Canberra/North Canberra

Memorials, military sites, and parks all characterise North Canberra, a district comprised of several neighbourhoods in the District of Canberra Central.

The term "North Canberra" is usually used to describe everything in Central Canberra north of Lake Burley Griffin, but for Wikivoyage purposes, Civic and Acton are covered separately.

Get in
North Canberra is well connected by both public transport and road, given that it is right to the north of the city and is along one of the most important stopover points in Canberra.

By car
The area is well connected by road. From the city, to get to places such as Dickson, use A23 Northbourne Avenue north while if you're heading to Campbell, use Parkes Way but east.

By light rail
North Canberra is the only place where some some form of public transport that is not bus transport passes through. While Walter Burley Griffin's original 1912 plan had plans to incorporate a tram network in Canberra, it took over 107 years for that to finally happen. Today, the tram line runs from Civic (or the city) passing through A23 Northbourne Avenue before terminating north in Gungahlin. The largest interchange in North Canberra is the, right next to the Dickson Shops.

See and do
If there are two things North Canberra is filled with to the brim, it's memorials and military sites. Nearly all of them are found on Anzac Parade (or sometimes ANZAC Parade), including the Australian War Memorial on the northeasterly edge, while the rest can be done on a short 2-kilometre walk (return). There are some other memorials in Kings Park, while there are other military sites (some of which are of interest to travellers) scattered in Campbell.

North Canberra also contains many parks and lookouts, some of which require you to go via bushwalking trails. Any photography cognoscenti in Canberra will tell you about Mount Ainslie; a lookout where if you can get your camera aligned just right, many of Canberra's important landmarks will appear in one straight line.

Anzac Parade
Anzac Parade is not just an important street in North Canberra but for Canberra as a whole (and some may even say it's one of Australia's most important streets). Up the northern end of it is the Australian War Memorial, but what you may not have been aware of is the smaller memorials. These can either be in commemoration of specific warfare forces like the Royal Australian Air Force, broad categories of workers such as the Australian Service Nurses National Memorial, or after wars like the Boer War Memorial.

Not many people walk this itinerary, but if you're really into learning about wartime history, this rather short and easy itinerary along Anzac Parade and back is a great way to do just that. Anzac Parade is only 1.1 km one way, so the distance is not very long either.

The obvious choice for where to start is the Australian War Memorial, where there's an abundance of parking slots available, as parking is limited towards the southern end near Lake Burley Griffin. After you've spent some time in the Australian War Memorial, head out to War Memorial Carpark and cross the Fairbairn Avenue roundabout where Anzac Avenue starts. For the purpose of this itinerary, this article will cover the route from the perspective of being on the left side of the road.

The first war memorial that you'll pass to your left is the, named after Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938) who, as a Lieutenant Colonel, commanded the Ottoman 19th Infantry Division when it resisted the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps at Arı Burnu on the Gallipoli peninsula in 1915 during World War I. He went on to be the founder of the Republic of Turkey and its first president and received the honorific Atatürk ("Father of the Turks") by the Turkish parliament. The memorial was erected when the Turkish government officially recognised the name "Anzac Cove", and this memorial was erected honouring the sacrifice that the Turkish had made during WWI. As it stands today, it is the only memorial along the route that is in commemoration of an enemy commander. The next memorial to your left would be the, unveiled on March 3, 1986, for the RAN's 75th anniversary, honouring the sailors who have served the Commonwealth Naval Forces to protect Australia.

Not long after would you be seeing the in detail. Unveiled in 1999, this memorial honours past and present nurses of the Australian Defence Force, serving in the Royal Australian Navy, Australian Army, and Royal Australian Air Force and associated services. The memorial is made out of glass, so you will notice a detailed sketch of a nurse with some details about them and their service.

You'll be soon allured to the black granite walls and sculptures of the commemorating 50 years of the Royal Australian Air Force, with each of the three sculptures symbolising the RAAF's achievements and aspirations.

Had you ever thought of Australian presence in Libya? It might be a strange thought, but the is a memorial for the Australians who fought to defend the very contested Tobruk, an important Libyan port city during World War II in Africa.

The next memorial, the is a rather new memorial inaugurated only in 2017, commemorating the service and sacrifice of all Australians who have served on peacekeeping or peacemaking missions around the world. It'd be strange to think that there's a memorial for Libya, but not for New Zealand which is today one of Australia's two main military allies, right? Well, the time for the finally comes. It commemorates the military relationship between the two countries both historically and in the modern world today. There's a memorial on both sides of the road, both in commemoration for the same reason.

Once you've passed the New Zealand Memorial, you'd have passed all memorials along the eastern end of Anzac Parade and passed the halfway mark. There are six other memorials, but they are across Parkes Way (and crossing that roundabout is near-impossible) in Kings Park, so consider taking your car down after you've finished the walk of Anzac Parade.

