The Municipality of Vaucluse was a local government area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The municipality was proclaimed as the "Borough of Vaucluse" on 1 May 1895, seceding from the Municipality of Woollahra, and included the modern suburbs of Vaucluse and Watsons Bay. The council was re-amalgamated with Woollahra to the south with the passing of the Local Government (Areas) Act 1948.
Council history and location
The area was first incorporated on 20 April 1860 as part of the Bellevue Ward of the Municipality of Woollahra. However, after the passing of the Municipalities Act, 1867 which allowed for residents to petition the government to secede as their own council area, the idea of a separate municipal council for the areas of Vaucluse and Watsons Bay at the northern end of the Borough of Woollahra gained ground amongst a large group of local residents. In late 1894 a petition was published in the Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales, calling for the area's separation as the "Borough of Vaucluse" on the basis that, among a general sense of a lack of representation and equitable distribution of rate revenue investment, "that the interests of the residents of the area ... and of the remaining portion of the said Borough of Woollahra are entirely different, and that they form virtually separate communities".
Despite the objections of Woollahra Council, on 29 March 1895 the Borough of Vaucluse was proclaimed by the Governor of New South Wales, with the southern boundary comprising Towns Road and Bay View Hill Street and the eastern boundary being Old South Head Road. On 15 May 1895, the first council, comprising nine aldermen in one electorate, was elected (John White the younger, Albert Jones, Harold Francis Norrie, John Dykes, Hugh Stirling Patterson, Herbert Chudleigh, David McCulloch, Charles John Edward Forssberg, William Jack), with Albert Jones elected as the first mayor at the first meeting on 21 May 1895. The first Council Clerk, Edwin Stanhope Sautelle, was appointed on 1 June 1895. With the passage of the Local Government Act 1906, borough ceased to be category of local government area and the Borough of Vaucluse was renamed the "Municipality of Vaucluse".
The council first met in a temporary premises in Watsons Bay, with the old timber customs house and former Gap Inn building at 17 Military Road, Watsons Bay, serving this purpose until more permanent premises could be built. In early 1909, the council voted to commission new council chambers on the Military Road site to a Free Classical design by architect, Varney Parkes. Completed in early 1910 by builders Pocock & Stevens to a cost of £2,500, the new Town Hall was officially opened on 20 April 1910 by the Secretary for Public Works, Charles Lee.
Later history In September 1924, Vaucluse Council sold the Town Hall and acquired the nearby Royal Hotel (later renamed Dunbar House) directly opposite Watsons Bay for use as a new Council Chambers. The new Council Chambers were officially opened by the Minister for Local Government, John Fitzpatrick, on 1 November 1924.
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 mostly-poor and smaller inner-city municipal councils 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 (Areas) Act 1948, Vaucluse Municipal Council was merged back into the larger neighbouring Municipality of Woollahra. The last meeting of Vaucluse Council was held at Dunbar House on 13 December 1948.
Mayors # Mayor Party Term start Term end Time in office Notes Albert Jones Independent 21 May 1895 13 February 1896 John White, junior Independent 13 February 1896 28 April 1896 John Dykes Independent 28 April 1896 11 February 1899 Charles John Edward Forssberg Independent 11 February 1899 12 February 1900 – John Dykes Independent 12 February 1900 14 February 1903 William Johnston Independent 14 February 1903 15 February 1907 William Gilliver Independent 15 February 1907 6 February 1911 – William Johnston Independent 6 February 1911 13 February 1913 Adam Forsyth Independent 13 February 1913 4 February 1914 Edwin Sautelle Independent 4 February 1914 10 February 1916 George Thomas Stowe Independent 10 February 1916 July 1917 Henry David Alexander Christison Independent July 1917 February 1919 William Williamson Independent February 1919 9 September 1920 – Henry David Alexander Christison Independent 9 September 1920 January 1921 – Edwin Sautelle Independent January 1921 December 1921 James McIntyre Independent December 1921 December 1925 John Herbert Hurst Independent December 1925 1 December 1926 Alfred Charles Samuel Independent 1 December 1926 17 December 1934 Alexander Swinton Carfrae Independent 17 December 1934 December 1937 Henry Alexander John Abbott Independent December 1937 16 March 1939 Ashton Phillip Kurts Independent 20 March 1939 December 1940 Reg Bartley Independent December 1940 December 1942 – Alfred Charles Samuel Independent December 1942 December 1944 Robert Alexander Stewart Independent December 1944 December 1945 Augustus Herbert Hood Independent December 1945 31 December 1948
Town Clerks Town Clerk Term start Term end Time in office Notes Edwin Sautelle 1 June 1895 7 August 1911 Christopher Joseph Ward September 1911 January 1913 Edmund Horler 26 February 1913 31 August 1940 Phillip Victor Saville Soper 31 August 1940 31 December 1948
References