Kaleen

Kaleen is a Canberra suburb in the district of Belconnen. The suburb’s name means ‘water’ in the language of the Wiradhuri Aboriginal tribe of the Central West of New South Wales. It was gazetted on 15 January 1974, with the streets named after Australian Rivers.

Kaleen has several ovals; Kaleen North oval, Kaleen Enclosed oval, Kaleen District Playing Fields and Kaleen South oval, which play host to a number of sports, including soccer, cricket, and rugby. Unusually for a suburb, there are two small shopping centres in Kaleen, both bordering the main street of Maribyrnong Avenue. There is also a larger shopping centre near Kaleen’s border with Giralang on Georgina Crescent, which is surrounded on three sides by several religious structures, including a Greek Orthodox Church, a Coptic Orthodox church, and an Anglican church, St. Simon’s Kaleen. The suburb also has two government run primary schools: Maribyrnong Primary School and Kaleen Primary School. Kaleen High School is located off Baldwin drive. The 2XX transmitting station is also located in Kaleen, near the Barton Highway. On the east side of the suburb is the Lyneham Ridge eucalypt plantation and a horse holding paddock.

Kaleen, like most of Canberra, is located on a network of well-maintained bicycle paths. The main track in Kaleen passes under Ginninderra Drive, and runs through the middle of the suburb in a generally north-south direction, exiting the other side to the neighbouring suburb of Giralang.

The suburb is next to Lyneham, Giralang, Lawson and Bruce. It is bordered by Baldwin Drive and Ginninderra Drive.