From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fyshwick Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
Population:	97 (2001 census)
Postcode:	2609
Property Value:	AUD $225,000 (2005)[1]
District:	South Canberra
Suburbs around Fyshwick Barton Campbell Pialligo Kingston Fyshwick Queanbeyan, NSW Griffith Narrabundah Symonston

Fyshwick (postcode: 2609) is an industrial suburb of Canberra, located east of the South Canberra district. The population of Fyshwick on census night 2001 was 97 people.

It has many stores that sell goods wholesale, as well as hardware and car shops, and some fast food outlets. It is also known for its adult entertainment industry, along with Mitchell, one of the two places in the ACT where there is legalised prostitution (which was decriminalised but limited to those two suburbs in 1992).

It was named after Sir Philip Fysh, a Tasmanian politician who assisted in bringing about Australia's Federation. The suffix "wick", from Old English, means "dwelling place" - and, by extension, "village" or "district". Its streets are named after Australia's industrial towns and regions - for example, Mount Isa is represented by Isa Street and Townsville is represented by Townsville Street. The suburb consists mainly of light industrial and retail space.

The only railway line into Canberra runs through the middle of Fyshwick dividing the area into two halves. Ipswich and Newcastle Streets as well as the Monaro Highway cross the railway line uniting both halves of Fyshwick.

The Fyshwick sewage treatment works was built in 1967 to treat waste water that couldn't easily be pumped to the other side of Canberra. It has been recently converted to use a modern portable pressurised treatment system developed by ACTEW called CRANOS. It is now used to treat industrial waste water, which is then used to water the Duntroon grounds and golf course. [2] [3]

One noteworthy portion of Fyshwick, located between the railway line and a major road called Canberra Avenue, was built as a German prisoner of war camp immediately after World War I (1918). The prisoners never arrived, and the camp was left empty while half of the buildings were sold off. Soon after the government was using unemployed returned servicemen to help build Canberra, and in 1921 the camp was converted to house labourers to alleviate a severe housing shortage. Gradually the camp buildings were moved to other camp sites around Canberra and the roads used to service the camp became the first streets of Fyshwick. [4]

Most of the north of Fyshwick is underlain by Canberra Formation, calcareous shale. On top of this to the east and west of Jerrabomberra creek are Tertiary pebble gravels, and also quaternary alluvium. There are two andesite dykes intruded across Gladstone Street. South of the South Fyshwick fault is the dacitic andesite of the Ainslie Volcanics. The South Fyswick Fault starts in Narrabundah, runs east from Lithgow St to Tennant Street, crosses the Molonglo river and heads north east to Dundee Hill to join Sullivans Fault.

See also: Geology of the Australian Capital Territory