A2ZACT With Brent Ford – Bruce

Bruce is a key to Canberra’s sporting landscape, playing host to Canberra Stadium and the AIS.

Bruce is named after Stanley Melbourne Bruce, the 8th Prime Minister of Australia and first Chancellor of the ANU. A beautiful leafy suburb that houses the AIS, University of Canberra, CIT and Canberra Stadium. Streets here are named after the tertiary education sector. #A2ZACT pic.twitter.com/apkXGL9kwv

— Brent Ford (@BrentFord26) January 18, 2021

The run for Bruce could easily be split into two segments, with Brent’s run only taking in the “New Bruce” side of the suburb. Another run could take in Gossan Hill and the University of Canberra, as well as the “old Bruce” housing area, where I lived once upon a time. You can see something about the starting days of the Fern Hill Park area from this 1991 article.

The suburb is named after Stanley Bruce. The Canberra Times has an article on spending 36 Hours there. There are some great photos in the post from the Feel The Power blog. There is also a more up to date guide from The Riot Act. A number of the institutions could (and may later) have their own posts. You have the University of Canberra, Australian Institute of Sport and Canberra Stadium. There is plenty of my personal history through these places too. I’ve studied twice at UC, been to plenty of matches at the stadium and worked for many years as a tour guide at the AIS.

Here we have East German Marita Koch doing the 400m in record time at Bruce Stadium. As we know, since 1990 it has been a rectangular stadium. I just got my Raiders membership package in the post today so looking forward to seeing some more games there.

As for the AIS, my footbag Joulukalenteri video gives a good look around at some of the statues around the campus.

Aside from being a house of studies, University of Canberra has hosted many events. It’s funny to think back now that I have spent so much time there, some of my first experiences there were within the space of a month or so, first the Canberra Maths Day and then not so long later, Metal For The Brain.

Aside from the various buildings, you’ve also got a significant amount of natural space around, including Gossan Hill and Bruce Ridge. There is plenty of walking and riding available in these areas, as well as through the streets of the suburb.

Tags: A2ZACT, Canberra, running