Municipality of Ashfield

The Municipality of Ashfield was a local government area in the Inner West of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) west of the Sydney central business district. The Municipality was proclaimed on 28 December 1871 as the "Borough of Ashfield", which changed to the "Municipality of Ashfield" in 1906. On 12 May 2016, Ashfield merged with Marrickville Council and the Municipality of Leichhardt to form the Inner West Council.

This article is about the local government area. For the suburb, see Ashfield, New South Wales.

Municipality of Ashfield
New South Wales
Location in Metropolitan Sydney, 1871–2016
Coordinates33°53′S 151°08′E
Population41,214 (2011 census)[1]
 • Density4,971.5/km2 (12,876/sq mi)
Established28 December 1871
Abolished12 May 2016 (2016-05-12)
Area8 km2 (3.1 sq mi)
Council seatCivic Centre, Ashfield
RegionInner West
LGAs around Municipality of Ashfield:
Fivedock/
Drummoyne/
Canada Bay		 Iron Cove
Burwood Municipality of Ashfield Leichhardt
Canterbury Petersham/
Marrickville

The last Mayor of the Municipality was Councillor Lucille McKenna, a member of the Australian Labor Party.[2]

Suburbs

The municipality comprised the following suburbs:

It also included parts of:

Council history
Ashfield Town Hall in 1938. The original Victorian building was extensively remodelled in the Art Deco style in the 1920s. This building was demolished in the 1970s to make way for Ashfield Mall and the current Civic Centre.

The "Borough of Ashfield" was proclaimed in the New South Wales Government Gazette on 28 December 1871 and was originally divided into two wards, North Ward and South Ward.[3]

A 2015 review of local government boundaries recommended that the Municipality of Ashfield merge with the Municipality of Leichhardt and the Marrickville Council to form a new council with an area of 35 square kilometres (14 sq mi) and support a population of approximately 186,000.[4] On 12 May 2016, Ashfield merged with Marrickville Council and the Municipality of Leichhardt to form the Inner West Council.[5]

Demographics

At the 2011 Census, there were 41,214 people in the Ashfield local government area, of these 48.6% were male and 51.4% were female. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 0.6% of the population. The median age of people in the Municipality of Ashfield was 37 years. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 15.1% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 14.4% of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 45.1% were married and 10.0% were either divorced or separated.[1]

Population growth in The Municipality of Ashfield between the 2001 Census and the 2006 Census was 1.76%; while in the subsequent five years to the 2011 Census, population growth was 3.90%. When compared with total population growth of Australia for the same periods, being 5.78% and 8.32% respectively, population growth in Ashfield local government area was significantly less than the national average.[6][7] The median weekly income for residents within the Municipality of Ashfield of was generally on par with the national average.[1]

At the 2011 Census, the proportion of residents in Ashfield local government area who stated their ancestry as Chinese was in excess of four times the state and national averages; and the proportion of households where an Asian language was spoken at home was about six times higher than the national average.[1]

Historical census data for Ashfield local government area
Population2001[6]2006[7]2011[1]
PopulationEstimated residents on Census night38,98139,66741,214
LGA rank in terms of size within New South Wales54
% of New South Wales population0.6%0.60%
% of Australian population0.21% 0.20% 0.19%
Cultural and language diversity
Ancestry,
top responses		English14.9%
Australian14.8%
Chinese13.3%
Italian8.5%
Irish6.9%
Language,
top responses
(other than English)		Mandarin6.1% 8.8% 9.1%
Italian9.2% 7.7% 6.8%
Cantonese4.9% 4.9% 4.5%
Nepalin/cn/c 2.7%
Greek2.6% 2.4% 2.3%
Religious affiliation
Religious affiliation,
top responses		Catholic36.6% 33.7% 30.6%
No religion16.9% 20.9% 25.8%
Anglican10.5% 8.8% 7.8%
Hinduismn/cn/c 5.8%
Buddhism4.2% 4.7% 5.3%
Median weekly incomes
Personal incomeMedian weekly personal incomeA$514A$628
% of Australian median income108.8%
Family incomeMedian weekly family incomeA$1,101A$1,689
% of Australian median income107.2%114.0%
Household incomeMedian weekly household incomeA$1,304A$1,413
% of Australian median income111.4%114.5%

Council
New Ashfield Civic Centre
The Municipality of Ashfield became a "no war zone" following a 2004 motion.
The Council Chamber within the original Ashfield Town Hall in 1938.

