Braddon is an inner north suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia located adjacent to the Canberra CBD.

Braddon is one of the oldest suburbs in Canberra, a relatively young city, settled in 1922 and gazetted as a division name in September 1928. It contained Canberra's first light-industrial area. In recent years this area has begun to be redeveloped as an entertainment and residential precinct. Other areas have been redeveloped with flats. It is now Canberra's most densely populated suburb.

History

The construction of the Braddon Garden City heritage precinct the area bounded by Donaldson, Elimatta, Batman and Currong streets began in 1921 and 1922. This was the only completed example of a design for a residential area in Canberra by Walter Burley Griffin.

Braddon is named after Edward Braddon, a Federalist, legislator and a participant in the writing of the Australian Constitution. Streets in Braddon were named for Aboriginal words, legislators and pioneers.

  • Gorman House
  • The Whitley House at the corner of Limestone Avenue and Ipima Street, a modernist house built in 1939, considered by the ACT Heritage Council to be "among the first government designed and built single-storey detached houses in the Functionalist style in Australia." The Heritage Council has permitted flats to be built behind the house, but the view of the house from Limestone Avenue has been preserved.
  • Haig Park.
  • Northbourne Oval.
  • The former Coggan's Bakery, 36 Mort Street, Braddon. Land adjoining Northbourne Avenue is now zoned to permit redevelopment with 25 metres (about 8 storeys) high flats or 32 metres (about 11 storeys) at the corners of Wakefield Avenue with Northbourne Avenue. The area south of Haig Park between Mort and Torrens streets in zoned to allow mixed use developments, generally 22 metres high (6 or 7 storeys), but 16 metres high (5 storeys) facing Torrens street and up to 30 metres high (about 10 storeys) facing Cooyong street.

The area between Ainslie Avenue, Cooyong, Donaldson and Currong street, currently occupied by four and eight-storey government flats (Allawah Court and Currong Apartments) and Catholic church land, is currently proposed for redevelopment with mixed-use buildings, with a range of building heights between 5 and 12 storeys.—and the Hotel Ainslie (Mercure Canberra) site—which is also heritage listed and zoned for a two-storey hotel.

Features

Ainslie School

left|thumb|Ainslie Public School, opened in 1927, now Ainslie Arts Centre

thumb|Ainslie Primary School

Ainslie School fronts onto Donaldson Street is one of Canberra's oldest schools. It was opened in 1927 as the first official act of the Prime Minister Stanley Bruce following his arrival in Canberra.

Allawah Court and Currong Apartments

thumb|Former Allawah Court, with the Currong Apartments behind, in 2014. Demolition was completed in 2017.

The three-storey Allawah Court flats (containing 114 two-bedroom flats) were completed east of Cooyong street and north of Ainslie Avenue in 1956, the three-storey Bega Court was completed south of Ainslie Avenue in Reid in 1957 and the eight-storey Currong Apartments (184 one-bedroom flats and 28 of two bedrooms) were completed east of Allawah Court and west of Currong Street in 1959 in order to cope with a critical lack of accommodation for public servants transferred to Canberra. The ACT Heritage Council described them as having been designed in the Post-War International style "similar to post-war housing in Europe, particularly in English new towns. The fine proportions, crisp detailing and low scale of [the Allawah and Bega Courts]

and their siting continuing the street pattern made them more architecturally successful than the three eight-storey blocks of flats along Currong Street which completed the development." The Heritage Council declined to heritage list the buildings and despite some local opposition it was proposed that they be demolished and replaced by more modern and denser accommodation along with some commercial uses. The demolition was completed in August 2017.

Braddon Garden City heritage precinct

The area bounded by Donaldson, Elimatta, Batman and Currong streets, including the street furniture, are heritage listed as "an early 20th century 'Garden City' planned subdivision" and as an example of early Federal Capital planning philosophy and architecture among other things. This area was originally named the "Ainslie Cottages Project" and the first houses were constructed between 1921 and 1922 to meet the urgent need for housing for lower grade public servants and workmen to build the civic centre and other parts of the city. It is the first expression of the Garden City concept in Canberra and it is the only completed example of a design for a residential area in Canberra by Walter Burley Griffin.

Gorman House Arts Centre

thumb|Gorman Arts Centre

The Gorman House Arts Centre is a significant heritage It is occupied by some of the ACT's key arts organisations, smaller arts groups and individual artists.

The centre accommodates intimate performance spaces, dance studios and workshops, a gallery, artists' studios, small offices for arts business, meeting rooms and a weekend art, craft and second-hand market.

Braddon's theatres and galleries are located within the Gorman House Arts Centre. They are: Bogong Theatre; Canberra Contemporary Art Space; Canberra Youth Theatre; Currong Theatre Studio; It is listed on the ACT Heritage register.

Lonsdale Street

thumb|right|The Civic Pub, a bar on Lonsdale Street, Braddon

Historically an industrial area comprising car yards and factories, Lonsdale Street has in recent decades transformed into a cosmopolitan hub and the commercial centre of Braddon. Lonsdale Street is home to shops selling items by original Canberra designers, stylish Australian fashions, imported designer shoes and handcrafted gifts and homewares. There is also a mix of restaurants, bakeries, bike shops, food vans, camping stores, car yards and hairdressing salons.

