The Kowen District was designated by the Districts Act of 1966 as one of the 18 districts of the Australian Capital Territory. It is situated in the northeast corner of the ACT, to the east of Sutton Road and the town of Queanbeyan, New South Wales. Kowen is primarily covered by pine forests, and is also used for farming. The main highway between the ACT and the south coast region, the Kings Highway, runs directly through the Kowen District. The 1966 Act describes the Kowen District as being: The area is well known to mountain bikers as the site of the Sparrow Hillmountain biking area, an eastern enclave of Kowen Forest. A new 5km alignment of the Kings Highway was constructed in 2010–11 to improve the safety of the road. The new section divides Sparrow Hill into two parts, and includes overtaking lanes in both directions, and bypasses a dangerous, winding section of road, including at least six bends.
Early settlers
Some of the early settlers in the district prior to the establishment of Canberra made their homes on the Kowen district. Luke and Mary Colverwell settled in a cottage on the banks of Glenburn Creek in what is now known as Kowen Forest.
Kowen is perhaps best known for its large pine plantations, known as Kowen Forest. A combined softwood plantation and firewood forest was established at Kowen in about 1926, on land described as otherwise useless. An additional 100 acres of pinus insignis were planted at Kowen in 1928 as part of a 1,000 acre expansion of pine plantations across the new Federal Territory district. When most of Canberra's forest estate was destroyed in the January 2003 bushfire, the Kowen plantation was the only forest that remained undamaged.
Residential development in the Kowen district has not been ruled out as part of Canberra's future expansion. Although the city's urban expansion needs for the foreseeable future will be accommodated by Gunghalin and the new Molonglo Valley development, the Canberra Spatial Plan acknowledges that if the population of the city continues to grow beyond the capacity of these areas, further settlement will occur on the Kowen Plateau. Development of the Majura Parkway to the north of Canberra Airport would provide key access to the area.
