The traditional custodians of the district are the indigenous people of the Ngunawal tribe. 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 which, after the enactment of the Australian Capital Territory 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 This Act was subsequently repealed by the ACT Government and the district is now administered subject to the Districts Act 2002.
The district of Central Canberra is a set of contiguous residential suburbs consolidated around Lake Burley Griffin, together with a town centre located at Canberra City, and a range of commercial suburbs, some of which form parts of the Parliamentary Triangle and contain many of Canberra's national monuments and institutions. The district is often known as two separate parts, being the Inner North and Inner South. While some of the other districts in the Australian Capital Territory and within the city of Canberra are well known Canberra Central would less often be thought of as a district outside of its administrative use: more often as the Inner North and Inner South. The district of Canberra Central is mentioned in various ACT legislation. Canberra Central is bounded on the north by the Gungahlin district, the east by the Majura district, the south-east by the Jerrabombera district, the south by the district of the Woden Valley, the south-west by the Weston Creek district, and the west and north-west by the Belconnen district.
At the, there were people in the Canberra Central district, of these 49.4% were male and 50.6% were female. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 1.2 per cent of the population, which was lower than the national and territory averages. The median age of people in the Canberra Central district was 34 years, which was lower than the national median of 38 years. Children aged 0–14 years made up 13.2 per cent of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 13.1 per cent of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 37.3 per cent were married and 9.6 per cent were either divorced or separated. Population growth in the Canberra Central district between the 2001 census and the was 3.5 per cent; in the five years to the 2011 census, the population grew by 9.7 per cent; and in the five years to the 2016 census, the population grew by 10.8 per cent. When compared with total population growth of Australia for the same periods, being 5.78 per cent, 8.32 per cent and 8.88 respectively, population growth in Canberra Central district was close to the national average. The median weekly income for residents within the Canberra Central district was significantly higher than the national average, and slightly higher than the territory average.