During the Summernats car festival, Lonsdale Street is the site of an annual unofficial street parade, the Lonsdale Street Cruise. The parade features all types of cars and draws crowds of spectators.

Lonsdale Street was named Canberra's 'hippest hood' by The Sydney Morning Herald in September 2013.

Merici College

Merici College is a private Roman Catholic girls' high school catering for years 7 to 12.

Northbourne Flats

The Northbourne Flats are located on both sides of Northbourne Avenue in Braddon and Turner. The flats provided the first high-density housing project on Northbourne Avenue, now characterised by high-density living. In 2011, the ACT Government ran a national design competition to remodel the flats, to make way for the new development current public housing tenants will be relocated to other properties.

Northbourne Oval

thumb|Northbourne Oval

Northbourne Oval was established in 1925, making it North Canberra's oldest enclosed oval. It is listed by the ACT Heritage Council.

  • St Columbus Uniting Church Braddon residents had a median age of 30, which is younger than the ACT median of 35 and the Australian median of 38. The median weekly household income was $3,029, compared to the median Australian household income of $2,120. 45.3% of the population were professionals, compared to the Australian average of 24.0%. 25.4% worked in central government administration, compared to the Australian average of 1.1%, although the ACT-wide average is a similar 17.1%.

Governance

{| style="float:right; margin:0 0 0.5em 1em;"

|

{| class="wikitable"

! colspan = 3 | 2025 federal election

|-

| | 

| Labor

| style="background:#ff9;"| 47.70%

|-

| | 

| Greens

| style="background:#ff9;"| 25.03%

|-

| | 

| Liberal

| style="background:#ff9;"| 11.57%

|-

! colspan = 3 | 2024 ACT election

|-

| | 

| Labor

| style="background:#ff9;"| 37.7%

|-

| | 

| Greens

| style="background:#ff9;"| 20.6%

|-

| | 

| Liberal

| style="background:#ff9;"| 17.2%

|-

| | 

| Independents for Canberra

| style="background:#ff9;"| 16.1%

|}

|}

Braddon is located within the federal electorate of Canberra and it is represented in the House of Representatives by Alicia Payne for the Labor Party. In the ACT Legislative Assembly, Braddon is part of the electorate of Kurrajong, which elects five members on the basis of proportional representation, two Labor, one Green, one Liberal and one Independent. Polling place statistics are shown to the right for the Ainslie polling place at Ainslie School (in Braddon) in the 2025 federal election for Fenner

Street names in Braddon

The streets in Braddon are named after Aboriginal words, legislators and pioneers.

  • Ainslie Avenue. Named for James Ainslie (1787–1844).
  • Batman Street. Named for John Batman (1800–1839).
  • Burra Place. Named for an Aboriginal word meaning 'wait' or 'stop'.
  • Chapman Street. Named for Austin Chapman (1864–1926).
  • Coolac Place. Named for an Aboriginal word meaning 'native bear'.
  • Cooyong Street. Named for an Aboriginal word meaning 'bandicoot'.
  • Currong Street North. Named for an Aboriginal word meaning ‘silver wattle’.
  • Donaldson Street. Named for Stuart Donaldson (1812–1867).
  • Doonkuna Street. Named for an Aboriginal word meaning 'rising ground'.
  • Dooring Street. Named for an Aboriginal word meaning 'the bark of trees'.
  • Elder Street. Named for Thomas Elder (1818–1897).
  • Elimatta Street. Named for an Aboriginal word meaning 'my home'.
  • Elouera Street. Named for an Aboriginal word meaning 'pleasant place'.
  • Farrer Street. Named for William James Farrer (1845–1906).
  • Fawkner Street. Named for John Pascoe Fawkner (1792–1869).
  • Gilchrist Gardens. Named for John Gilchrist (1938–1998), a Canberran Town Planner.
  • Girrahween Street. Named for an Aboriginal word meaning 'place of flowers'.
  • Gooreen Street. Named for an Aboriginal word meaning 'wind'.
  • Helemon Street. Named for an Aboriginal word meaning 'a shield'.
  • Henty Street. Named for Edward Henty (1810–1878).
  • Ijong Street. Named for an Aboriginal word meaning 'water'.
  • Ipima Street. Named for an Aboriginal word meaning 'two'.
  • Limestone Avenue. Named for 'Limestone Plains', an early name of the Canberra district.
  • Lonsdale Street. Named for William Lonsdale (1800–1864).
  • Mort Street. Named for Thomas Sutcliffe Mort (1816–1878).
  • Northbourne Avenue. Name comes from the combination of the words 'north' and 'bourne', north because the road is on the northern side of Canberra and bourne from an old French word meaning limit or boundary.
  • Sulman Gardens. Named for John Sulman (1849–1934).
  • Torrens Street. Named for Robert Torrens (1814–1884).
  • Wakefield Avenue. Named for Edward Gibbon Wakefield (1796–1862).
  • Wise Street. Named for Bernhard Ringrose Wise (1858–1916).

Geology

Calcareous shales from the Canberra Formation are overlain by Quaternary alluvium.

This rock is the limestone of the original title of Canberra "Limestone Plains".

References