Final composition and election method
Ashfield Council building

The former Ashfield Municipal Council was generally considered a safe Labor area. As the attached table shows, Labor outpolled all other parties in the area at the final federal, state and council elections before the merge. However, the Liberals and Greens had strong voices in the area with the Council electing a member of the Greens Party as mayor and the northern part of Ashfield was represented by a Liberal Party member in the NSW Parliament. Prior to the 1970s, the area was more conservative, generally returning members who were Free Trade, Nationalist, UAP or Liberal although it wasn't unheard of for Labor members to get elected during this period.[8][9][10]

The final council was composed of four Labor councillors, four independents and four Liberals. The last mayor was Lucille McKenna, the Council's first woman mayor.[11] Local issues in the area, before the forced merge into Inner West Council, included the redevelopment of Ashfield Mall and concerns about overdevelopment in general;[12] construction of the M4 East tunnel because it might lead to increased traffic pollution;[13] and the general state of the commercial area, which one councillor labelled 'Trashfield'.[14] Also contentious was Ashfield Council itself. In 2003, it was described by the Daily Telegraph as one of the worst councils in Sydney after one councillor took out a restraining order against another. By 2008 another councillor was sacked for not being a bona fide resident of the municipality while other councillors had made outspoken comments on issues such as the Iraq War, bird flu, the Monarchy and 30 km/h speed limits within residential areas.[15]

Ashfield Municipal Council was composed of twelve Councillors elected proportionally as four separate wards, each electing three Councillors. All Councillors were elected for a fixed four-year term of office. The Mayor and Deputy Mayor were elected for a one-year term by the Councillors at the first meeting of the Council in September. The last election was held on 13 September 2012, and the makeup of the Council for the term 2012–16, in order of election by ward, was as follows:[16][17][18][19]

WardCouncillorPartyNotes
East Ward[16]   Julie Passas Liberal
  Alex Lofts Labor Deputy Mayor
  Caroline Stott Independent
North East Ward[17]   Ted Cassidy PSM Independent
  Vittoria Raciti Liberals
  Lucille McKenna Labor Mayor 2013–2016[2]
North Ward[18]   Adriano Raiola Liberal
  Monica Wangmann Independent
  Mei Wang Labor
South Ward[19]   Mark Drury Labor
  Max Raiola Liberal
  Morris Mansour Independent Mayor 2012–2013

Mayors
Mayor Party Term
  John Lapish Independent 1932–1933
  William Grainger Independent 1933–1935
  Thomas Cavill Independent 1935–1938
  Edward Allman Independent 1938–1943
  J. Lindsay Independent 1943–1944
  Thomas Cavill Independent 1944–1946
  Ralph Tetley Independent 1946–1948
  Thomas Marshall Independent 1948–1950
  Richard Murden Independent 1950–1952
  Herbert Bailey Independent 1952–1954
  James Blackwood Independent 1954–1957
  Charles Bullivant Independent 1957–1959
  Darrell Jackson Independent 1959–1962
  Bill Peters Labor 1962–1964
  Bede Spillane Labor 1964–1965
  Allan Crawford Independent 1965–1967
  Richard Murden Independent December 1967 – September 1972
  Paul Whelan Labor September 1972 – September 1976
  Lew Herman Labor September 1976 – September 1991
  Dr John Ward Independent September 1991 – September 1995
  Lew Herman Labor September 1995 – September 1996
  Vincent Sicari No Aircraft Noise September 1996 – September 1997
  Mark Bonanno Labor September 1997 – March 2004
  Rae Desmond Jones Labor March 2004 – September 2006
  Ted Cassidy PSM Independent September 2006 – September 2011
  Lyall Kennedy Greens September 2011 – September 2012
  Morris Mansour Independent September 2012 – September 2013
  Lucille McKenna Labor September 2013 – 12 May 2016

The full list of mayors since 1872 can be found here.

