The District of Weston Creek is one of the original eighteen districts of the Australian Capital Territory used in land administration. The district is subdivided into divisions (suburbs), sections and blocks. The district of Weston Creek lies entirely within the bounds of the city of Canberra, the capital city of Australia. The district comprises eight residential suburbs, situated to the west of the Woden Valley district and approximately southwest of the Canberra City centre. Situated adjacent to the district was the large Stromlo Forest pine plantation until the forest was destroyed by bushfires in 2001 and 2003. Weston Creek was named in honour of Captain George Edward Weston, a former officer of the East India Company who arrived in Australia in 1829, and was Superintendent of the Hyde Park Convict Barracks in Sydney. In 1841, Weston was granted land in the district now known as Weston Creek. At the , the population of the district was . Establishment and governance Following the transfer of land from the Government of New South Wales to the Commonwealth Government in 1911, the district was established in 1966 by the Commonwealth via the gazettal of the Districts Ordinance 1966 (Cth) which, after the enactment of the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988, became the Districts Act 1966. This Act was subsequently repealed by the ACT Government and the district is now administered subject to the Districts Act 2002. European history The 'four-square-mile' (2560 acre) grant to George Weston at the 'Yarrow-Lumla plains' was completed on 31 October 1831. The land was originally settled by James Martin, a former soldier in the New South Wales Corps, who in August 1827 applied to the government for permission to rent of land on which he had already built a dwelling and barn, was grazing cattle and sheep, and had sown with wheat. Martin's claim, however, was not successful. Along with the adjacent Woden Valley, the area later became part of the Yarralumla Station. It was owned successively by Sir Terence Aubrey Murray, Augustus Gibbes and Frederick Campbell, until it was resumed in 1913 as part of a land acquisition scheme after the Federal Capital Territory, was declared in 1911. The earliest homesteads in the valley were Weston (in the present suburb of Holder), Cooleman (on the southern edge of Chapman), The Rivers (corner of Uriarra Rd and Coppins Crossing Rd), Blundell's Homestead (off of Coppins Crossing Rd,