The area that is now known as Hall lies on the traditional lands of the
Ngunnawal people. In 1826, George Palmer established his
Palmerville estate in
Ginninginderry, with a homestead located on the banks of Ginninderra Creek, adjacent to the present-day suburb of
Giralang. The estate encompassed much of what is now
Belconnen and southern
Gungahlin. It adjoined the Charnwood estate to the west and Yarralumla estate to the east. The combined area of the Ginninderra and Charnwood properties was nearly . By 1861, a store, post office, cottages and homestead had been set up on a property owned by William Davis at Ginninderra, about 3 km south of Hall. This settlement was known by residents as
Ginninderra village. In 1881, the
New South Wales Government surveyed the area for an official village and chose a site on Halls Creek. The new village, called Ginninderra, was officially proclaimed in 1882, but following protests from local residents, was renamed Hall, in honour of
Henry Hall, the first landholder in the area. The village was planned on a rectangular grid, and the first sale of land occurred in 1886. In 1911, the Australian Capital Territory was gazetted and Hall lay within the boundary of the land allocated, near the new border with New South Wales. Hall had been one of the sites considered for a capital city, within the 'Yass-Canberra' district. However, following a survey of the various sites, by
Charles Scrivener, in 1909, Canberra was selected as the site for the new national capital city. Hall did not grow because, compared with the growing city of Canberra, it had few amenities. For example, it was not provided with town water until 1967. There is also an Anglican church, St Michael and All Angels. Between 1911 and 2006, Hall had a
school, from 1911 to 2006; part of it is now a school museum (which opened in 2005), and part is used as a pre-school. ==Features and attractions==