Coat of arms of Municipality of Ashfield
Notes
The arms of the Municipality of Ashfield were granted by the Lord Lyon King of Arms, College of Arms, in 1983 and resulted from a visit for Scottish week in 1982 by Sir Crispin Agnew of Lochnaw (Chief of the Clan Agnew), who suggested that the council pursue the granting of a Coat of Arms based on its early associations with Robert Campbell, an early landowner who named his estates "Ashfield Park", which gave the council its name. He was subsequently was commissioned to design the arms, which were granted in 1983.[20]
Crest
Above the Shield is placed a coronet appropriate to the Municipality (videlicet:- a mural coronet Proper masoned Sable), and on a Wreath of the Liveried is set for Crest a sun rising Or.
Escutcheon
Azure, five mullets (arranged to represent the constellation of the Southern Cross). Argent a chief gyronny of eight Or and Able within a cordure azure charged of eight annulets Or, the chief with a fillet Argent in the lower part.
Motto
AGITE PRO VIRIBUS ("Act according to your strength")
Symbolism
The arms are based on arms of Robert Campbell, who registered his arms with Lord Lyon.

Ashfield Council launched a new logo and branding in August 2008, described as an "urban map" of various images representing various buildings and forms in the local area. This branding remained in use (with the arms retained for the most formal uses) until the council's amalgamation.[20]

References
  1. Australian Bureau of Statistics (31 October 2012). "Ashfield (A)". 2011 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 26 June 2012.
  2. Murada, Lauren; Murray, Oliver; Hamwi, Omar (26 September 2012). "Marrickville, Ashfield and Leichhardt councils elect new mayors". Inner West Courier. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
  3. "Government Gazette Proclamations and Legislation". New South Wales Government Gazette (318). New South Wales, Australia. 29 December 1871. p. 2951. Retrieved 3 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. "Merger proposal: Ashfield Council, Leichhardt Municipal Council, and Marrickville Council" (PDF). Government of New South Wales. January 2016. p. 7. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
  5. "Inner West Council". Stronger Councils. Government of New South Wales. 12 May 2016. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  6. Australian Bureau of Statistics (9 March 2006). "Ashfield (A)". 2001 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
  7. Australian Bureau of Statistics (25 October 2007). "Ashfield (A)". 2006 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
  8. "Parkes 1901-69". Dr Adam Carr. Retrieved 28 April 2007.
  9. "Evans". Dr Adam Carr. Retrieved 28 April 2007.
  10. "Grayndler". Dr Adam Carr. Retrieved 28 April 2007.
  11. "First Female Mayor elected to Ashfield Council". Ashfield Municipal Council. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
  12. "Mall plans for approval". News Digital Media. Retrieved 7 February 2008.
  13. "M4 East campaign". Ashfield Municipal Council. Archived from the original on 12 March 2007. Retrieved 6 August 2007.
  14. "Welcome to Trashfield". News Digital Media. Retrieved 7 February 2008.
  15. "Ashfield goes slow". News Digital Media. Retrieved 7 February 2008.
  16. "Ashfield East Ward". Electoral Commission of New South Wales.
  17. "Ashfield North East Ward". Electoral Commission of New South Wales.
  18. "Ashfield North Ward". Electoral Commission of New South Wales.
  19. "Ashfield South Ward". Electoral Commission of New South Wales.
  20. "Corporate Branding". Ashfield Council. Archived from the original on 12 May 2016. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
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