Bruce, Australian Capital Territory

On Census night 2011, Bruce had a population of 6,390 people.^[1] Although, as of the late 2000s, the mean taxable income of individuals within the suburb is slightly lower than the ACT average, the suburb nonetheless is in the top decile in the Territory within the Australian Bureau of Statistics' SEIFA index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage. 37.2% of the population was foreign born, the eighth highest for any Canberra suburb.^[3]

Places of interest

Canberra Stadium is the home of the Canberra Raiders rugby league and Brumbies rugby union sides, and occasionally hosts national and international sporting events
Canberra International Sports and Aquatic Centre
The University of Canberra (UC) has an enrolment of over 10,000 students and is one of four major universities in Canberra
The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS)
Calvary Public Hospital
Bruce Campus of the Canberra Institute of Technology
Radford College

Development

The Fern Hill section of the suburb was originally planned as a hub for information and communications technology businesses, with some low-rise office buildings being developed off Thynne Street, along with a small commercial centre including a cafe. However, the area has seen considerable residential development, with densities ranging from detached houses through to four storey apartment buildings, with commercial ground floor uses.

Street names

Suburb sign

Many of the streets in Bruce are named after people and places associated with Australian tertiary education, including:^[2]

Agar Street - Wilfred Eade Agar, professor of zoology
Battye Street - James Battye, chancellor
Braybrooke Street - Ernest Kingston Braybrooke, professor of law
College Street - Canberra College of Advanced Education, now the University of Canberra
Crisp Circuit - Finlay Crisp, professor and Rhodes Scholar
Jaeger Circuit - John Conrad Jaeger, professor of geophysics and mathematics
Leverrier Street - Frank Leverrier, vice-chancellor
Mugglestone Place - Donald Mugglestone, professor of physics
Purdie Street - Alexander Purdie, professor of geology
Thynne Street - Andrew Joseph Thynne, government minister and university chancellor and vice-chancellor (who pronounced his name "thin")

Transport

Aerial view from west

The suburb is also relatively well-served by public transport, with ACTION's IPT (Intertown Public Transport) route running through it via the Calvary Hospital, Radford College, and the University of Canberra. The '7' and '3' bus routes also connect the suburb to Civic via Lyneham, Dickson, and Ainslie; and O'Connor and Acton respectively. Additionally, a number of cycle routes provide links to the Inner North, Belconnen Town Centre, and Kaleen.

Political representation

For the purposes of Australian federal elections for the House of Representatives, Bruce is in the Division of Fraser.^[4]

For the purposes of Australian Capital Territory elections for the ACT Legislative Assembly, Bruce is in the Ginninderra electorate.^[5]

Geology

Main article: Geology of the Australian Capital Territory

Bruce is dominated by the greywacke of the Ordovician Pittman Formation. Bands of the black Acton Shale Member are found under the University of Canberra and the Calvary Hospital. Glebe Farm Adamellite is a coarse porphyritic micro adamellite of the Silurian age. It intrudes in the west north and southeast and southwest of University of Canberra. A triangle of Silurian age calcareous shale of the Canberra formation is in the north east of Bruce.