AGY-3085 | Windsor District Council

Full description

Windsor District Council was established on 24 July 1843 by a Charter of Incorporation issued by Governor Gipps under the Constitution Act 1842 (5 and 6 Victoria, c.76, ss 41 to 44).(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 established District Councils by proclamation and appointed the first warden and councillors. By September 1843, Governor Gipps had proclaimed twenty-eight districts and appointed their first councils.(4) Gipps appointed William Cox as the first warden of Windsor District Council and the first councillors were Josiah Allen Betts, Robert Fitzgerald, Francis Beddek, Charles Tompson, Thomas Tebbutt, and Thomas Arndell.(5) Under the Charter, 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. The first meeting of the Windsor District Council was held on 12 August 1843.(6) 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. Under the Charter of Incorporation establishing the District Council of Windsor, the boundaries of the Council were: "a north-western portion of the County of Cumberland, and the north-eastern portion of the County of Cook, and a southern portion of the County of Hunter; bounded on the north by the Hawkesbury to Wiseman’s Ferry, thence up the valley of Webb’s Creek, and by the dividing range to the confluence of the Wollim Creek with the Colo River; on the West by the Colo River and the Wollonganby to its sources, thence by a line bearing south to King George’s Mount, and from thence by a line bearing south-easterly to Grose’s River; on the south by Grose’s River to its confluence with the Hawkesbury, thence by a line bearing south-easterly to Rickaby’s Creek, at the crossing of the Richmond Road, and by this road to Eastern Creek; on the east by Eastern Creek to its confluence with Breakfast Creek, thence by a line bearing east to the Windsor Road, and by this Road to its junction with the Pitt Town Road, from thence by a line bearing north-easterly to William Suttor’s grant of 50 acres to the North Road, and by this road to the south-west angle of the parish of Frederick, thence by a line bearing north-easterly to the Hawkesbury aforesaid."(7) There was considerable opposition to District Councils because many residents believed they would be subject to increased taxation.(8) Clause 49 of the Constitution Act (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 by the general colonial revenue and the district councils.(9) 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).(10) This Act also 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 relating to New South Wales.(11) 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".(12) Many of the District Councils became insolvent and it would appear the Windsor District Council ceased to exist by 1858. ENDNOTES 1. Minutes of proceedings of the Windsor District Council, State Records reference number 7/385.
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 Windsor District Council, State Records reference number 7/385.
6. loc. cit.
7. Charter of Incorporation for Windsor District Council, located in the Minute Book for Windsor District Council, State Records reference number 7/385.
8. Historical Records of Australia, series 1, vol. 24, p745.
9. ibid., p853.
10. Concise Guide to the NSW archives, District Councils.
11. Sydney Corporation Act 1842, Act No. 3, assented to 20 July 1842.
12. Lambley, pp2-3.