Municipality of Balmain

The Municipality of Balmain was a local government area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The municipality was proclaimed in February 1860 and, with an area of 3.8 square kilometres, covered the entire peninsula of Balmain north of Callan Park and Foucart Street, including the present suburbs of Balmain, Balmain East, Birchgrove and Rozelle. The council was amalgamated with the municipalities of Leichhardt and Annandale to the south with the passing of the Local Government (Areas) Act 1948.

Municipality of Balmain New South Wales
Population	28,398 (1947 census)[1]
• Density	7,470/km^2 (19,360/sq mi)
Established	21 February 1860
Abolished	31 December 1948
Area	3.8 km^2 (1.5 sq mi)
Council seat	Balmain Town Hall
Region	Inner West
LGAs around Municipality of Balmain: Sydney Harbour Parramatta River Municipality of Balmain Johnstone's Bay Leichhardt Annandale Rozelle Bay

Council history and location

The Municipality of Balmain was proclaimed on 21 February and Gazetted on 27 February, with the first elections held on 27 March 1860.[2][3] The election of the first nine councillors was declared on 5 April 1860, with the first meeting occurring on the first day and the election of the first chairman, Rev. Ralph Mansfield.[4][5] Following the passing of the Municipalities Act, 1867, Chairman was retitled "Mayor" and Councillors became Aldermen. With this Act, the council also became known as the Borough of Balmain (From 28 December 1906, with the passing of the Local Government Act, 1906, the council was again renamed as the "Municipality of Balmain"). On 3 September 1913, the six acres of land adjoining Callan Park Asylum grounds, known as Callan Park were transferred from Leichhardt Council to Balmain, bringing the boundaries further south.[2]

Balmain Town Hall, designed by mayors James McDonald (1881) and Edward Harman Buchanan (1888), was the seat of the council from 1881 to 1948.

The council first met on 5 April 1860 in the loft of a warehouse owned by Councillor Thomas Rowntree on Mort Bay (now the site of Gilchrist Place), then to rooms rented on the western side of Adolphus Street and thereafter in St Mary's schoolroom at 7 Adolphus Street. From 1862 to 1876, the council met in the Balmain School of Arts on 142 Darling Street. The current site of the Balmain Town Hall on Darling Street was purchased in 1876 and the existing stone cottage on the site became the council chambers. The council approved the building of new Council meeting chambers, located as a rear extension to the existing cottage, on 16 March 1880, designed by former Balmain mayor James McDonald, which were completed and opened in June 1881.[6] However the need for large premises and a community hall for public meetings was needed and in 1888 a design by the sitting mayor Edward Harman Buchanan was accepted and demolition of the existing cottage commenced. Buchanan's design in the Victorian Free Classical style town hall included the centenary hall, a library, mayor's room, several rooms for council officers, and a council clerk's residence.[7][8] The council grew a reputation for its strong Labor councils from the 1920s and in 1942–1944 the council was composed entirely of Labor councillors, which led the council to abolish its committees in favour of a cabinet-style system.[9]

By the end of the Second World War, the NSW Government had come to the conclusion, following the recommendation of the 1945–46 Clancy Royal Commission on Local Government Boundaries, that its ideas of infrastructure expansion could not be realised by the present system of the mostly-poor inner-city municipal councils and the Minister for Local Government, Joseph Cahill, pushed through a bill in 1948 that abolished a significant number of those councils. Balmain was abolished and amalgamated with Annandale into the Municipality of Leichhardt following the enactment of the Local Government (Areas) Act 1948, which came into effect from 1 January 1949.[2]

Mayors

Rev. Ralph Mansfield (1799–1880), first Chairman of the Balmain Municipality.

Hon. Jacob Garrard (1846–1931), Mayor 1885–1886, Secretary for Public Works 1885–1886, Minister for Public Instruction 1894–1898.

