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Wollondilly Shire

Field	Value
type	lga
name	Wollondilly Shire
state	nsw
image	Wollondilly LGA NSW.png
caption	Location in Outer Metropolitan Sydney
pop
pop_year
pop_footnotes
area	2560
coordinates
est	7 March 1906
seat	Picton
mayor	Matt Gould
region	Macarthur
Blue Mountains
Greater Western Sydney
logo	Wollondilly Shire Council Logo.svg
url	http://www.wollondilly.nsw.gov.au
stategov	Camden
stategov2	Campbelltown
stategov3	Heathcote
stategov4	Wollondilly
fedgov	Cunningham
fedgov2	Hume
fedgov3	Macquarie
near-nw	Blue Mountains
near-n	Blue Mountains
near-ne	Liverpool & Penrith
near-w	Oberon
near-e	Campbelltown & Camden
near-sw	Upper Lachlan
near-s	Wingecarribee
near-se	Wollongong

Blue Mountains Greater Western Sydney | near-nw = Blue Mountains | near-n = Blue Mountains | near-ne = Liverpool & Penrith | near-w = Oberon | near-e = Campbelltown & Camden | near-sw = Upper Lachlan | near-s = Wingecarribee | near-se = Wollongong Wollondilly Shire is a periurban local government area that is located on the far southwest fringe of the Greater Sydney area in New South Wales, Australia. The local government area is part of the Macarthur and Blue Mountains regions. The Wollondilly Shire is seen as the transition between Regional NSW and the Greater Sydney area, as it meets the Sydney urban area to rural areas. Wollondilly Shire was created by proclamation in the NSW Government Gazette on 7 March 1906, following the passing of the Local Government (Shires) Act 1905, and amalgamated with the Municipality of Picton on 1 May 1940.

Wollondilly Shire is named after the Wollondilly River. The area is traversed by the Hume Highway and the Southern Highlands railway line. Wollondilly Shire contains several small towns and villages broken up by farms and sandstone gorges. To its west is wilderness and includes the Nattai Wilderness and the Burragorang Valley. The majority of the Shire is either national park or forms part of the water catchment for Sydney's water supply. The Shire provides 97% of Sydney's water supply with the Warragamba Dam holding 80% of that.

Towns, villages and localities in the local government area

Towns, villages and localities in the Wollondilly Shire are:

Appin
Bargo
Belimbla Park
Blue Mountains National Park
Brownlow Hill
Buxton
Camden Park
Cataract
Cawdor
Couridjah
Darkes Forest
Douglas Park
Glenmore
Lakesland
Maldon
Menangle
Mount Hunter
Mowbray Park
Nattai
Oakdale
Orangeville
Pheasants Nest
Picton
Razorback
Silverdale
Tahmoor
Theresa Park
The Oaks
Thirlmere
Wallacia
Warragamba
Werombi
Wilton, including the estate of Bingara Gorge
Yanderra
Yerranderie

Council history

Wollondilly Shire was constituted by proclamation in the NSW Government Gazette on 7 March 1906, following the passing of the Local Government (Shires) Act 1905 (Shire No. 122 of 134), and included a wide area bounded by the local government areas of Camden, Campbelltown and Picton and Nepean Shire. A temporary council of five members was appointed on 16 May 1906, which comprised: Richard Henry Antill of Jarvisfield, Picton, Thomas Donohue of Burragorang, George Frederick Litchfield of Yerranderie, George Macarthur-Onslow of Camden Park, Menangle, and John Simpson of Macquarie Dale, Appin. The council first met on 15 June 1906, electing Macarthur-Onslow as Chairman of the Temporary Council and C. A. Thompson as secretary and shire clerk. A. P. Minton, was later appointed Shire Clerk in June 1907.

The first elections for the council were held on 24 November 1906 for six councillors in three ridings of two councillors each: A Riding, B Riding and C Riding:

Riding	Councillor	Notes
A Riding	John Edward Moore	Shire President 1907–1908
Alfred Leonard Bennett	Shire President 1909–1910
B Riding	James Oswald Moore	Shire President 1908–1909
George Frederick Litchfield	Temporary Councillor
C Riding	John Simpson	Temporary Councillor
George Macarthur-Onslow	Chairman 1906, Shire President 1906–1907

The final meeting of the Temporary Council and the first meeting of the elected Council was held on 3 December 1906 at The Oaks, at which the chairman of the Temporary Council, George Macarthur-Onslow was elected at the first Shire President of Wollondilly. However, on 11 January 1907, Macarthur-Onslow resigned as president, citing the distance between the shire offices and his home at Camden Park, and John E. Moore was elected Shire President in his place. On 13 February 1908, James O. Moore was elected as Shire President, and re-elected to a second term in February 1909. Following the resignation of James O. Moore in June 1909, Alfred Leonard Bennett was elected Shire President of the on 8 June 1909.

