Holroyd City Council

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Establishment of the Municipality of Prospect and Sherwood

At the usual fortnightly meeting of the Municipal Council of the Borough of Parramatta on 2 January 1872, a letter was received from Mr. A. T. Holroyd, informing the Council that landowners outside the western and southern boundaries of the Borough were “desiring to be incorporated into a municipality”, and requested that the town surveyor mark out the boundary line, as there was doubt about the exact boundary of the Parramatta Municipality.  Parramatta Council, replied to Mr. Holroyd, in a letter dated 4 January, instructing him “to communicate with the Government on the subject”.

At the Parramatta Council meeting of 30 January, a second letter from Mr. Holroyd was received, thanking them for their reply and stating that he would not “communicate with the Government”, as “the Council ought to be in a position to comply with the request” for a line to be pegged out between two boundary stones located in the south east and south west corners of the Parramatta Municipality.  The Mayor of Parramatta informed the Council that the town surveyor had already pegged out the line.  Council moved that this information be forwarded to Mr. Holroyd.

On 5 February 1872, a petition signed by 87 property holders, representing a population of 500 people, was forwarded to the Government, requesting that the locality, an area of 14 square miles, be incorporated into a Municipality to be known as the Municipal District of Prospect and Sherwood.  The petition was granted by His Excellency the Governor, Sir Hercules George Robert Robinson KCMG, exactly five months later on 5 July 1872.

A preliminary meeting of ratepayers of the new Municipality was held on the afternoon of Wednesday 24 July, at Mr. Joseph Whitworth's cottage on the Western Road, near Parramatta (now Great Western Highway, Mays Hill), to make arrangements for the nomination and election of six Aldermen and two Auditors.  Mr. Andrew Payten was elected chairman of the meeting, where Mr. Holroyd, at “considerable length”, explained various clauses of the Municipalities Act.  Mr. Richard Harper JP was recommended to His Excellency the Governor for appointment as Returning Officer.

Mr. Harper, duly nominated as the Returning Officer for the first election, gave notice that the nominations for the election would take place at 12 noon, on Monday 26 August, at Mr. Whitworth's Cottage.  Mr. Harper gave instruction that any two electors may nominate one or more candidates for election, on the condition that they did not nominate more candidates than vacancies.  Nomination documents containing the full name, occupation and address of the candidate(s), and similar details and signatures of the two electors needed to be received by Mr. Harper seven days before the nomination day.

Twelve candidates were nominated to fill the six Aldermen positions.  These were:

  • Arthur T. Holroyd, Barrister-at-law, Sherwood 
  • Samuel Crook, Freeholder, Sherwood Grange
  • Walter Lamb, Farmer, Greystanes, Prospect
  • Andrew Payten, Freeholder, Dartford [sic], Parramatta
  • John Good, Freeholder, Maryville Domain, Parramatta
  • William Fullagar, Freeholder, Western-road  
  • John Booth, Farmer, Prospect
  • Robert L. Dunn, Freeholder, George-street, Parramatta
  • Henry T. Jones, Cabinetmaker, Old Racecourse, Parramatta
  • Henry Whittaker, Freeholder, Sherwood
  • Hugh Taylor Butcher, Church-street, Parramatta; and
  • John C. Rutter, Gentleman, Harborne Villa, Parramatta 

John William Pass, Ironmonger, Parramatta; and Joseph Whitworth, Storekeeper, George Street, Parramatta, were both duly nominated for the two Auditor positions.

Mr. Harper then gave notice that a poll would take place on Thursday 29 August, at Whitworth's Cottage, commencing at 8.00 am and closing at 3.00 pm.

610 votes were cast in the election, with Messrs Holroyd, Lamb, Good, Booth, Payten and Crook being duly elected as Aldermen.  Messrs Whitworth and Pass were declared duly elected as Auditors.

The first Council meeting was held at the residence of Richard Harper at Church Street Parramatta on Tuesday 3 September 1872, Mr Harper also acting as Returning Officer and Chair of the meeting.  After the declarations of the new Aldermen were handed in, the focus of the meeting turned to electing a Mayor.  Ald. Holroyd moved, with Ald. Crook seconding, that Ald. Lamb be the first Mayor.  However, Ald. Lamb declined the honour, moving, with Ald. Payten seconding, that Ald. Holroyd be the first Mayor of the Municipality.  The motion was carried unanimously.

The second Council meeting, held on Friday 13 September, and subsequent meetings, were held at Mr. Whitworth’s Cottage, Western Road.  The business of the second meeting was primarily about putting in place the infrastructure to properly run Council business – setting the dates and times for future meetings (5.30pm on the first Wednesday of each month), granting the Mayor the authority to make arrangements with Mr. Whitworth to rent a room for meetings, making arrangements to advertise for a Council Clerk and tenders for two persons to conduct valuations on properties in the Municipality, to apply for an overdraft of  £100 with the Commercial Banking Corporation, and to procure a corporate seal.

