Municipality of Ashfield
Template:Short description Template:About Template:Use Australian English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox Australian place The Municipality of Ashfield was a local government area in the Inner West of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is about Template:Convert 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.
The last mayor of the municipality was councillor Lucille McKenna, a member of the Australian Labor Party.<ref name=iwc>Template:Cite news</ref>
In December 2021, a majority of voters in Inner West Council voted in favour of reversing the 2016 merger and separating the three pre-existing councils of Ashfield, Leichhardt and Marrickville.<ref name="IRW3">Template:Cite news</ref>
Suburbs
The municipality comprised the following suburbs and localities:
It also included parts of:
- Ashbury (shared with City of Canterbury)
- Croydon (shared with Municipality of Burwood)
- Hurlstone Park (shared with City of Canterbury)
- Croydon Park (shared with City of Canterbury and the Municipality of Burwood)
Council history
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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
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;<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref> construction of the M4 East tunnel because it might lead to increased traffic and pollution;<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and the general state of the commercial area, which one councillor labelled 'Trashfield'.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.Template:Cn 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,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the Monarchy and 30 km/h speed limits within residential areas.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref> In 2009, Councillor Nick Adams was given a six-month suspension from the Liberal Party of Australia for conduct deemed likely to "embarrass or cause damage to" the Party during an altercation with a journalist.
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 Template:Convert and support a population of approximately 186,000.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead link</ref> On 12 May 2016, Ashfield merged with Marrickville Council and the Municipality of Leichhardt to form the Inner West Council.<ref name=sc>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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.<ref name="Census2011"/>
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.<ref name="Census2001"/><ref name="Census2006"/> The median weekly income for residents within the Municipality of Ashfield of was generally on par with the national average.<ref name="Census2011"/>
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.<ref name="Census2011"/>
| Historical census data for Ashfield local government area | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 2001<ref name="Census2001">Template:Census 2001 AUS</ref> | 2006<ref name="Census2006">Template:Census 2006 AUS</ref> | 2011<ref name="Census2011"/> | ||
| Population | Estimated residents on Census night | 38,981 | 39,667 | 41,214 | |
| LGA rank in terms of size within New South Wales | 54 | ||||
| % of New South Wales population | 0.6% | 0.60% | |||
| % of Australian population | 0.21% | Template:Loss 0.20% | Template:Loss 0.19% | ||
| Cultural and language diversity | |||||
| Ancestry, top responses |
English | 14.9% | |||
| Australian | 14.8% | ||||
| Chinese | 13.3% | ||||
| Italian | 8.5% | ||||
| Irish | 6.9% | ||||
| Language, top responses (other than English) |
Mandarin | 6.1% | Template:Profit 8.8% | Template:Profit 9.1% | |
| Italian | 9.2% | Template:Loss 7.7% | Template:Loss 6.8% | ||
| Cantonese | 4.9% | Template:Steady 4.9% | Template:Loss 4.5% | ||
| Nepali | n/c | n/c | Template:Profit 2.7% | ||
| Greek | 2.6% | Template:Loss 2.4% | Template:Loss 2.3% | ||
| Religious affiliation | |||||
| Religious affiliation, top responses |
Catholic | 36.6% | Template:Loss 33.7% | Template:Loss 30.6% | |
| No religion | 16.9% | Template:Profit 20.9% | Template:Profit 25.8% | ||
| Anglican | 10.5% | Template:Loss 8.8% | Template:Loss 7.8% | ||
| Hinduism | n/c | n/c | Template:Profit 5.8% | ||
| Buddhism | 4.2% | Template:Profit 4.7% | Template:Profit 5.3% | ||
| Median weekly incomes | |||||
| Personal income | Median weekly personal income | A$514 | A$628 | ||
| % of Australian median income | 108.8% | ||||
| Family income | Median weekly family income | A$1,101 | A$1,689 | ||
| % of Australian median income | 107.2% | 114.0% | |||
| Household income | Median weekly household income | A$1,304 | A$1,413 | ||
| % of Australian median income | 111.4% | 114.5% | |||
Council
Final composition and election method
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.<ref name="Parkes 1901-69">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Evans">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Grayndler">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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:<ref name="EC-East"/><ref name="EC-NorthEast"/><ref name="EC-North"/><ref name="EC-South"/>
| Ward | Councillor | Party | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Ward<ref name="EC-East">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
Template:Australian party style| | Julie Passas | Liberal | |
| Template:Australian party style| | Alex Lofts | Labor | Deputy Mayor | ||
| Template:Australian party style| | Caroline Stott | Independent | |||
| North East Ward<ref name="EC-NorthEast">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
Template:Australian party style| | Ted Cassidy PSM | Independent | |
| Template:Australian party style| | Vittoria Raciti | Liberals | |||
| Template:Australian party style| | Lucille McKenna | Labor | Mayor 2013–2016<ref name=iwc/> | ||
| North Ward<ref name="EC-North">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
Template:Australian party style| | Adriano Raiola | Liberal | |
| Template:Australian party style| | Monica Wangmann | Independent | |||
| Template:Australian party style| | Mei Wang | Labor | |||
| South Ward<ref name="EC-South">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
Template:Australian party style| | Mark Drury | Labor | |
| Template:Australian party style| | Max Raiola | Liberal | |||
| Template:Australian party style| | Morris Mansour | Independent | Mayor 2012–2013 | ||
Mayors
Coat of arms and logo
Logo
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.<ref name="branding"/>
References
External links
Template:Sydney Ashfield suburbs Template:NSW former LGAs Template:NSW Local Government amalgamations 2016