AGY-6098 | Shire of Culcairn

Full description

Culcairn was constituted as a Shire on 7 March 1906, under the Local Government (Shires) Act 1905 (Act No.33, 1905). (1)

This Act provided for a Temporary Council of up to five members who, within six months, were obliged to make the necessary preparations for the election of the first Council. Culcairn's Temporary Shire Councillors were: James Hugh Balfour of Round Hill, Culcairn; Donald Cameron of Henty; Carl Albert Rosler of Henty; William Arthur Stoyles of Culcairn; and William Watson of Innisfail, Back Creek, Cookardinia. (2)

The elections were held on 24 November 1906. (3) Those elected to the first Council included: P. A. Murphy of Walbundrie, C. A. Rosler of Henty, W. Watson of Cookardinia, H. A. Paech of Germantown, J. Wenke of Walla, J. Elliot of Walla Station. (4)

The first meeting of the Culcairn Shire Council was held on 5 December 1906. (5)

The Council leased a house in Melville Street where they held their meetings. Eventually the Culcairn School of Arts built an office which they leased to the Council for 10/- per week. The Council moved into these premises, the first council chambers, at the end of July 1907. (6)

The Culcairn Shire Council dealt with matters such as: rates, public works, subdivisions, housing, road and bridge maintenance, impoundings, local business, sanitary and garbage concerns, and public recreational areas.

The Shire's boundary ran from the north-east corner of the Parish of Castlestead, County of Hume, west to the Parish of Hindmarsh, north-west to the west boundary of the Parish of Gibson, then north to the boundary between the Counties of Urana and Hume. The line moved eastwards along that border until it went south along the Back Creek in the Parish of Jerra Jerra, County of Goulburn, and then south-west along Billabong Creek to the County boundary of Hume and Goulburn, back to the point of commencement. (7)

Under Section 263 of the Local Government Act (1993), the Local Government Boundaries Commission amalgamated Culcairn with Hume and Holbrook Shires. The newly formed amalgamated shire became known as the Greater Hume Shire, which came into effect on 26 May 2004. (8)

Endnotes
1. NSW Government Gazette No.121, 7 March 1906, pp.1593-1643.
2. NSW Government Gazette No.161, 16 May 1906, pp.2979-2981.
3. Leon Wegner (ed.), ‘Culcairn: Our Heritage’, 1984, p.62.
4. Ibid., p.62.
5. Ibid., p.62.
6. Ibid., p.62.
7. NSW Government Gazette No.121, 7 March 1906, p.1608.
8. NSW Government Gazette No.90, 26 May 2004, pp. 3166-3183.