O'Connor, Canberra: Inner-North Character, the Arboretum and Quiet Streets

O'Connor is a compact, leafy inner-north suburb that sits between the Australian National University campus and the Mount Ainslie Nature Reserve, offering some of Canberra's most valued inner-city residential streets with a mix of 1930s and 1940s homes and more recent infill townhouses. The suburb's proximity to the National Arboretum Canberra on Forest Drive (technically in the Acton/Molonglo Valley area but most easily accessed from O'Connor) makes it a natural base for visiting one of Canberra's most spectacular green infrastructure projects — 250 hectares of forest gardens above the Molonglo River with 100 forests of rare and threatened tree species from around the world and views across the Parliamentary Triangle. The O'Connor shops on Macpherson Street are a small but well-regarded local retail strip with independent grocers and cafes that have served the suburb's community for decades. The suburb's proximity to the ANU makes it popular with academics and postgraduate students seeking quiet residential character close to campus. Several of Canberra's most established off-road cycling routes pass through or adjacent to O'Connor, connecting to the network of paths around Lake Burley Griffin.