Municipality of Enfield (New South Wales)


The Municipality of Enfield was a local government area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The municipality was proclaimed as the Borough of Enfield on 17 January 1889 and, with an area of 3.6 square kilometres, included the modern suburbs of Croydon, Croydon Park and Strathfield South, with parts of Enfield, Belfield and Greenacre included in the West Ward. In 1949, the council was split into two, with Central and East Wards being added to the Municipality of Burwood and the West Ward being added into the Municipality of Strathfield, with the passing of the Local Government Act 1948.

Council history and location

Although originally very much of a rural character, by 1888 the population of Enfield area had reached 1500 and 153 local residents submitted a petition on 22 August 1888 to the NSW Governor, Lord Carrington, requesting the formation of a municipality with the name of the "Borough of Enfield" with three wards. The petition was subsequently accepted and the Enfield Borough Council was incorporated on 22 January 1889, consisting of three wards, Central Ward, West Ward and East Ward. The first council was elected on 26 March 1889, with three aldermen elected for each ward:
SeatAldermanNotes
East WardHerman Henry GrothOil and colour merchant, "Bainbrigge", Badminton Road, Croydon.
East WardThomas Smith RichardsonBanker, Croydon Avenue, Croydon.
East WardGeorge WestbrookBandmaster, Croydon.
Central WardJames EveTobacconist, Liverpool Road, Enfield.
Central WardWilliam FoyMerchant, George's River Road, Enfield.
Central WardLuke WestEngine-fitter, Minna Rose Street, Enfield.
West WardThomas HodsonFreeholder, Norfolk House, Druitt Town.
West WardHugh Charles Reginald CaddenClerk, Liverpool Road, Druitt Town.
West WardHenry George LipscombMaster brick-maker, Magdalene Street, Enfield.

The council first met on 30 March 1889, with Alderman James Eve elected as the first mayor. Initially renting premises for the council chambers in Tennyson Parade at first, the council moved to a new Town Hall on the corner of Liverpool Road and The Parade, Enfield, in 1893. On 10 May 1889, the first Town Clerk was appointed, Edward A. Pyman. From 28 December 1906, following the passing of the Local Government Act, 1906, the council was renamed as the "Municipality of Enfield".

Later history

In April 1916 the Supreme Court of NSW heard an application from an Enfield ratepayer that the serving mayor, Ebenezer Ford, be removed from office. The case rested on the fact that Ford was a director of the Enfield Park Brick Company Ltd, which had recently been given a contract from the municipality. Justice David Ferguson ruled in the plaintiff's favour, with the result that Ford would be removed form office. However Ford appealed the case to the High Court and the case was overturned by a majority of the court.
In 1930 the council commissioned and completed the Enfield Council Chambers at the junction of Coronation Parade and Liverpool Road, Enfield, designed in the Inter-war stripped classical style by architects Morrow & Gordon. The foundation stone was laid on 1 March 1930 by the mayor, Stanley Lloyd, and the Minister for Local Government, Michael Bruxner.
In November 1933 the council opened the Enfield Olympic Swimming Pool in Henley Park, the first chlorinated freshwater public pool in Sydney designed by architects Rudder & Grout.
By the end of the Second World War, the NSW Government had realised that its ideas of infrastructure expansion could not be effected by the present system of the patchwork of small municipal councils across Sydney and the Minister for Local Government, Joseph Cahill, passed a bill in 1948 that abolished a significant number of those councils. Under the Local Government Act 1948, Enfield Municipal Council was split in two, with Central and East Wards being added to the Municipality of Burwood and the West Ward being added into the Municipality of Strathfield. The new Strathfield council was divided into two wards – First Ward and Second Ward, with the Second Ward composed of 3 Aldermen from the Enfield Council area. Former Enfield Aldermen Allan Stanley Hanson, James Clarence Morgan, William James Weiss were elected to the Second Ward in the 1948 municipal election.

Mayors

YearsChairmanNotes
30 March 1889 – 12 February 1891James Eve
12 February 1891 – 6 February 1892Thomas Hodson
6 February 1892 – 14 February 1893Herman Henry Groth
14 February 1893 – 22 December 1894George Westbrook
22 December 1894 – 15 February 1896Henry George Lipscomb
15 February 1896 – 12 February 1897George Washington Eaton
12 February 1897 – 12 February 1903Thomas Hodson
12 February 1903 – 10 February 1904Henry Chesterton Pilcher
10 February 1904 – 11 February 1908James MacKay
11 February 1908 – February 1909Albert Edward Weil
February 1909 – February 1910James MacKay
February 1910 – February 1914George Barnett Phillips
February 1914 – 10 February 1915Frederick Williams
10 February 1915 – February 1917Ebenezer Ford
February 1917 – February 1919Frederick Williams
February 1919 – 1 February 1920Adrian Burgess
1 February 1920 – December 1929Ebenezer Ford
December 1929 – December 1935Stanley Lloyd
December 1935 – December 1937Reuben Jenner
December 1937 – December 1938William Flockhart
December 1938 – December 1939James Mooney
December 1939 – December 1940James Parkes
December 1940 – December 1946Thomas Cooke
December 1946 – 16 December 1947William Sky
16 December 1947 – 31 December 1948Thomas Cooke

Town Clerks