Long-time Gungahlin resident Ewan Brown has watched the fast-growing region welcome more young families and greater diversity in his three decades in the area.
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While the ACT's population has grown 11.2 per cent in the past five years, census 2016 data shows Gungahlin was Australia's second-fastest growing region; with 71,000 residents, up from 47,000 in 2011.
Mr Brown, a semi-retired 69-year-old, has closely observed the demographic changes since he moved to the area in 1974, including welcoming a more diverse population and more young families.
"We've seen a lot of Indian and Asian families move to the area, many of whom are young families who seem to have found the area quite attractive," he said.
The latest data from last year's census bears out his description, showing 56 per cent of Gungahlin's population were couples with children, compared to only 47 per cent across the rest of the territory.
Indeed, the data shows cultural diversity is high in the northern suburbs, compared to the ACT median.
Despite 62.2 per cent of Gungahlin residents being Australian-born, some five per cent were originally from India and a further five per cent from China - well above the ACT's median of 2.9 and 2.6 per cent for those ethnic groups, respectively.
As a former president of the Gungahlin Community Council, Mr Brown said he was one of several early residents who had campaigned for appropriate development, duplication of arterial roads, retail shops, residential areas and more open space.
"We moved here before many of the roads were built, before the shopping centre and swimming pool and we campaigned for more amenities," he said.
"We've had plenty of development in the area since that I've watched take place, but we're still campaigning for things like a cinema and we're yet to see what might happen to public transport like buses once the light rail comes."