Once you head back up Anzac Park, and see the other side of the New Zealand Memorial, you'll then pass a memorial in commemoration of one of the earliest wars Australia has fought, the Second Boer War. The. It's a long blue wall, and it even includes a soldier's letter written on October 28, 1900!

, the next memorial is a rather small memorial showing Australian Army and New Zealand Army horse riders in action. It is said that the horse on the right has been injured or shot, while the rider on the left is supporting the horseman on the right.

The next memorial is dedicated to 50,000 – that's the number of people the memorial is dedicated to; the personnel who not only served in the Australian Army, Royal Australian Navy, or the Royal Australian Air Force but every Australian who served in the Vietnam War.

The is the only memorial in honour of the Korean War in Australia right now, and this memorial 17,000 Australians who fought in defense of South Korea during the early 1950s during the time of the North Korean invasion of South Korea.

The second last memorial along Anzac Parade is, commemorating the service of Australian soldiers who have fought as a national group in conflicts since the Second Boer War in South Africa and their continuing tradition of service, in war, conflict and peace operations.

The northwesternmost memorial and the last one on this itinerary is the or the Hellenic (Greek) Memorial, erected in memory of what happened on 6 April 1941 – when the 6th Division of the Australian Army joined Allied forces resisting German advancement in mainland Greece. However, the Allied troops were vastly outnumbered on the ground and German forces dominated in the air.

In nature reserves
North Canberra has many parks, but most of them are just for residents rather than for travellers or visitors.

Canberra's most important lookout (or overlook in American English); isn't exactly in North Canberra (it's in the District of Majura if you're curious), but the only way to access the lookout that's 843-metre in elevation via road is via North Canberra. Here you can see a perfectly aligned view of the Australian War Memorial, the center of Anzac Parade, the Museum of Australian Democracy (in Old Parliament House) and Parliament House itself too – rather impressive planning by Burley Griffin!

If you're driving to Mount Ainslie, just enter "20 Mount Ainslie Dr" into your GPS and it should work, but otherwise Mount Ainslie Drive should also get you to the top, but there are several bushwalking trails that you can hike to reach the top.

Another important lookout in North Canberra is, to the north of Mount Ainslie, access to the peak is by walking tracks only – despite there being a service road, it is not available for use by the public. One of the popular walking trails starts near Antill Street in Watson and is a great way to go bushwalking without having to drive to Country ACT.

Other parks and lookouts




Commonwealth and Kings Parks
Situated in the southwest and southern ends of North Canberra, Commonwealth Park and Kings Park are two important adjacent parks and the only piece of Parliamentary Triangle that is in North Canberra and has interesting points of interests. Here, you can see Walter Burley Griffin's original design plans for Canberra, an outdoor amphitheatre where many of Canberra's events are hosted, and several more memorials, but unlike the memorials on Anzac Parade, most of the memorials in Kings Park are not war memorials.



If you've got children into art and nature, there are two short family-friendly walks in Commonwealth Park that you can walk: Art in the Park and Tweet Trail. The former passes through some memorial sculptures in Commonwealth Park, and there's an adventure map for the kids (somewhat like the USA's NPS Junior Ranger Program booklets), but it's only available online – meaning you have to print the online copy of it. The latter is a trail for any birdwatching enthusiast and also has a pamphlet, but it too needs to be printed from here.

Kings Park is also home to six important memorials, but only two of the six are war memorials. They're within a few metres from each other and are all within walking distance. The "civilian memorials" include the, the , the and the  while the other two  and the  are two military memorials, but in Kings Park instead of Anzac Parade.

Buy

 * Lonsdale Street in Braddon houses a growing number of boutiques which specialise in independent clothing labels, other designer objects, and many, many, coffee shops and casual restaurants. The southern end of Lonsdale Street contains many of Canberra's outdoor clothing and camping stores and some several bicycle shops.

Dickson Shops
The is the Canberra equivalent of Chinatown. Lots of great Asian food and a few pubs/clubs to have a beer at. This shopping centre is located a 10 minute light rail ride north of Civic, just off Northbourne Avenue, and has a fantastic eat street, with everything from Thai to Turkish to Vietnamese at reasonable prices. Turk Oz has a delicious spinach and feta pide.

Drink




Connect
As of 2022, Telstra has a near-complete 5G coverage in North Canberra, except in some parts of the Mount Ainslie Nature Reserve where there is good 4G coverage. Optus also has 5G coverage, but only outdoor coverage outside the suburbs of Braddon and Dickson. Vodafone however only has 4G coverage, but has indoor coverage, and this is throughout North Canberra.

There are several locations in North Canberra where you can connect to CBRfree public Wi-Fi, including the Dickson's branch, on Antill Street in Dickson. It's open M–Th 10AM–5:30PM, F 10AM–8PM Sa 10AM–4PM and Su noon–4PM. The library doesn't have a specific email address or a phone number, but consider ringing if you wanted to make an enquiry.