Ainslie, Australian Capital Territory

A typical street in Ainslie

Ainslie (postcode: 2602) is a leafy suburb in the Inner North of Canberra, Australia.

The suburb is bounded by Limestone Ave and Majura Ave to the west, Mount Ainslie to the east, the Australian War Memorial to the south and the suburb of Hackett to the north.

The Ainslie local shops are located in the middle of the suburb and include restaurants, cafes, bakery, local supermarket, post office/newsagent and Edgars, a popular local pub. The suburb is also the location of a preschool, the Ainslie Football Club, and the Ainslie Fire Station which serves North Canberra. The North Ainslie Primary School is located in the suburb, but the Ainslie Primary School, one of Canberra's oldest, is actually located in Braddon on the western side of Limestone Ave.

The Anglican All Saints Church is located on Cowper street in Ainslie, a building which was transported from Sydney in 1957 that originally served as a railway station at the Rookwood Cemetery.

The suburb is characterised by leafy streets, detached single dwelling houses, and a "village" atmosphere around some of the many small parks. Small blocks of flats are located in the south of the suburb, as is Ainslie Village an ACT Government centre which provides accommodation for people with special needs. The suburb has recently experienced 'in-fill' development in recent years, sometimes in the case of dual occupancy dwellings (where two dwellings are constructed on a lot which previously contained one house).

The suburb was named for James Ainslie. According to the ACT Planning and Land Authority]:James Ainslie was the "First overseer of 'Duntroon Station' in Canberra; employed by Robert Campbell to drive a mob of sheep south from Bathurst 'until he found suitable land', 1825; Ainslie chose the Limestone Plains (the Canberra district) about 1825; was overseer for ten years before returning to Scotland.

Ainslie was gazetted by the Government in 1928.

In September 2005, there was a fire at the Ainslie shops which caused up to $500,000 damage to a laundromat. [1]

The shops at Ainslie

Geology

Calcareous shales from the Canberra Formation is overlain by Quaternary alluvium.This rock is the limestone of the original title of Canberra "Limestone Plains".Natural History of the Australian Capital Territory covers more of the geology of the ACT.

References

#Property values in Ainslie#ACT Planning and Land Authority