On 31 May 1911 part of the Blue Mountains Shire was transferred to the Wollondilly Shire and part of Wollondilly Shire was transferred to the Nepean Shire from 21 March 1940.

Amalgamation with Picton

When created in 1906, Wollondilly did not include the township of Picton, which had already been incorporated as the Borough of Picton on 15 March 1895. The Borough of Picton became the Municipality of Picton on 31 December 1906 with the passing of the Local Government Extension Act, 1906.

The Picton Municipal Council held a voluntary poll on 1 April 1939, at the request of residents, on the question of the union of the Picton Municipality and the Wollondilly Shire. The poll was resolved in the affirmative, with 197 for and 178 against. The proposal for a "Picton Shire" was subsequently gazetted on 25 August 1939 and on 20 November 1939 the Department of Works and Local Government held an inquiry in Picton on the various issues relating to amalgamation.

From 1 May 1940 the Municipality of Picton was amalgamated into Wollondilly Shire and the Shire Council was then expanded to consist of eight councillors representing four ridings. The first Provisional Council comprised: George John Adams and Edgar Henry Kirk Downes for A Riding; Eric Moore and Septimus Ernest Prosser for B Riding; James Thomas Carroll and Edward Wonson for C Riding' and John Bradburn Cartwright and Roy Carrington Pearce for D Riding. The council seat was subsequently moved from The Oaks to Picton.

Demographics

At the , there were 48,519 people in the Wollondilly local government area, with an equal proportion of males and females. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 2.4% of the population which is on par with the national average. The median age of people in the Wollondilly Shire was 36 years. Children aged 0–14 years made up 23.1% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 10.8% of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 54.9% were married and 10.4% were either divorced or separated.

Population growth in the Wollondilly Shire between the 2001 Census and the 2006 Census was 9.18%; and in the subsequent five years to the 2011 Census, population growth was 7.23%. This was higher than the population growth for Australia from 2001 to 2006 (5.78%) but less than the national figure for 2006 to 2011 (8.32%). The median weekly income for residents within the Wollondilly Shire was marginally higher than the national average.

At the 2011 Census, the proportion of residents in the Wollondilly local government area who stated their ancestry as Australian or Anglo-Saxon was more than 63% (national average was 65.2%). More than 69% of Wollondilly Shire residents nominated a religious affiliation of Christianity at the 2011 Census, which was well above the national average of 50.2%. Compared to the national average, there was a lower than average proportion of households in the Wollondilly local government area (8.3%) where two or more languages were spoken (national average was 20.4%), and a significantly higher proportion (91.2%) where English only was spoken at home (national average was 76.8%).

Selected historical census data for Wollondilly local government area	Census year	id=LGA18400	name=Wollondilly (A)	access-date=27 November 2012	quick=on}}	id=LGA18400
Population	Estimated residents on census night
Average population growth p/a		1.84%	1.45%	2.43%	2.23%
LGA rank in terms of size within New South Wales		54th	49th	47th	46th
% of New South Wales population	0.59%	0.62%	0.63%	0.65%	0.67%
% of Australian population	0.20%	0.20%	0.20%	0.21%	0.21%
Personal income	Median weekly personal income		A$502	A$617	A$738	A$877
% of Australian median income		107.7%	106.9%	111.5%	108.9%
Family income	Median weekly family income		A$1,186	A$1,661	A$2,032	A$2,350
% of Australian median income		115.5%	112.2%	117.2%	110.8%
Household income	Median weekly household income		A$1,321	A$1,478	A$1,871	A$2,151
% of Australian median income		112.8%	119.8%	130.1%	123.2%

