Explorer Gregory Blaxland who, together with Wentworth and Lawson, first crossed the Blue Mountains in May 1813 was honoured with the naming of the capital's newest urban park on Saturday.

His great-great-great-grandson John Blaxland attend the launch with hundreds of other Canberrans.

''It was a great moment for me … being a Blaxland most of the time matters nought but on an occasion like today, it was really special,'' Dr Blaxland said. ''It's such a wonderful space and with so much development going on around in the area I'm sure that Blaxland Park is going to get really well utilised in the future. And it's so wonderful that the government decided to keep it a park and not let it turn in to even more townhouses.''

A cake competition, working art studios and galleries, along with the Telopea Park School band and stalls filled the former Griffith Library with a village fete atmosphere. A competition for the layout of the newly named Blaxland Park received more than 20 designs.

Silversmiths Sarah Murphy and Angela Bakker share a studio in the Blaxland centre and were on hand to show visitors how they make wearable art.

''People quite often don't understand what an artists studio is and we actually work together - we're not stuck in an attic and it's not something you can see everyday,'' Ms Bakker said.

She said the building was a great example of refurbishing unused infrastructure to give it new life.

''It really works.''

Lorraine Davies, 74, has lived down the street in Narrabundah for 54 years. She said the M16 Artspace was a fantastic idea.

''This was the library and it was very bad when they shut the library, but now they are using the space,'' Mrs Davies said.