AGY-5022 | Borough of Hillgrove (1899-1906) Municipality of Hillgrove (1906-1923)

Full description

The Borough of Hillgrove (1899-1906), later the Municipality of Hillgrove (1906-1923), was a municipality in the north of the eastern division of New South Wales, constituted under the Municipalities Act, 1897 (Act No.23, 1897) and subsequent legislation. It was located in the parishes of Metz and Cooney, in the county of Sandon.

The Municipalities Act 1897 provided for the establishment of a municipality on receipt of a petition signed by at least 50 persons who would be taxed in respect of property or household residence within the area to be incorporated, whether or not they resided there.(1) The petition had to include information on the number of residents in the proposed area, and proposed boundaries. The petition was to be published in the NSW Government Gazette and a local newspaper. If no counter-petition signed by a greater number of persons was received within three months, the Governor could proclaim the area a municipality and define its boundaries.

Municipalities proclaimed under the Act might be designated a borough or a municipal district, based on population and area. Boroughs were cities or towns, suburbs of the City of Sydney, or a populous country district, with a population of at least 1000 and an area of no more than nine square miles. A municipal district required a population of at least 500 and an area of no more than 50 square miles. (2)

A petition to establish the Borough of Hillgrove was gazetted on 21 January 1899. (3) The proposed boundaries were altered by the Governor-in-Council before publication, and were separately gazetted in March. (4) A counter-petition was raised by the end of March, calling for further inquiry before any incorporation. (5) The first petition was successful, and the new borough was proclaimed and electoral officer appointed on 26 September 1899. (6) In November a returning officer was appointed and an election initially set for 13 December (7), then postponed to 27 December. (8) Nine aldermen were elected. (9) On 13 February 1900 a new proclamation reconstituted Hillgrove with a revised description of its territory, citing errors in the earlier boundary definitions. (10) The appointments of mayor, council clerk and valuers were announced on 6 March 1900 (11), though by 9 February the mayor had already applied for and been granted a three month extension for compiling rating valuations. (12) By June there was a new council clerk, who was also rate collector and had been one of the valuers. (13)

When first established, the Borough of Hillgrove was an island of local authority in lands under control of the colony of New South Wales. The Local Government (Shires) Act, 1905 (Act No.33, 1905) incorporated all previously unincorporated territory of the eastern and central divisions of New South Wales into new local government jurisdictions, to be called shires. On 7 March 1906, the territory surrounding Hillgrove became the Shire of Dumaresq (14), although the town remained administratively independent.

On 31 December 1906 the Borough of Hillgrove became the Municipality of Hillgrove. Under the Local Government Extension Act, 1906 (Act No.40, 1906) the terms municipal district and borough ceased to be used. (15) Hillgrove was noted that year as having nine aldermen and no ward divisions. (16)

By 1920 the council was having difficulties in replacing aldermen and achieving a quorum in meetings (17), and so it was reduced to seven aldermen as of the next election in 1922. (18) However, by 1921 falling mine production had reduced the population of Hillgrove to a quarter of its original number (19). In June 1923 it was proposed to amalgamate the Municipality of Hillgrove with the Shire of Dumaresq. (20) The amalgamation was proclaimed on 21 December, to be effective on 1 January 1924. (21)

The Valuation of Land Act, 1916 (Act No.2, 1916) was not applied to Hillgrove while it was an independent entity, and so all ratings valuations were arranged by the council.

Endnotes
1. Municipalities Act, 1897 (Act No.23, 1897) s.11
2. Ibid., s.10(i-ii).
3. NSW Government Gazette No.66, 21 January 1899, pp.627-30.
4. NSW Government Gazette No.214, 14 March 1899, p.2164.
5. NSW Government Gazette No.265, 29 March 1899, pp.2589-90.
6. NSW Government Gazette No.780, 26 September 1899, p.7252.
7. NSW Government Gazette No.929, 21 November 1899, p.8759.
8. NSW Government Gazette No.999, 15 December 1899, p.9335.
9. Macleay Chronicle, 18 January 1900, p.3. [Official notification of three aldermen only at NSW Government Gazette No.200, 6 March 1900, p.1901.]
10. NSW Government Gazette No.130, 13 February 1900, p.1203.
11. NSW Government Gazette No.200, 6 March 1900, p.1900.
12. NSW Government Gazette No.117, 9 February 1900, p.1087.
13. NSW Government Gazette No.550, 5 June 1900, p.4340.
14. NSW Government Gazette No.121, 7 March 1906, pp.1593, 1609.
15. Local Government Extension Act, 1906 (Act No.40, 1906) s.3, Sch.1, s.9; NSW Government Gazette No.286, 31 December 1906, p.7019. 16. NSW Government Gazette No.146, 20 November 1907, p.6309.
17. Local Government Department annual report 1919/1920, p.7; in Parliamentary Papers 1920, 2nd Session, Vol.3, p.777.
18. NSW Government Gazette No.102, 28 May 1920, p.3083.
19. Wilson, G. and Cady, B., Hillgrove - A Photographic Study of a New South Wales Mining Town, Armidale and District Historical Society, Armidale 2006, pp.7, 9.
20. NSW Government Gazette No.63, 1 June 1923, p.2498.
21. NSW Government Gazette No.156, 21 December 1923, pp.5879-80.