# Municipality of Annandale

The Municipality of Annandale was a local government area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The municipality was proclaimed on 29 December 1893 as the Borough of Annandale when the East Ward of Leichhardt Council separated, and, with an area of 1.4 square kilometres, covered the entire suburb of Annandale, excepting a small block between Johnstons Creek, Booth Street and Parramatta Road. The council was amalgamated with the Municipality of Leichhardt (now the Inner West Council) to the west with the passing of the Local Government (Areas) Act 1948.

## Council history and location

The area of Annandale, bounded by Whites Creek and Johnstons Creek in the west and east respectively and by Rozelle Bay and Parramatta Road in the north and south respectively, was first incorporated in 1871 when it was included as the East Ward within the Municipality of Leichhardt. However, the governing act in the Colony of New South Wales for local government, the Municipalities Act 1867, provided for the division of an existing municipality if a petition was made to the Governor by at least two-thirds of residents or owners of rateable property in the area. As a consequence, a requisite petition of the electors of the East Ward, which argued that the East Ward benefited little from its inclusion in Leichhardt and proposed a separate Borough of Annandale, was published in the Government Gazette on 17 June 1893.
The Borough of Annandale was subsequently proclaimed by Governor Sir Robert Duff on 29 December 1893 and was constituted on 1 February 1894. The council first met in the Methodist School Hall on Trafalgar Street on 14 February 1894, with all three former East Ward aldermen having been returned the day before, including Alderman John Young, who was elected as the first Mayor of Annandale. The first purpose-built Annandale Council Chambers, on Johnston Street, was completed at a cost of £1528 and was officially opened on 21 September 1899 by Mayor Allen Taylor in the presence of the Member for Annandale, William Mahony. From 28 December 1906, with the passing of the Local Government Act, 1906, the council was renamed as the "Municipality of Annandale". In 1937 various minor boundary transfers around the Johnstons Creek area were made between Annandale and The Glebe Council. The longest serving alderman was Edward Hogan, who served 38 years as an alderman from 1906 to 1944 including several terms as mayor.
By the end of the Second World War, the NSW Government had come to the conclusion that its ideas of infrastructure expansion could not be realised by the present system of the mostly-poor inner-city municipal councils and the Minister for Local Government, Joseph Cahill, pushed through a bill in 1948 that abolished a significant number of those councils. Annandale was abolished and amalgamated with the Municipality of Leichhardt following the enactment of the Local Government (Areas) Act 1948, which came into effect from 1 January 1949. The former Annandale Municipality became the first ward of the Leichhardt Municipal Council returning four aldermen.

## Mayors

| Years | Mayor |
| 14 February 1894 – 10 February 1897 | John Young |
| 10 February 1897 – 8 August 1900 | Allen Taylor |
| 8 August 1900 – 14 February 1901 | William Wells |
| 14 February 1901 – 12 February 1903 | Allen Taylor |
| 12 February 1903 – 11 February 1904 | William Wells |
| 11 February 1904 – 13 February 1907 | Owen Ridge |
| 13 February 1907 – February 1910 | William Wells |
| February 1910 – 7 February 1913 | James Robertson |
| 7 February 1913 – February 1915 | Thomas Colebrook |
| February 1915 – 5 February 1918 | Edward Hogan |
| 5 February 1918 – 4 February 1919 | Frederick Smith |
| 4 February 1919 – December 1921 | Arthur Ernest Packer |
| December 1921 – December 1922 | Charles Schofield |
| December 1922 – December 1923 | Edward Hogan |
| December 1923 – 11 December 1925 | Walter Ridge |
| 11 December 1925 – December 1930 | John William Sharpe |
| December 1930 – 6 December 1932 | Edward Hogan |
| 6 December 1932 – 13 July 1933 | Charles Winkworth |
| 27 July 1933 – December 1935 | Matthew Smith |
| December 1935 – December 1936 | George William Marshall |
| December 1936 – December 1937 | William Johnston |
| December 1937 – December 1938 | Edward Hogan |
| December 1938 – 13 December 1939 | Sydney Francis |
| 13 December 1939 – 9 December 1940 | John James Field |
| 9 December 1940 – 15 December 1940 | Percival Druitt McDonald |
| December 1940 – December 1941 | William Boyd |
| December 1941 – 17 December 1942 | Edward Hogan |
| 17 December 1942 – 12 December 1944 | George Henry Law |
| 12 December 1944 – 31 December 1948 | James Prendergast |

## Town Clerks

| Years | Town Clerk |
| 9 March 1894 – 26 June 1902 | John James Skelton |
| 22 July 1902 – 1 December 1926 | John Golden Hinsby |
| 13 December 1926 – 1 April 1927 | James Reid (acting) |
| 1 April 1927 – 1 October 1928 | F. D. Cooper |
| 1 October 1928 – 31 December 1948 | James Reid |