Category: History

History of Maitland Council

The first exercise for me was to explore the history and formation of the area to see if it gives insight into the culture and traditions of the peninsula and its communities.

The following history has been distilled from a ‘Local Government Association of South Australia document:  ‘A History of South Australian Councils to 1936’.

Councils that ceased to exist before the 1921-1923 Civic record

In South Australia, incorporation was voluntary, indicating the willingness of citizens to take responsibility for directing local affairs. The District Councils Act (Act 419) of 1887 breached the practice of voluntarism by forcibly incorporating 20 new areas and amalgamating eight local governments. The district population of central Yorke Peninsula was one that had ‘firmly resisted any form of Local Government until the proclamation of the new District Councils Act … whereby all purchased land in South Australia was assessed and rated, thus forcing farmers and others who had previously escaped rating to contribute to the State’s revenue’.

Associations of councils tended to form in response to legislative change, and the first Association of District Councils met as early as 1853. A Municipal Association was established in 1875 and a new District Councils’ Association was formed in 1886 as part of the debate leading up to the 1887 Act. The two organisations formed a Local Government Association in 1896, and merged in 1900 to become a single, unified association.

Green’s Plain (DC) 1871-1888 

The first local government authority on Yorke Peninsula was Green’s Plain, created on 20 July 1871 (named after the sheep station ‘Green’s Plains’ established by 1854).

The Government Gazette of 28 July 1871 records that ‘Messrs. Richard Renfrey, John Reid, James Hosking, Daniel Skipworth and John Scoble… shall be the first District Councillors for the District Council of Green’s Plains’. In 1882 – 1883, the following were councillors: Richard Renfrey, John Reid, James Hosking, Daniel Skipworth, John Scoble, Andrew Goodall, George Harrop, Francis Schofield Smith and Thomas Tait. William Wyatt also served as Chairman for several years. James Willshire was District Clerk, and Joseph Spink was also Clerk and Overseer of Works for some time. Under Act 419 of 1887, gazetted on 5 January 1888, the Council area was absorbed into the newly-formed DC of Kadina

Councils that ceased to exist before the 1936 Centenary Civic record

Melville (DC) 1875-1932

Formed on 2 December 1875, the council area comprised Hundred of Melville and part of Hundred of Moorowie. On 6 February 1879, Corporate Town of Yorketown separated, and on 12 January 1882 Corporate Town of Edithburgh separated. On 12 May 1932 Melville ceased to exist when parts were added to Warooka and the rest was united with DC of Dalrymple and Municipality of Yorketown to form DC of Yorketown.  

As described in the Civic Record 1986, ‘The era of large pastoral runs on Yorke Peninsula came to an end when the country was opened up for farming in the 1870s’. With closer settlement townships were formed, and the ‘first effective move to establish Local Government in the area came in 1875’, when, after petition and counter-petition, the DC of Melville was gazetted. Council minutes (19 August 1876) record a petition from residents in the Hundred of Dalrymple praying for annexation to Melville, but a new DC of Dalrymple was formed instead in 1877 (see Dalrymple). Yorketown followed (1879), and then in ‘a period of intense rivalry between growing communities and conflict between town and country interests, it was only natural that Edithburgh should follow suit.’ (1882) The District Councils Act brought further changes to Council boundaries, and Melville gained the north-east portion of the Hundred of Moorowie. The Royal Commission into Local Government Areas met in Yorketown in January 1931, and ‘appeared to have predetermined that the four existing Councils should become one body’. This was strongly opposed by Yorketown and Edithburgh Councils and the Government finally approved a new District Council of Yorketown comprising the DCs of Dalrymple and Melville and the Yorketown Corporation.

Ernest Edwin Lloyd was the longest-serving District Clerk in the area, and was employed by three councils over 39 years. He was Town Clerk of Yorketown (1914-1932), and District Clerk of Melville (1929-1932), and then of Yorketown (1932-1953, the year of his death).

Dalrymple (DC) 1877-1932

Formed 18 October 1877 (consisting of the Hundred of Dalrymple). On 12 May 1932 Dalrymple was united with the Corporation of Yorketown and DC of Melville to create the new DC of Yorketown.