At the third meeting held on 18 September, Council agreed to an annual rental of £12 to be paid to Mr Whitworth for the use of a room as Council Chambers, and appointed Mr. William Alfred Brodie as Temporary Council Clerk at a salary of £25 per year and Ald. Good was appointed Honorary Treasurer of the Council.  This meeting was then adjourned to 25 September, where the new Clerk commenced his duties.

Council was required to readvertise the tender for the Valuers, and on 2 October Council appointed Messrs William Drew and Richard Amos as Valuers at £10.2.6 each.  The Council also moved that the Council Clerk attend the Council Chambers between 4.00pm and 5.30pm each Wednesday, and that Mr. Brodie find a security guarantee of £100, which Council would pay.

After Council held inspections of roads in the Municipality on 16 and 19 October, funding for two road work projects was approved at its 6 November meeting.  The first, to cover with shale the approaches of two bridges on the road leading from the Western Road towards Mr. Oakes’ orchard, at the cost of three pence.  £3 was also allocated for clumping and clearing of the Old Prospect Road.

At the 13 November meeting, £134 was estimated as being required for works to be carried out in the Municipality for the following year.

Council set rates at eight pence in the pound, on the assessed value of the rateable property, at a Special Meeting on 19 November, and then set 8 December as the date for appeals against the valuations on rateable property.  The Council Clerk was directed to give due notice of this by advertisement.  Rates were to be paid 30 days from the date of the notice.

The 4 December meeting primarily dealt with the payment of accounts, though Ald. Booth presented a petition from “certain inhabitants of Orchardleigh”, which was received.

A Special Meeting was held on 10 December, where it was agreed to hold future meetings on the first Tuesday of each month, from 5.30pm.  A motion was put forward to employ a Surveyor, to make a map or plan of the Municipality, though an amendment to this motion, directing the Mayor to apply to the Surveyor General for a map or plan of Prospect & Sherwood was carried instead.  Ald. Good and Payten were authorised to spend £15, for the roads on the north side of the Western Road.  The last business of Council in 1872 was the payment of accounts.

Prospect and Sherwood Municipal Council has seen many changes to its structure since 1872.  The number of Aldermen increased to nine, and later to its present 12 Councillors.  A full-time Deputy Mayor was introduced in the 1930s.

Elections were originally held on an annual basis, with two-to-three Aldermen standing for election on a rotating basis before the more familiar full-Council elections were introduced.  Wards were established to better represent all areas of the Municipality.  These have also changed in number over the years from three, back to none, to four, six, three again, and presently number four once more.  These Wards were originally named after localities or local landholders, but now sport the more practical compass-point designations.

As services to the community increased more staff were employed, new Council chambers were built to meet the increasing needs for space.  The first purpose-built chambers constructed from the material of an old toll bar, was built on what is now the corner of the Great Western Highway and Burnett Street, Mays Hill.  When this outlived its usefulness, a larger structure was built at the same location.  A new Council chambers and community hall were built in what is now Merrylands West, before Council moved to its present Merrylands CBD location and this building has since been extended.

The borders of the Council have changed only slightly on several occasions since its inception, with land ceded to or from Parramatta and Blacktown Councils.  Of course the most notable change has been its name, changed to Holroyd Municipal Council in 1927, and a change in status to Holroyd City Council in 1991.

Sources:

Municipal District of Prospect and Sherwood, Sydney Morning Herald, Tuesday 20 August 1872, p. 1, Trove, National Library of Australia, Canberra, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13262245, retrieved 9 March 2011.

Parramatta, Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday 6 January 1872, p. 5, Trove, National Library of Australia, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13250340, retrieved 9 March 2011.

Parramatta, Sydney Morning Herald, Wednesday 31 January 1872, p. 6, Trove, National Library of Australia, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13251690, retrieved 9 March 2011.

Parramatta: Municipality of Prospect and Sherwood, Sydney Morning Herald, Friday 6 September 1872, p. 2, Trove, National Library of Australia, Canberra, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28414694, retrieved 9 March 2011.

Parramatta: Municipality of Prospect and Sherwood.- Meeting of Ratepayers, Sydney Morning Herald, Friday 26 July 1872, p. 6, Trove, National Library of Australia, Canberra, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13261084, retrieved 9 March 2011.

Prospect and Sherwood Municipal Election, Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday 31 August 1872, p. 7, Trove, National Library of Australia, Canberra, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13262858, retrieved 9 March 2011.

The minutes of meetings for the Municipality of Prospect and Sherwood 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.