 7 different addresses in the 2902.
– I went to primary school at St Thomas
– My first job was at Cannons – which then became Woolworths.
– I bought my first home in Kambah.

It is sad to say that this weekend will be my last in this suburb.

One thing that I feel is holding the suburb back greatly is how run down the Kambah Village feels. There are a couple of small corner shops close by that look to be thriving with a couple of cafés and a reptile park. Where as the Village seems dark and dingy. Redeveloping this has been on the cards for some time now but progress seems to have halted. We generally drive across to Wanniassa shops if we need anything so as to avoid the Kambah Village.

Oh, and I can tell you that it was space invaders at Theos.

Hey Ezy, where you heading too?

Charnwood – the northside equivalent.

Kidding – no idea yet. Just waiting for the right property to come along in the Weston area.

Ezy said :

I am proud to say that I would be an expert in this suburb. Below are my qualifications.

– Born in Kambah 34 years ago.
– Have lived in most parts of the suburb having lived in 7 different addresses in the 2902.
– I went to primary school at St Thomas
– My first job was at Cannons – which then became Woolworths.
– I bought my first home in Kambah.

It is sad to say that this weekend will be my last in this suburb.

One thing that I feel is holding the suburb back greatly is how run down the Kambah Village feels. There are a couple of small corner shops close by that look to be thriving with a couple of cafés and a reptile park. Where as the Village seems dark and dingy. Redeveloping this has been on the cards for some time now but progress seems to have halted. We generally drive across to Wanniassa shops if we need anything so as to avoid the Kambah Village.

Oh, and I can tell you that it was space invaders at Theos.

Hey Ezy, where you heading too?

Milly Withers12:32 pm 24 Apr 15

Kambah is also home a wonderful hairdressing salon, Creative Image (at the Carleton Street shops). Been going there for years. Chips next door at Theo’s are still pretty good too.

I am proud to say that I would be an expert in this suburb. Below are my qualifications.

– Born in Kambah 34 years ago.
– Have lived in most parts of the suburb having lived in 7 different addresses in the 2902.
– I went to primary school at St Thomas
– My first job was at Cannons – which then became Woolworths.
– I bought my first home in Kambah.

It is sad to say that this weekend will be my last in this suburb.

One thing that I feel is holding the suburb back greatly is how run down the Kambah Village feels. There are a couple of small corner shops close by that look to be thriving with a couple of cafés and a reptile park. Where as the Village seems dark and dingy. Redeveloping this has been on the cards for some time now but progress seems to have halted. We generally drive across to Wanniassa shops if we need anything so as to avoid the Kambah Village.

Oh, and I can tell you that it was space invaders at Theos.

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