Hall

Hall is a township situated in the District of Hall, in the north of the Australian Capital Territory, Australia.

Hall is a township situated in the District of Hall, in the north of the Australian Capital Territory, Australia. At the 2016 census, the village had a population of 271 people. It is surrounded by open country and has a rural appearance. Hall has retained a village character. The township features historic buildings that existed before the establishment of Canberra.

The area that is now known as Hall lies on the traditional lands of the Ngunnawal people.In 1826, George Palmer established his Palmerville estate in Ginninginderry, with a homestead located on the banks of Ginninderra Creek, adjacent to the present-day suburb of Giralang. The estate encompassed much of what is now Belconnen and southern Gungahlin. It adjoined the Charnwood estate to the west and Yarralumla estate to the east. The combined area of the Ginninderra and Charnwood properties was nearly 20,150 acres (8,150 ha).

By 1861, a store, post office, cottages and homestead had been set up on a property owned by William Davis at Ginninderra, about 3 km south of Hall. This settlement was known by residents as Ginninderra village. In 1881, the New South Wales Government surveyed the area for an official village and chose a site on Halls Creek.The new village, called Ginninderra, was officially proclaimed in 1882, but following protests from local residents, was renamed Hall, in honour of Henry Hall, the first landholder in the area. The village was planned on a rectangular grid, and the first sale of land occurred in 1886.

In 1911, the Australian Capital Territory was gazetted and Hall lay within the boundary of the land allocated, near the new border with New South Wales. Hall was one of the sites considered for a capital city in the Yass district. Hall did not grow because, compared with the growing city of Canberra, it had few amenities. For example, it was not provided with town water until 1967. In 1954, the main street of Hall (which had been part of the state highway system since 1935) was named the Barton Highway.

In 1980, the highway alignment was shifted to the west as part of a dual-carriage upgrade, bypassing Hall completely, and the former section of the Barton Highway through Hall was renamed Victoria Street.

St. Francis Xavier’s Catholic Church is located on 220 Victoria Street, Hall. It is one of the oldest churches in the Canberra region and was built in 1910 with the help of the Catholic Community of Hall.