AGY-2172 | Municipality of Balmain

Full description

An Act for establishing Municipal Institutions, 1858 (22 Victoria Act No 13) provided for the establishment of a municipality following the receipt of a petition of at least 50 householders resident within the proposed area. The petition was to be published in the NSW Government Gazette, and unless a counter petition was received from a larger number of householders the process of creation of the municipality could begin. (1) 373 householders resident in Balmain submitted a petition to the Governor which was published in the NSW Government Gazette on 20 October, 1859 (2) . The petitioners proposed that the Municipality would include the Grant to W. Balmain and be bordered by Long Cove, Glebe Island, Johnstone’s Bay. However, a counter petition of 416 residents opposing the establishment of the Municipality was lodged with the Governor and published in the Government Gazette of 5 December, 1859. (3) . The Municipality of Balmain was, however, established on 21 February, 1860 (4) James Shoobert was appointed first returning officer and an election for Councillors was planned for Tuesday 27 March, 1860 (5) The following were elected the first Councillors of the Municipality of Balmain - Ewen Wallace, Owen Spencer Evans, James Beattie, G.R. Elliott, James Burt, J.H. Palmer, Andrew William Reynolds, Ralph Mansfield and Thomas Sutcliffe Rountree. Theodore Kames Jaques and George Cochrane were the Auditors (6) Ralph Mansfield was appointed Chairman. (7) In 1913 approximately six acres of land adjoining Callan Park Asylum grounds was transferred from Leichhardt Council to Balmain. The altered boundaries were proclaimed in the NSW Government Gazette of 3 September, 1913 (8) The Municipality of Balmain was transferred to the Municipality of Leichhardt following the Local Government (Areas) Act, 1948 (Act No 30, 1948) (9) after which the municipality became two wards of the Municipality of Leichhardt each returning three aldermen. (10) The abolition of the Municipality of Balmain took effect following the election which took place under the Local Government (Areas) Act on 4 December, 1948 (11) Although the Act was proclaimed to commence on 1 January, 1949 some time elapsed before the transfer of assets and liabilities and other administrative details were organised. (1) An Act for establishing Municipal Institutions, 1858 s. 2 (2) NSW Government Gazette 20 October, 1859 p. 2299-2302 (3) NSW Government Gazette 5 December, 1859 p. 2663-2666 (4) NSW Government Gazette 22 February, 1860 p 369-370. (5) NSW Government Gazette 8 March, 1860 p. 485. (6) NSW Government Gazette 13 April, 1860 p. 716 (7) Loc. Cit p. 725 (8) NSW Government Gazette 3 September 1913 p. 5486 (9) Local Government (Areas) Act, 1948 (Act No. 30, 1948) s. 5 and Schedule 1 (10) Ibid. Schedule 2 (11) Ibid. s. 18