Municipality of The Glebe


The Municipality of The Glebe was a local government area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The municipality was proclaimed on 1 August 1859 and, with an area of 2 square kilometres, included the modern suburbs of Glebe and Forest Lodge. The council was amalgamated with the City of Sydney to the east with the passing of the Local Government Act 1948, although parts of the former council area were transferred in 1967 to the Municipality of Leichhardt to the west.

Council history and location

The municipality was proclaimed by the Governor of New South Wales, Sir William Denison, on 1 August 1859, with the boundaries described in the Government Gazette as "bounded on the east by Bay-street, northerly, from the Parramatta Road, at the junction of the Newtown Road, to Blackwattle Swamp Cove on the north and west by the waters of Port Jackson, and by Johnston's Creek, upwards, to the Orphan School Creek; on the south by that creek, upwards, to the Parramatta Road; and by that road, easterly, to Bay-street aforesaid." On 16 August 1859, a further proclamation, following a petition, divided the municipality into three wards: Outer Glebe Ward, Inner Glebe Ward and Bishopthorpe Ward.
The Council first met on 1 September 1859, when the first Chairman was elected, George Wigram Allen, who would be elected a further 17 times. Other early aldermen of the council included architects Edmund Blacket and George Allen Mansfield, and the future NSW Premier George Dibbs. The first council meetings were held in the long room of a local hotel, but a few months later moved to a house which Chairman Allen had placed at their disposal until a purpose-built cottage was rented for the purposes of Municipal Chambers. In July 1879 the council approved a 5000-pound design for a new town hall located at the junction of St John's Road, Mount Vernon Street and Lodge Street, designed by Ambrose Thornley. The Town Hall, surmounted by a clock which had been donated by Sir George Wigram Allen, was completed and opened on 24 June 1880 by Mayor Dunn.
Following the enactment of the Municipalities Act, 1867, the title of Chairman was renamed "Mayor" and the council became known as the Borough of The Glebe. On 17 January 1871, a further proclamation created a fourth ward, Forest Lodge Ward, in the south-west, with each ward now returning three aldermen each. With the bankruptcy and dire financial straits of its southern neighbour, Camperdown Council was moved to the position of amalgamating the council with one or several of its neighbours. A resolution passed by Camperdown on 27 October 1903 invited Glebe and Newtown councils to discussions over such a proposal, which was firmly rejected by The Glebe. Camperdown eventually merged with the City of Sydney in December 1908.
By 1925 the Glebe council was controlled by Labor representatives with 11 Labor Aldermen elected to council, and William Walsh became Glebe’s first Labor Mayor. On 31 May 1939, the Minister for Local Government, Eric Spooner, recommended to the Governor, Lord Wakehurst, that Glebe Council be dismissed and replaced by an Administrator, Barton Hopetoun Nolan, the Inspector of Local Government Accounts for the Department of Local Government, whose report on the accounts of the council had unveiled significant misappropriation and corruption. Elections intended for February 1940 were postponed by the Minister for Local Government, Lewis Martin, and were eventually held on 8 December 1940, with five Australian Labor Party candidates elected aldermen.
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, following the recommendations of the 1945–46 Clancy Royal Commission on Local Government Boundaries, passed a bill in 1948 that abolished a significant number of those councils. Under the Local Government Act 1948, The Glebe Municipal Council was merged with the larger neighbouring City of Sydney which was located immediately to the east and south, becoming the Glebe Ward, returning two aldermen.

Mayors

YearsChairmanNotes
1 September 1859 – 23 December 1867George Wigram Allen
YearsMayorsNotes
23 December 1867 – 15 February 1878George Wigram Allen
15 February 1878 – 13 February 1879John Henry Seamer
13 February 1879 – 9 February 1880William Cary
9 February 1880 – 12 February 1881Thomas John Dunn
12 February 1881 – 10 February 1882Charles Field
10 February 1882 – 13 February 1885Michael Chapman
13 February 1885 – 17 February 1888Thomas John Dunn
17 February 1888 – 10 February 1890Percy Charles Lucas
10 February 1890 – 10 February 1891George Frederick Burcher
10 February 1891 – 13 February 1892Percy Charles Lucas
13 February 1892 – 16 February 1893William George Yeates
16 February 1893 – 12 February 1894Percy Charles Lucas
12 February 1894 – 13 February 1896William Alston Hutchinson
13 February 1896 – 11 February 1898William Cary
11 February 1898 – 7 February 1901Percy Charles Lucas
7 February 1901 – 5 February 1903Henry Macnamara
5 February 1903 – 15 February 1906Thomas Nosworthy
15 February 1906 – 13 February 1908Percy Charles Lucas
13 February 1908 – 6 February 1911Stanley Cole
6 February 1911 – 8 February 1915Frederick Lewis Artlett
8 February 1915 – 10 February 1916Stanley Cole
10 February 1916 – 19 February 1918Ralph Willis Stone
19 February 1918 – 10 February 1919Henry Punter
10 February 1919 – 6 February 1920Finlay Elgin Munro
6 February 1920 – 31 December 1922Stanley Cole
31 December 1922 – 13 December 1923William Thomas Tate
13 December 1923 – 11 December 1924Henry Punter
11 December 1924 – 10 December 1925Percy Charles Lucas
10 December 1925 – 5 December 1929William Joseph Walsh
5 December 1929 – 4 December 1930Francis Thomas Dick
4 December 1930 – 7 January 1932Albert James Ward
7 January 1932 – 1 December 1932James Diver
1 December 1932 – 7 December 1933Bob Gorman
7 December 1933 – 7 December 1934Matthew Aloysius Fitzpatrick
7 December 1934 – 5 December 1935James Joseph Lahiff
5 December 1935 – 10 December 1936Stephen Patrick McCormack
10 December 1936 – December 1938Horace Foley
December 1938 – 31 May 1939Stephen Patrick McCormack
31 May 1939 – 8 December 1940Barton Hopetoun Nolan
12 December 1940 – December 1942Harold Charles Splatt
December 1942 – December 1943Colin Campbell Colbourne
December 1943 – December 1944William Joseph Beasley
December 1944 – December 1945Colin Edgar Elphick
December 1945 – December 1946Albert Henry Lawson
December 1946 – December 1947Cornelius O'Neill
December 1947 – 31 December 1948Michael Ward

Town Clerks