At the 2021 census, Bruce had a population of 7,520 people,[3] an increase from 6,390 in 2011[4] and 3,012 in 2001.[5] 58.1% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were China (6.2%), India (4.9%), Nepal (3.5%), England (2.1%) and Vietnam (1.6%). 62.7% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin (6.7%), Nepali (3.5%), Cantonese (2.0%) and Vietnamese (1.8%). The most common responses for religion were No Religion (44.1%) and Catholic (15.3%). 20.7% of dwellings were separate houses, 45.8% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses or townhouses and 33.4% of were units or apartments.[3]
The Fern Hill section of the suburb was originally planned as a hub for information and communications technology businesses, with some low-rise office buildings being developed off Thynne Street, along with a small commercial centre including a cafe. However, the area has seen considerable residential development, with densities ranging from detached houses through to four-storey apartment buildings, with commercial ground floor uses.
Street names
Suburb sign
Many of the streets in Bruce are named after people and places associated with Australian tertiary education, including:[2]
Crisp Circuit – Finlay Crisp, professor and Rhodes Scholar
Funder Street – Kathleen Funder, writer, teacher, and educational psychologist
Jaeger Circuit – John Conrad Jaeger, professor of geophysics and mathematics
Leverrier Street – Frank Leverrier, vice-chancellor
Mugglestone Place – Donald Mugglestone, professor of physics
Purdie Street – Alexander Purdie, professor of geology
Thynne Street – Andrew Joseph Thynne, government minister and university chancellor and vice-chancellor (who pronounced his name "thin")
Transport
Aerial view from west
The suburb is also relatively well-served by public transport, with routes R2, R3 and R4 running through it via the Calvary Hospital, Radford College, and the University of Canberra.[6][7][8] Route R9 connects the suburb to the Gungahlin light rail at Dickson.[9] Additionally, a number of cycle routes provide links to the Inner North, Belconnen Town Centre, and Kaleen.
Bruce is dominated by the greywacke of the Ordovician Pittman Formation. Bands of the black Acton Shale Member are found under the University of Canberra and the Calvary Hospital. Glebe Farm Adamellite is a coarse porphyritic micro adamellite of the Silurian age. It intrudes in the west north and southeast and southwest of University of Canberra. A triangle of Silurian age calcareous shale of the Canberra formation is in the north east of Bruce.[12]
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