Tharwa is a small village 35 kilometres south of Canberra. At the 2006 census, Tharwa had a population of 109. It’s postcode is 2620.

The village is located on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River and at the junction of Tidbinbilla and Naas Roads, and Tharwa Drive. The main public buildings are a general store, a preschool and primary school (now closed), Saint Edmund's Church, a cemetery, a community hall and tennis courts. The annual Tharwa Fair is organised by Tharwa Preschool. Tharwa is the oldest official settlement in the Australian Capital Territory, proclaimed a settlement in 1862. Tharwa was named after the Aboriginal word for Mount Tennent, a nearby mountain peak which is part of Namadgi National Park. Mount Tennent was named after John Tennant, who was one the earliest and best-known bushrangers in the region. Tennant lived in a hideout on the mountain behind Tharwa from which he raided local homesteads 1827–1828, before being arrested and transported to Norfolk Island. Tharwa Bridge, opened on 27 March 1895, crosses the Murrumbidgee River. Tharwa Primary School was opened soon after, in 1899. The Tharwa township narrowly avoided being burnt in the 2003 Canberra bushfires. (source)