Years	Chairman	Notes
5 April 1860 – February 1861	Ralph Mansfield	[4]
February 1861 – February 1862	George Elliott
February 1862 – February 1863	Nicol Stenhouse
February 1863 – February 1864	Walter Church
February 1864 – 1864	Thomas Rowntree	[10]
1864 – February 1865	Owen Evans
February 1865 – February 1866	Ralph Mansfield	[11]
February 1866 – 15 February 1867	Walter Church	[12]
15 February 1867 – 23 December 1867	John Booth	[13]
Years	Mayors
23 December 1867 – 6 February 1868	John Booth
6 February 1868 – February 1869	Henry Perdriau	[14]
February 1869 – February 1870	Frederick Robinson
February 1870 – 15 February 1871	Josiah Mullens
15 February 1871 – 15 February 1872	Thomas Rowntree	[15]
15 February 1872 – 1872	George Elliott	[16]
1872 – 12 February 1873	Henry Perdriau
12 February 1873 – 21 March 1873	Charles Mossman	[17]
25 March 1873 – 10 February 1874	Frederick Trouton	[18]
10 February 1874 – 10 February 1875	John Taylor	[19]
10 February 1875 – 8 February 1876	Henry Perdriau	[20]
8 February 1876 – 15 February 1877	Solomon Hyam	[21]
15 February 1877 – 15 February 1878	John Taylor	[22]
15 February 1878 – 11 February 1880	James McDonald	[23]
11 February 1880 – February 1881	Albert Elkington	[24]
February 1881 – 12 February 1883	William Alston Hutchinson
12 February 1883 – 11 February 1885	James Cameron	[25][26]
11 February 1885 – 8 February 1886	Jacob Garrard	[27]
8 February 1886 – 16 February 1887	John Greenway Punch	[28]
16 February 1887 – 28 February 1888	William Moffit Burns	[29]
28 February 1888 – 7 January 1890	Edward Harman Buchanan	[30]
7 January 1890 – 20 February 1890	James McDonald (acting)	[31]
20 February 1890 – 10 March 1891	George Clubb	[32]
10 March 1891 – 11 February 1892	James Brodie	[33]
11 February 1892 – 2 November 1893	James Wheeler	[34][35]
2 November 1893 – 8 March 1895	Henry Swan	[36]
8 March 1895 – 16 February 1897	Alexander Martin Milne	[37]
16 February 1897 – 17 February 1899	Gilbert Curtis Murdoch	[38][39]
17 February 1899 – 14 February 1901	Henry Mills	[40]
14 February 1901 – 14 February 1902	Alexander Martin Milne	[41]
14 February 1902 – February 1903	Harry Cox	[42]
February 1903 – 18 February 1905	Alfred Crump
18 February 1905 – 1 March 1908	Matthew Henry Cohen	[43]
1 March 1908 – February 1909	William John Laws	[44]
February 1909 – 1 June 1909	Thomas Minty	[45]
June 1909 – February 1911	Alfred Crump
February 1911 – February 1912	Matthew Henry Cohen	[46]
February 1912 – February 1914	George Clubb	[47]
February 1914 – 3 February 1916	Henry Swan	[48][49][50]
3 February 1916 – February 1918	Henry Scott	[51]
February 1918 – February 1920	Donald McKenzie	[52]
February 1920 – February 1922	Reginald Thornton
February 1922 – February 1923	William Wainwright
February 1923 – February 1924	Bertie Wheeler (ALP)	[53][54]
February 1924 – February 1925	George Mullins (ALP)
February 1925 – February 1926	Thomas Harrington (ALP)	[55]
February 1926 – February 1929	Reginald Thornton	[56]
February 1929 – January 1932	Lyle Swan
January 1932 – December 1932	Reginald Thornton	[57]
December 1932 – 1935	Gilbert Storey (ALP)	[58][59]
1935 – 1936	Cecil Stapleton
1936 – 1936	John Waite
December 1936 – 1938	Michael Cashman (ALP)	[60]
1938 – 1939	Robert Brownlee (Lang Labor)
1939 – 1940	Herman Angelini (Lang Labor)
1940 – 1941	John Waite
1941 – January 1942	Michael Cashman (ALP)
January 1942 – 9 November 1942	Michael Hubert McMahon (ALP)	[61]
November 1942 – December 1943	Robert Brownlee (ALP)
December 1943 – December 1944	George Harris
December 1944 – December 1945	Edward Erwin (ALP)	[62][63]
December 1945 – December 1946	Gilbert Lockhart
December 1946 – 11 December 1947	Charles Laggan
11 December 1947 – 31 December 1948	Richard O'Connor (ALP)	[64][65]

See also

• John McMahon, Balmain Alderman (1942–1944), State MP for Balmain (1950–1968).
• William O'Connor, Balmain Alderman (1944–1948), Member of the House of Representatives (1946–1969).

References

1. Spearritt, Peter (2000). Sydney's Century: A History. Sydney: UNSW Press. pp. 272–273.
2. "Municipality of Balmain". State Records Archives Investigator. NSW State Records. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
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7. McNamara, Chris (1986). "Completing the Civic Skyline: Replacing the Dome on the Balmain Town Hall" (PDF). Leichhardt Historical Journal (15): 2–6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 March 2016. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
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