Parkes is an inner suburb of Canberra

Canberra

Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...

, Australian Capital Territory

Australian Capital Territory

The Australian Capital Territory, often abbreviated ACT, is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and is the smallest self-governing internal territory...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Located south of the Canberra CBD, Parkes contains the Parliamentary Triangle

Parliamentary Triangle, Canberra

The Parliamentary Triangle is the ceremonial precinct of Canberra, containing some of Australia's most significant buildings. The triangle is formed by Commonwealth, Kings and Constitution avenues...

 area. On Census night 2006, Parkes had a population of 4 people.

Parkes is named after Sir Henry Parkes

Henry Parkes

Sir Henry Parkes, GCMG was an Australian statesman, the "Father of Federation." As the earliest advocate of a Federal Council of the colonies of Australia, a precursor to the Federation of Australia, he was the most prominent of the Australian Founding Fathers.Parkes was described during his...

, a Federalist, legislator and one of the founders of the Australian Constitution. Streets in Parkes are named after monarchs and constitutional references. http://www.actpla.act.gov.au/actlic/places/

Parkes contains many of Canberra's large institutions and contains no residential area.

Notable places

• Commonwealth Park
• Kings Park
  Kings Park, Canberra
  Kings Park is a park in Canberra, Australia on the shore of Lake Burley Griffin.Kings Park is near Kings Avenue bridge on the North side of Lake Burley Griffin's Central Basin. It is bounded to the north by Parkes Way. The best known feature is the Carillon which is located on Aspen Island, just...
  
  
• Regatta Point
• Commonwealth Place
  Commonwealth Place, Canberra
  Commonwealth Place is located on the southern shore of Lake Burley Griffin, Canberra. It lies along the ‘water axis’ running along the lake from Black Mountain. Commonwealth Place is the location of the , Reconciliation Place, a restaurant and Speakers Square...
  
  
• Central Basin of Lake Burley Griffin
  Lake Burley Griffin
  Lake Burley Griffin is an artificial lake in the centre of Canberra, the capital of Australia. It was completed in 1963 after the Molonglo River—which ran between the city centre and Parliamentary Triangle—was dammed...
  
  
• National Carillon
  National Carillon
  The National Carillon, situated on Aspen Island in central Canberra, Australia is a large carillon managed and maintained by the National Capital Authority on behalf of the Commonwealth of Australia.- History :...
  
  
• National Library of Australia
  National Library of Australia
  The National Library of Australia is the largest reference library of Australia, responsible under the terms of the National Library Act for "maintaining and developing a national collection of library material, including a comprehensive collection of library material relating to Australia and the...
  
  
• National Science and Technology Centre
• High Court of Australia
  High Court of Australia
  The High Court of Australia is the supreme court in the Australian court hierarchy and the final court of appeal in Australia. It has both original and appellate jurisdiction, has the power of judicial review over laws passed by the Parliament of Australia and the parliaments of the States, and...
  
  
• National Gallery of Australia
  National Gallery of Australia
  The National Gallery of Australia is the national art gallery of Australia, holding more than 120,000 works of art. It was established in 1967 by the Australian government as a national public art gallery.- Establishment :...
  
  
• National Portrait Gallery
  National Portrait Gallery (Australia)
  The National Portrait Gallery of Australia is a collection of portraits of prominent Australians that are important in their field of endeavour or whose life sets them apart as an individual of long-term public interest...
  
  
• Old Parliament House
  Old Parliament House, Canberra
  Old Parliament House, known formerly as the Provisional Parliament House, was the house of the Parliament of Australia from 1927 to 1988. The building began operation on 9 May 1927 as a temporary base for the Commonwealth Parliament after its relocation from Melbourne to the new capital, Canberra,...
  
  
• National Rose Garden
  National Rose Garden, Canberra
  The National Rose Gardens are located in Parkes Canberra, Australia, at the sides of Old Parliament House at the side of the Senate and the House of Representatives....
  
  
• Aboriginal Tent Embassy
  Aboriginal Tent Embassy
  The Aboriginal Tent Embassy is a controversial semi-permanent assemblage claiming to represent the political rights of Australian Aborigines. It is made of a large group of activists, signs, and tents that reside on the lawn of Old Parliament House in Canberra, the Australian capital...
  
  
• Reconciliation Place
  Reconciliation Place
  Reconciliation Place is an urban landscape design in the Parliamentary Triangle Canberra, Australia, commenced in 2001 as a monument to reconciliation between Australia’s Indigenous people and settler population....
  
  
• East Block
• West Block

Geology

The geology of Parkes has been studied in great detail.
Canberra Formation, calcareous shale

Shale

Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...

 is found in the lower parts. This overlies middle Silurian

Silurian

The Silurian is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Ordovician Period, about 443.7 ± 1.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Devonian Period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Mya . As with other geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period's start and end are well identified, but the...

 Camp Hill
Sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

. The sandstone unconformably overlies the early Silurian Black Mountain Sandstone and State Circle
Shale. State Circle Shale is Late Llandovery in a more finely divided time scale and has been dated to 445 ±7 million years old. The State Circle Shale is
composed of laminated shales and siltstone

Siltstone

Siltstone is a sedimentary rock which has a grain size in the silt range, finer than sandstone and coarser than claystones.- Description :As its name implies, it is primarily composed of silt sized particles, defined as grains 1/16 - 1/256 mm or 4 to 8 on the Krumbein phi scale...

. Black Mountain Sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

is composed of a white quartz sandstone.