Selected historical census data for Camden local government area	Ancestry, top responses	2001	2006	2011	2016	2021	Country of Birth, top responses	2001	2006
No Data	No Data		Australian	33.9%	Australian	33.3%	Australian	43.5%
	English	29.2%	English	28.2%	English	39.5%
	Irish	7.9%	Irish	7.7%	Irish	10.3%
	Scottish	6.2%	Scottish	6.4%	Scottish	9.1%
	Italian	2.9%	Italian	3.4%	Italian	5.4%
Australia	81.1%	Australia	81.9%	Australia	83.1%	Australia	82.1%	Australia	84.2%
England	5.2%	England	4.5%	England	4.3%	England	3.8%	England	3.3%
New Zealand	0.9%	New Zealand	1.0%	New Zealand	1.0%	New Zealand	1.0%	New Zealand	1.0%
Scotland	0.7%	Scotland	0.6%	Scotland	0.6%	Scotland	0.5%	Scotland	0.5%
Italy	0.6%	Italy	0.5%	Italy	0.5%	Italy	0.4%	Italy	0.4%
Germany	0.6%	Germany	0.5%	Germany	0.4%	Germany	0.4%	Malta	0.4%
Italian	0.8%	Italian	0.8%	Italian	0.8%	Italian	0.7%	Italian	0.7%
Arabic	0.5%	Arabic	0.5%	Arabic	0.4%	Arabic	0.6%	Arabic	0.7%
Maltese	0.5%	Maltese	0.4%	Maltese	0.4%	Spanish	0.4%	Spanish	0.5%
German	0.4%	Greek	0.3%	Greek	0.3%	Maltese	0.4%	Maltese	0.4%
Estonian	0.4%	German	0.3%	German	0.3%	Greek	0.3%	Croatian	0.3%
Anglican	33.4%	Anglican	32.3%	Anglican	32.5%	Catholic	30.2%	No Religion	31.9%
Catholic	29.3%	Catholic	30.1%	Catholic	30.9%	Anglican	27.5%	Catholic	28.8%
No Religion	11.2%	No Religion	13.7%	No Religion	15.4%	No Religion	21.4%	Anglican	21.1%
United Church	5.3%	United Church	4.2%	United Church	3.8%	Uniting Church	3.0%	United Church	2.0%
Presbyterian
and Reformed
3.2%	Presbyterian
and Reformed
2.8%	Presbyterian
and Reformed
2.4%	Presbyterian
and Reformed
2.0%	Christian (Undefined)	1.7%

Council

Current composition and election method

Wollondilly Shire Council is composed of nine councillors elected proportionally as two wards, each electing 4 councillors as well as a popularly elected mayor who is elected at large. All councillors are elected for a fixed four-year term of office.

Party	Councillors
		Independents
	Total

The current council was elected in December 2021, with the current Mayor Matt Gould being the first popularly elected mayor in the history of the shire. Prior to this the mayor was elected by the councillors for a period of 2 years. The Mayor and Councillors are also allocated one or more portfolios that they have strategic oversight of. The current members of the council are:

Ward	Party	Portfolios	Notes
Mayor		Matt Gould	Independent	Agriculture, Indigenous Matters
East Ward		Matthew Deeth	Independent	Customer Experience & Corporate Services
	Paul Rogers	Independent	Roads
	Michael Banasik	Independent	Environment, Mining & Energy	Mayor 2004–2005, 2008–2009, 2010–2011, Deputy Mayor 2020–2022
	Suzy Brandstater	Independent	Arts & Culture, Sustainable Growth & Planning
North Ward		Hilton Gibbs	Independent	Traffic Management & Transport, Community Facilities
	Blair Briggs	Independent	Emergency Management, Economic Development, Sport & Wellbeing
	Judy Hannan	Independent	Tourism, Heritage	Mayor 2007–2008, 2016–2018
	Beverley Spearpoint	Independent	Community

Election results

2024

Heritage listings

The Wollondilly Shire has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

Appin, Cataract Road: Cataract Dam
Appin, Wilton Road: Windmill Hill, Appin
Bargo, Avon Dam Road: Nepean Dam
Bargo, Hume Highway: Wirrimbirra Sanctuary
Bargo, Main Southern railway 96.265 km: Bargo railway viaduct
Camden Park, Elizabeth Macarthur Avenue: Camden Park Estate
Cordeaux, Cordeaux River: Cordeaux Dam
Couridjah, Main Southern railway: Couridjah railway station
Menangle, Main Southern railway: Menangle railway station
Menangle, Main Southern railway: Nepean River railway bridge, Menangle
Orangeville, Brownlow Hill Loop Road: Brownlow Hill Estate
Picton, Hume Highway Deviation: Jarvisfield
Picton, Main Southern railway: Picton railway station
Picton, Main Southern railway: Stonequarry Creek railway viaduct, Picton
Picton, Oaks Road: Abbotsford
Picton, Prince Street: Victoria Bridge, Picton
Tahmoor, Main Southern railway: Tahmoor railway station
Thirlmere, NSW Rail Transport Museum, Barbour Road: Rail Paybus FP1
Warragamba, Coxs River Arms: Coxs River track
Warragamba, Warragamba Dam: Megarritys Bridge
Warragamba, Warragamba Dam: Warragamba Dam – Haviland Park
Warragamba, Warragamba Dam: Warragamba Dam Emergency Scheme
Wilton, Wilton Park Road: Wilton Park

Local media

Wollondilly is home to two local newspapers, the District Reporter and the Wollondilly Express. Other regional media which serve the area are radio stations, 2MCR and C91.3FM, and the "Macarthur Chronicle" a regional newspaper covering the wider Macarthur Region.

