AGY-6105 | Urana Shire Council

Full description

Urana was constituted as a Shire on 7 March 1906, under the Local Government (Shires) Act, 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.

Urana’s Temporary Shire Councillors were: Robert George Jackson of Mahonga; Charles Herbert McCulloch of Colombo Plains; Conway Montgomery McKnight of Urana; Thomas Newton of Urana; and Arthur King Trethowan of Clear Hills, Oaklands. (2)

The first Shire Council meetings were originally held in a small weatherboard building located in Stephen Street, but in 1909 Council chambers were built on the corner of Osborne and William Streets. (3) In 1969 those premises were demolished and a new building was erected on the same site. (4)

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

The Shire boundary ran from the north-east corner of the Parish of Yamma to the Parish of Nowranie, then the Parish of Palmer. From there, it travelled west into the County of Hume to the Parish of Wilson, following the southern boundaries of the Parishes of Granville, Osborne and Gibson. The boundary then moved north to the Parish of Bulgandry, west to the Parish of Faed, north to the Parish of Butherwa, then north-east to the Parishes of Mucra and Boree Creek. Finally it followed the northern boundary of the County of Urana back to the Parish of Yamma. (5)

Urana Shire Council was dissolved when it was amalgamated with the Shire of Corowa to form Federation Council. (6)

Endnotes
1. NSW Government Gazette, 7 March 1906, pp.1593-1643.
2. NSW Government Gazette, 16 May 1906, pp.2979-2985.
3. Bayley, William A., Billabidgee: History of Urana Shire, 1959, p.119.
4. Ibid., p.119.
5. NSW Government Gazette, 7 March 1906, pp.1634-1635.
6. Local Government (Council Amalgamations) Proclamation 2016 (2016 No 242), cl. 4 (2); published NSW Legislation Website, 12 May 2016.