Shire of Murweh


The Shire of Murweh is a local government area in the Maranoa district, which is part of South West Queensland, Australia. The administrative centre and largest town in the shire is Charleville. In June 2018, the Shire of Murweh had a population of 4,318.

History

is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Bidjara people. The Bidjara language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Murweh Shire Council, particularly the towns of Charleville, Augathella and Blackall as well as the properties of Nive Downs and Mount Tabor.
Murweh Division was created on 11 November 1879 as one of 74 divisions of Queensland under the Divisional Boards Act 1879 with a population of 1286.
On 11 October 1883, there was an adjustment of boundaries between Tambo Division and Murweh Division.
On 5 February 1889, the western part of Murweh Division was separated to create the new Adavale Division.
On 21 March 1894, under the "Local Government Act 1878", Subdivision 2 of the Murweh Division was separated to create a municipality called Borough of Charleville.
With the passage of the Local Authorities Act 1902, Murweh Division became the Shire of Murweh on 31 March 1903.
On 10 September 1960, the Town of Charleville which had been separated from Murweh Division in 1894, was absorbed back into the Shire of Murweh.

Towns and localities

The Shire of Murweh includes the following towns and localities:
Murweh Shire Council operates public libraries in Augathella, Charleville and Morven.

Population

YearPopulation
18791,286
19336,141
19475,930
19547,532
19617,845
19667,483
19716,053
19765,585
19815,338
19865,287
19915,291
19964,962
20014,975
20064,580
20164,307

Shire Chambers

The first Murweh council chambers were built in the 1880s but were destroyed by fire in the 1930s.
The new Murweh Shire Council Chambers were opened in Alfred Street in February 1938 by the shire chairman William Herbert Corbett. The architects were Hall and Phillips and the contractor was T. E. Woollon of Brisbane.

Chairmen and mayors