Yorketown (M) 1879-1932

The municipality was formed when severed from DC of Melville in 1879 (see also Melville). The description in the Civic Record 1986 reads, ‘In 1875 civic pride began to swell in Yorketown, and in November of that year residents sent a petition to the Governor praying for Corporate status. As a result the Corporation of the Town of Yorketown was proclaimed in the Government Gazette on 6 February 1879’. On 12 January 1882 the Corporate Town of Edithburgh was separated, and on 7 June 1888 DC of Warooka was severed. 

From the Civic record of 1921-1923: 

The late Mr. Edward Jacobs was the pioneer and first Mayor of Yorketown (1879), and with him in the first Council were the following Councillors:- Messrs. R.R. Palmer, M.J.P. Tucker, A. Vonnida, H.A. Frost, H. Steinke, and F.A. Homburg. The following gentlemen have also occupied the Mayoral chair:-Messrs. S. Woods, J.W. Flood, H.A. Frost, A. Vonnida, F. Homburg, C.T. Lohrmann, M. Marcus, W. Erichan, S. Woods, H.A.B. Davis, R.T. MacFarlane, J.S.K. Maclennon , W.H. Russell, and J. Ferguson. Others who have held office in the Corporation are:-Messrs. R. Wilkinson, W.R. Kelly, V.E.G. Brown, B.H. Farrow, R. McKenzie, W.J. Daley, W.B. Goldsworthy, L. Woods, W. Kirsch, C. E. Klein, O. Young, and E. E.Lloyd (present Town Clerk).

Yorketown strongly protested against the proposed amalgamation of the four councils in the region in 1931, and instead, on 12 May 1932 portions were added to DC of Warooka and the rest of the Town of Yorketown was reunited with Melville and combined with DC of Dalrymple to form the new DC of Yorketown.  

Ernest Edwin, who was Clerk for three councils in the area over 39 years, was both Town Clerk of Yorketown (1914 – 1932), and District Clerk of Yorketown (1932-1953).

South Australian councils in existence in the 1936 Civic record 

This listing is reproduced from the index of the Civic record of 1936 (pages 2-3), and follows the same order of councils and the same spellings.

1. Corporation of Edithburgh
2. Corporation of the Town of Maitland
3. District Council of Clinton
4. District Council of Minlaton
5. District Council of Warooka
6. District Council of Yorke Peninsula
7. District Council of Yorketown

The District Council of Central Yorke Peninsula

This council was formed on 1 April 1969 with the amalgamation of the Corporate Town of Maitland and the original District Council of Yorke Peninsula at the request of the two councils. It had seven wards at its inception: Kilkerran, Maitland Township, Maitland District, Ardrossan Township, Cunningham, Wauraltee and Muloowurtie, each electing two councillors. It initially operated out of the Maitland and District Hall, which was refurbished for this purpose, but in 1983 moved into an office block in Elizabeth Street, Maitland.

In 1986, the district council was described as having an area of 1,558.8 square kilometres (601.9 sq mi) being the full extent of the cadastral Hundreds of Cunningham, Kilkerran, Maitland, Muloowurtie and Wauraltee, with a population of 4290 (1984 estimate). The major towns were reported as being Ardrossan, Maitland, Pine Point and Port Victoria. Primary industry consisted of the cultivation of barley, wheat, peas, beans, oats and small seed crops while secondary industry consisted of the quarrying of dolomite to the south of Ardrossan and retail shopping in Ardrossan and Maitland.

The council expanded on 9 October 1987 when the District Council of Clinton was merged into the council. The merged council saw sixteen councillors representing the eight wards of Tiparra, Clinton, Maitland, Kalkabury, Cunningham, Ardrossan, Wauraltee and Muloowurtie. The council ceased to exist in 1997 when it merged with the District Council of Minlaton, the District Council of Warooka and the District Council of Yorketown to form a revived District Council of Yorke Peninsula (later renamed Yorke Peninsula Council).

The Yorke Peninsula Council

This local government area in South Australia came into existence on 10 February 1997 as a result of the amalgamation of the District Council of Central Yorke Peninsula, the District Council of Minlaton, the District Council of Warooka and the District Council of Yorketown. It was named as the District Council of Yorke Peninsula at its inception, but was renamed to Yorke Peninsula Council in 2013. Its boundaries include most of the Yorke Peninsula. The council seat is at Maitland; the council also maintains branch offices at Minlaton, Warooka and Yorketown.

As can be seen in the table above Maitland is one of sixty towns and localities in the Yorke Peninsula Council area, and all are vying for services and improvements. Therefore as a community we have to petition council strongly to ensure that we get an equitable consideration.