Holroyd Municipal Council
Municipal District of Prospect and Sherwood was established in 1872, with the Council operating from the Western Road (now Great Western Highway, Mays Hill) until 1914, when a new Town Hall was built in Arcadia Street, Merrylands (now Merrylands West), to provide a more central location for the residents of the Municipality.
Prospect and Sherwood, was named after Prospect Hill, located on the western edge of the Municipality and Sherwood Scrubs, Arthur Holroyd’s large property located in the central part of the Municipality. By 1926 the main population of Prospect was located in the Blacktown Shire and though the Sherwood Scrubs house still existed, the property had long been subdivided.
At the 5 October 1926 regular meeting of the Council of the Municipality of Prospect and Sherwood, Ald. Harry Walker Benson moved the following Motion:
“That application be made to the Governor, in accordance with the provisions of the Local Government Act, 1919, Section 14, through the Minister of Local Government, to alter the name of the Municipality from Prospect & Sherwood to “Holroyd”, and that the Seal of the Council be attached to documents where necessary.”
Ald. William Freame seconded the above motion. Ald. Samuel Davison moved an amendment, which was seconded by Ald. Frederick Jones, “that the name be shortened to ‘Prospect’”. The amendment was lost, and the original motion was carried.
The new name of the Municipality also needed to be approved by the Postmaster General’s Office, so it did not compete with names of localities in other districts, which had ruled out the use of “Sherwood”, because it was also a locality in the Macleay River district, on the Mid North Coast of NSW.
Holroyd had been suggested to perpetuate the name of Arthur Todd Holroyd, the driving force behind the creation of the Council, and the Council’s first Mayor. Also the nearby post office, formerly Holroyd’s dairy, located on the corner of Merrylands and Fowler Roads (now Merrylands West Shopping Centre), had been called Holroyd from 1898 until 1912 when its name was changed to Merrylands, and then to Merrylands West in 1924. Despite these official name changes, many residents still referred to the locality as Holroyd or Holroyd Village.
In response to a protest from the Loftus Park Progress Association about the cost to the Municipality of the proposed name change, the Town Clerk A. D. Hume, reported at the 19 October meeting, “that the proposed change … would be accompanied by practically no expense what-ever”. The Town Clerk indicated that the current supply of stationery would continue to be used and only a few shillings would be required for rubber stamps. The Town Clerk also responded to a “story”, saying that there was no need to alter all of the title deeds of properties in the Municipality because of the change of name.
At the regular meeting of Council held on 14 December, Ald. Jones, Davison and Pauley moved the following Motion:
“That the resolution of 5th October, 1926, with regard to the alteration of the name of the Municipality be rescinded.”
The motion was lost.
A proclamation dated 11 January 1927, by His Excellency the Governor, Sir Dudley Rawson Stratford de Chair, was published in the Government Gazette, altering the name of the Municipality of “Prospect and Sherwood” to “Holroyd”.
A letter from the Local Government Department indicating that the proclamation had been published was received at the meeting of the Council of the Municipality of Holroyd, held on 25 January 1927. “No action” was taken by Council and business went on as usual.
Sources
‘Local Government: Changing a Name’, Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday 14 October 1926, p. 6, Trove, National Library of Australia, Canberra, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16334535, retrieved 8 March 2011.
NSW Historical Officer, Merrylands Post Office History, Australia Post, Sydney, March 1981, pp. 3-6, 10.
‘Prospect and Sherwood’, Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday 11 November 1926, p. 6, Trove, National Library of Australia, Canberra, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16317355, retrieved 8 March 2011.
‘Prospect and Sherwood’, Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday 18 December 1926, p. 16, Trove, National Library of Australia, Canberra, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16341416, retrieved 8 March 2011.
The minutes of meetings for the Municipality of Prospect and Sherwood and the Municipality of Holroyd, mentioned in this article are available for the public to view in the Tony Maston Room, at Merrylands Central Library, cnr Miller and Newman Streets.
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