References

"Wollondilly Shire Council". [[New South Wales Department of Local Government.
(7 March 1906). "Proclamation". [[Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales]].
(16 May 1906). "Proclamation". [[Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales]].
(16 June 1906). "Temporary Shire Councils.". [[The Sydney Morning Herald]].
(6 December 1906). "Wollondilly Temporary Shire Council.". [[Camden News]].
(5 July 1906). "Wollondilly". Camden News.
(28 June 1907). "Shire Councils.". The Sydney Morning Herald.
(29 November 1906). "Shire Elections.". [[Camden News]].
(6 December 1906). "Wollondilly Temporary Shire Council.". Camden News.
(17 January 1907). "The Wollondilly Shire Council.". Camden News.
(14 February 1907). "Wollondilly Shire Council.". Camden News.
(20 February 1908). "Wollondilly Shire.". [[Camden News]].
(11 February 1909). "Wollondilly Shire Council". [[Camden News]].
(3 June 1909). "Wollondilly Shire.". Camden News.
(16 June 1909). "Wollondilly Shire". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales.
(31 May 1911). "Proclamation". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales.
(21 March 1940). "Local Government Act, 1919.". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales.
(21 March 1940). "Local Government Act, 1919.". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales.
(15 March 1895). "Government Gazette Proclamations and Legislation". [[New South Wales Government Gazette]].
(31 December 1906). "Proclamation". [[Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales]].
(8 February 1939). "POLL TO BE TAKEN". [[The Picton Post]].
(5 April 1939). "MUNICIPAL POLL.". The Picton Post.
(25 August 1939). "Local Government Act, 1919.". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales.
(23 November 1939). "Wollondilly and Picton Councils.". [[Camden News]].
(12 April 1940). "Local Government Act, 1919.". [[Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales]].
(2 May 1940). "The New Shire of Wollondilly.". Camden News.
{{Census 2011 AUS
{{Census 2001 AUS
{{Census 2006 AUS
{{Census 2016 AUS
{{Census 2021 AUS
(21 December 2021). "Wollondilly Shire Council - Mayoral Election". Electoral Commission of New South Wales.
(16 September 2012). "Wollondilly Shire Council - East Ward". Electoral Commission of New South Wales.
(16 September 2012). "Wollondilly Shire Council - North Ward". Electoral Commission of New South Wales.
{{cite NSW SHR. 5051469. Cataract Dam
{{cite NSW SHR. 5052792. Windmill Hill Group, including Ruins
{{cite NSW SHR. 5051477. Nepean Dam
{{cite NSW SHR. 5051261. Wirrimbirra Sanctuary
{{cite NSW SHR. 5045265. Bargo Railway Viaduct
{{cite NSW SHR. 5045133. Camden Park
{{cite NSW SHR. 5051470. Cordeaux Dam
{{cite NSW SHR. 5045273. Couridjah Railway Station
{{cite NSW SHR. 5012101. Menangle Railway Station group
{{cite NSW SHR. 5012102. Menangle rail bridge over Nepean River
{{cite NSW SHR. 5051301. Brownlow Hill Estate
{{cite NSW SHR. 5045544. Jarvisfield
{{cite NSW SHR. 5012134. Picton Railway Station group
{{cite NSW SHR. 5045123. Picton railway viaduct over Stonequarry Creek
{{cite NSW SHR. 5045551. Abbotsford
{{cite NSW SHR. 5051388. Victoria Bridge over Stonequarry Creek
{{cite NSW SHR. 5012233. Tahmoor Railway Station Group
{{cite NSW SHR. 5054684. Rail Paybus FP1
{{cite NSW SHR. 5051480. Track
{{cite NSW SHR. 5051476. Megarritys Bridge
{{cite NSW SHR. 5051483. Warragamba Dam - Haviland Park
{{cite NSW SHR. 5051484. Warragamba Emergency Scheme
{{cite NSW SHR. 5045546. Wilton Park

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