AGY-4090 | Shire of Harwood

Full description

The Shire of Harwood was a local government area in the north of the Eastern Division of New South Wales, created under the Local Government (Shires) Act, 1905 (Act No.33, 1905). It lay on the coast between the shires of Copmanhurst to the west, Orara to the south and Woodburn to the north. Harwood Shire encompassed the municipality of Maclean. (1)

The Local Government (Shires) Act 1905 incorporated all previously unincorporated territory of the Eastern and Central Divisions of New South Wales into new local government areas, to be called shires. Such incorporations had previously been voluntary and based on centres of population, designated as boroughs or municipal districts. The existing municipalities continued but were now embedded within shires, while remaining independent of them. Shires were to be governed by a council of six or nine elected councillors, one of whom was to be chosen as president by the council. (2) The shires were further divided into ridings, the equivalent of municipal wards. (3)

The primary functions of shire councils were construction and management of public places (other than national or railway works), such as public roads, streets and footpaths, jetties and wharves, and public watering places; road and street lighting; regulation of traffic; flood and fire prevention or mitigation; and stormwater drainage, including preventing pollution of waterways. Additional responsibilities such as waste removal, sewerage, town water supplies, parks and recreation grounds, and the licensing of public vehicles and their drivers could be granted to the council on application to the Governor. (4)

In order to fund these services, councils were to levy a general rate on the unimproved value of rateable land within their jurisdiction, paid by the owner. (5) Council-appointed valuers were to conduct valuations every three years. This system was a notable change from the existing municipal rating model, which based the levy on the annual rental value of property and charged the occupant, whether owner or tenant. (6) Municipal rating was subsequently aligned with the new model by the Local Government Act, 1906 (Act No.56, 1906).

The creation of the Shire of Harwood was proclaimed on 7 March 1906 (7), followed on 16 May by the appointment of a temporary council to arrange for elections (8), and the division of the Shire into ridings A, B and C. (9) The first election for all shires was to be on 24 November, (10) with the first council meeting to be held within two weeks of that date. (11) The appointment of the shire clerk was announced by the president on 6 February (12) and that of the president by the clerk on 27 February. (13) Harwood was in the 6th class of the new shires for projected expenditure against rates revenue, those regarded as needing the most financial assistance. Harwood levied a general rate of 1.5 pence in the pound of unimproved capital value (14), and received a state endowment of 40 shillings for each pound gathered. (15)

Under s.108 of the Local Government Act, 1906 (Act No.56, 1906) a shire council could define a population centre with the shire as an urban area and thus exercise additional powers with that area, whilst charging a local rate. These powers included sanitation and garbage services, water supply, the licensing of public vehicles and hawking of goods, and care of parks. The urban area of Yamba was proclaimed on 24 May 1929 (16) and an urban committee was established in November of that year. (17) At the same time, the Harwood council was granted an exemption from the rating limits in the Local Government Act 1919 s.130(a), enabling it to raise the general rate across the shire to 2.5 pence in the pound for 1930 and 1931. (18)

In May 1932, 25.5 square miles of Harwood Shire was proposed for transfer to Copmanhurst Shire A riding, comprising parts of the parishes of Stuart, Lawrence and Richmond, county of Clarence. (19) This was proclaimed, with consequential alterations to Harwood B riding, the following January. (20)

The Yamba urban area was extended in 1948, increasing its area to 280 acres. The proposed addition was defined in August (21) and the addition formalised in December. (22)

The Department of Local Government noted in its report for 1953 that the ridings of Harwood Shire were redefined in that year. (23)

The Valuation of Land Act 1916 (Act No.2, 1916) was applied to Harwood from 23 December 1955 (24), and the first valuation list was supplied by 18 January 1956. (25) From this time the assessment of land values was no longer a function of the Shire, which now used values assigned by the Valuer-General when levying rates.

In June 1956 the Minister of Local Government gazetted a proposal to restructure the local government jurisdictions of the Clarence region. This was to affect the municipalities of South Grafton, Ulmarra and Maclean, the City of Grafton, and the shires of Copmanhurst, Bellingen, Dorrigo, Harwood, Nymboida and Orara. The proposal was to reconstitute them as five new areas, comprising four shires and one municipality. (26) A Commissioner considered this proposal (27), and an amended scheme of seven areas was proclaimed. (28) One result was amalgamation of the Shire of Harwood with the Municipality of Maclean, to form the new Shire of Maclean on 1 January 1957.

Endnotes
1. Joy N. Hughes. Local Government ... Local History. Sydney: Royal Australian Historical Society, 1990, p.xiii.
2. Local Government (Shires) Act 1905 (Act No.33, 1905) s.18. The election of the president was clarified by the Local Government Act 1906 (Act No.56, 1906) s.35(1), (3).
3. Local Government (Shires) Act 1905, ibid., s.6.
4. Local Government Act 1906 (Act No.56, 1906) s.73.
5. Local Government (Shires) Act 1905, op.cit., s.8(1).
6. Municipalities Act 1897 (Act No.23, 1897) s.141.
7. NSW Government Gazette No.121, 7 March 1906, pp.1593, 1614.
8. NSW Government Gazette No. 161, 16 May 1906, pp.2979, 2982.
9. NSW Government Gazette No.161, 16 May 1906, pp.2899, 2905.
10. NSW Government Gazette No.221, 5 September 1906, p.5013.
11. NSW Government Gazette No.241, 17 October 1906, p.5754.
12. NSW Government Gazette No.17, 6 February 1907, p.787.
13. NSW Government Gazette No.25, 27 February 1907, p.1439.
14. Public Works Department annual report 1906/07, p.111, App.1; in Parliamentary Papers 1907 Session 2, Vol.2, p.559.
15. NSW Government Gazette No.286, 31 December 1906, p.7012.
16. NSW Government Gazette No.68, 24 May 1929, p.2159.
17. NSW Government Gazette No.138, 18 November 1929, p.4300.
18. Ibid., p.4295.
19. NSW Government Gazette No.54, 6 May 1932, p.1436.
20. NSW Government Gazette No.16, 27 January 1933, pp.422-23.
21. NSW Government Gazette No.94, 13 August 1948, p.2053.
22. NSW Government Gazette No.153, 3 December 1948, p.3240.
23. Department of Local Government annual report 1953, p.41 App.VI; in Parliamentary Papers 1953 Session 2, Vol.3, p.41.
24. NSW Government Gazette No.148, 23 December 1955, p.3784.
25. NSW Government Gazette No.8, 27 January 1956, p.175.
26. NSW Government Gazette No.65, 8 June 1956, pp.1557-58.
27. Department of Local Government annual report 1956/57, pp.23-24; in Parliamentary Papers 1957/58 Session, Vol.1, pp.1211-12.
28. NSW Government Gazette No.129, 30 November 1956, pp.3503-13.