Australia · Australian Capital Territory · Canberra
Palmerston, Canberra — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Palmerston is a suburb in the Gungahlin district of Canberra, its streets named after Australian mountains and led by Kosciuszko Avenue.
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Where to stay in Palmerston
Where visitors usually base themselves, and why.
Kosciuszko Avenue runs through the middle of Palmerston, and the street names around it borrow from the mountains and ranges of Australia, which is as good a guide to the layout as any map. Almost no lodging sits inside Palmerston itself. Gungahlin, the district centre next door, carries most of what a visitor needs. Nicholls, Crace and Franklin adjoin the suburb, and Gungahlin Drive and Gundaroo Drive bound it, so a car or a bus makes any of them a workable base.
Find hotels in Palmerston
Direct booking searches for these neighbourhoods.
Palmerston
Housing laid out along Kosciuszko Avenue, with the Gungahlin Drive and Gundaroo Drive edges for a quick exit. Few places to stay nearby — book ahead.Find hotels in Palmerstonthe Gungahlin district centre a short hop from PalmerstonGungahlin
The closest cluster of shops and services to Palmerston, and the hub the whole Gungahlin district was built around.Find hotels in Gungahlinmixing Palmerston with the rest of CanberraFranklin
Adjoins Palmerston off Gungahlin Drive, so trips split between the suburb and central Canberra stay short.Find hotels in FranklinHotel links are affiliate links: booking through them may earn us a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never affects how places are ranked. How this works
About Palmerston
What are the main landmarks in Palmerston?
Street signs do the work here. Every road in Palmerston takes its name from a mountain or a range somewhere in Australia, and Kosciuszko Avenue runs as the main street among them. Gungahlin Drive and Gundaroo Drive frame the edges.
Nicholls, Gungahlin, Crace and Franklin start where those roads end, so the suburb reads as one block of the wider Gungahlin district rather than a separate destination.
What is the history of Palmerston?
George Thomas Palmer, who lived from 1784 to 1854, gave the suburb its name; he had established a settlement in the Canberra region in 1826 called Palmerville, later renamed Ginninderra. The name outlived the settlement. Palmerston was gazetted on 20 March 1991.
Building followed, making it the second suburb developed in the Gungahlin district after the industrial suburb of Mitchell, with development running on from 1994.
Where is Palmerston?
Palmerston sits inside the Gungahlin district of Canberra, bounded by Gungahlin Drive and Gundaroo Drive, with Nicholls, Crace and Franklin alongside.
Common questions
What is the best area to stay in Palmerston?
Palmerston: quiet nights on the Kosciuszko Avenue grid. Gungahlin: the Gungahlin district centre a short hop from Palmerston. Franklin: mixing Palmerston with the rest of Canberra.
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Updated September 2026