AGY-3084 | Berrima District Council

Full description

The Berrima District Council was established on 24 August 1843 when Governor Gipps issued Letters Patent under the provisions of the Constitution Act 1842 (5 and 6 Vic. c.76) passed by the British Parliament.(1) Prior to this ‘Act for the Government of New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land’, there had previously been abortive attempts to establish local government bodies by passing relevant Bills in the New South Wales Legislative Council.(2) The establishment of District Councils represented the first general system of local government in Australia and they were the result of a number of political and economic pressures both at the local and imperial levels.(3) Under the Constitution Act 1842, the Governor could appoint District Councils and by September 1843, Governor Gipps had proclaimed twenty-eight districts and appointed their first councils.(4) Gipps appointed Charles Throsby as Warden of Berrima District Council and the six Councillors were John Nicholson senior, Robert Pitt Jenkins, Henry Badgery, James Jerome Higgins, James Cowen, and William Sherwin. The Council’s first meeting was held on 26 September 1843.(5) The boundaries of the District of Berrima embraced "the southern portion of the County of Camden; bounded on the north by a line bearing west from the source of the Cordeaux River to Lupton’s Inn; from this Inn by a line bearing south-westerly to Jellore; from Jellore by a line bearing north-westerly to the Wollondilly River in a line with Colong, and continued by this river to the mouth of a Creek rising at Murrum; on the west by the Wollondilly, Paddy’s River, and the Uringalla to its source; and by a line to the source of Barber’s Creek, and by that creek to its confluence with the Shoalhaven River; on the south by the Shoalhaven and Kangaroo Rivers; on the east by the middle source of the Kangaroo, and a line bearing north-easterly to the Illawarra range, and by that range to the source of the Cordeaux River".(6) Each District Council was issued with a Charter stipulating that a district with less than seven thousand inhabitants could not elect more than nine councillors. A third of the councillors retired each year and elections were held in May to elect their successors. Council decisions required a vote from the majority of councillors and the Warden had a casting vote. General meetings were held quarterly, although special general meetings could be convened by the Warden or at the request in writing of any three Councillors. Committees were appointed to oversee the Council’s main functions and these included education, land valuation, and public works - especially road maintenance. Councils were also required to send audited accounts to the Governor and these were published in the Government Gazette. On 1 October 1849, John Nicholson, Henry Badgery, John Morrice, and James Comer were appointed Councillors by the Governor because vacancies were not filled by an election in accordance with the Constitution Act 1842.(7) On 11 July 1850, the Governor appointed Edmund Burke and George Taylor Rowe as Councillors due to unfilled vacancies.(8) There was considerable opposition to District Councils because many residents believed they would be subject to increased taxation.(9) Clause 49 of the Constitution Act 1842 (5 and 6 Vic., c.76) made each resident in a district individually liable for the entire expenditure of the district and police costs were to equally provided from the general colonial revenue and the district councils.(10) In 1850, the British Government made local government voluntary through the Australian Colonies Act 1850 (13 and 14 Vic., c.49). Under the Act, District Councils were to be brought into operation only upon the petition of the inhabitants of a district, and the colonial parliament was to have full power to legislate on all matters concerning municipal government. This voluntary system developed in a piecemeal way during the 1850s, culminating in the passage of the Municipalities Act of 1858 (22 Vic., no.13).(11) This Act provided for a voluntary system of incorporating a local government area by allowing local residents (at least fifty) to petition for its establishment. Section 93 of the Act repealed all the enactments contained in sections 41 to 50 of chapter 7 of the Constitution Act 1842 relating to New South Wales.(12) The failure of District Councils was due to a combination of "faulty understanding of colonial conditions in the Colonial Office, bad drafting both in the Imperial Act and in the Charters creating the Councils, and inept administration of the system by the Colonial Government".(13) Many of the District Councils became insolvent and it would appear the Berrima District Council ceased to exist by 1858. ENDNOTES
1. Government Gazette, 25 August 1843, p1097.
2. Concise Guide to the NSW archives, District Councils.
3. Lambley, D.B., A Key to the Historical Geography of Local Government Areas in New South Wales, Geographical Society of New South Wales and the NSW Department of Local Government, 1989, pp2-3.
4. Larcombe, F.A., The Origin of Local Government in New South Wales 1831-58, Sydney University Press, Sydney, 1973, p208.
5. Minutes of Proceedings of the Berrima District Council 1843-44, State Records number 6/1040.
6. Government Gazette, 25 August 1843, p1097.
7. Government Gazette, 5 October 1849, p1451.
8. Government Gazette, 12 July 1850, p1051.
9. Historical Records of Australia, series 1, vol. 24, p745.
10. ibid., p853.
11. Concise Guide to the NSW archives, District Councils.
12. Municipalities Act 1858, assented to 27 October 1858.
13. Lambley, D.B., op. cit., pp2-3.