Casey
Casey is a Canberra suburb in the district of Gungalin, approximately 4 km from the Gungahlin Town Centre and about 13km from the centre of Canberra. The suburb is named after Richard Casey, Baron Casey an Australian politician, diplomat and later the 16th Governor-General of Australia. It is bound by Horse Park Drive and Clarrie Hermes Drive. Casey is located in north-west Gungahlin, adjacent to the suburbs of Nicholls and Ngunnawal, and the future suburbs of Kinlyside, Taylor and Moncrieff.
The suburb draws its place names from notable Australian diplomats, public servants and administrators. Former Lieutenant-Governor of South Australia Walter Crocker and Sir John Overall, the former head of the National Capital Development Commission are honoured by place names in Casey.
Until 1990, Casey was part of the former ‘Gold Creek’ a 3,940-acre rural property with the Gold Creek Homestead at its centre. The relative flat and even topography of portions of the suburb of Casey was ideal for various pursuits including horse racing, and was the site of a practice track for racing horses. A stand of trees parallel to Horse Park Drive that predate the establishment of the village, now the suburb, of Hall mark the original alignment of the Queanbeyan-Yass Road.
Construction work on road and other infrastructure for Casey commenced in September 2008. In December 2009, Overall Avenue, the connector road for Casey Stage 1, opened to traffic between Clarrie Hermes Drive and Horsepark Drive. During this period stormwater infrastructure including a sediment pond was also completed.
Casey will eventually occupy an area approximately 192 ha in size and accommodate 1,940 dwellings, including about 275 medium density units in the commercial centres. A group shopping centre will be constructed in the south-east corner of the suburb near the corner of Horse Park and Clarrie Hermes Drives. A second and minor commercial centre planned for Casey will be built at the northern end of the suburb nearest the future suburb of Taylor. The Group Centre is expected to incorporate a retail core clustered around a ‘central green-node’, similar to Green Square in Kingston. To improve accessibility of the Group Centre, it is expected that Clarrie Hermes Drive will be extended through to the Barton Highway at its westerly end in parallel with or at the conclusion of Casey’s development.