The suburb is named after Sir John Langdon Bonython, the owner of The Advertiser (Adelaide) who promoted Federation, and was a member of the first Australian parliament. Original concept plans for Tuggeranong indicate that the suburb was initially to be known as "Stranger". The name "Bonython" was declared when it was gazetted as a suburb of Canberra on 17 October 1986. Streets are named after South Australians, especially journalists.

Prior to 1986, the land upon which Bonython now sits was grazing land, mainly grassland with scattered eucalypt trees. By 1989 construction of houses and the Stranger Pond water quality control pond began and Canberra’s newest suburb was born.

On 18 January 2003 the disastrous Canberra bushfire reached Bonython late in the afternoon. By that time, the winds had eased and the fire intensity was such that, where the fire reached housing on the western and southern fringes, residents were able to keep the fire at bay at their fencelines.

Bonython is an elongate suburb, straddling the eastern and northern sides of Mount Stranger, a low hillside (altitude 660 metres asl) that rises about 100 metres above the Tuggeranong valley floor. Stranger Pond sits at the northern end of the suburb, formed by a manmade dam across a natural drainage channel. The Pond surroundings were landscaped early during the suburb’s construction and have now become a focus for a variety of native wildlife, including black swans, pelicans and kangaroos. The Pond surroundings provide popular walking trails through bushland for local residents, and some trails connect with the Canberra equestrian trail and the Kambah Pool to Pine Island Walking Track.

Bonython adjoins the suburbs of Greenway to the north, Isabella Plains to the east and Gordon to the south. On the western side of Bonython is a nature reserve bordering the Murrumbidgee River.

Like many Canberra suburbs, Bonython accommodates a dormitory community, with the working population commuting to places of employment in nearby Tuggeranong or elsewhere within Canberra or Queanbeyan (a nearby city in New South Wales). The suburb is conveniently close to a number of major employers in the nearby Tuggeranong Town Centre (distance 1-2 kilometres). Employment in the Town Centre is provided by a number of Commonwealth government agencies, such as Department of Human Services and the Department of Social Services as well as numerous retail outlets in and around the Tuggeranong Hyperdome shopping mall. Many Bonython residents can walk to work – a rare luxury in a city designed in the 20th century primarily for car transportation.

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Wikipedia