# Municipality of Erskineville

The Municipality of Erskineville was a local government area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The municipality was proclaimed as the "Municipal District of Macdonald Town" on 23 May 1872 and, with an area of 0.8 square kilometres, was one of the smallest local government areas in Sydney and included the modern suburb of Erskineville, part of Eveleigh and the locality of Macdonaldtown. The council was amalgamated, along with most of its neighbours, with the City of Sydney to the north with the passing of the Local Government (Areas) Act 1948. From 1968 to 1982 and from 1989 to 2004, the area was part of the South Sydney councils, with the former Town Hall serving as its council chambers.

## Council history and location

The municipality was proclaimed by the Administrator of the Government of New South Wales, Sir Alfred Stephen, on 23 May 1872, with the name of the Municipal District of Macdonald Town (but was variously known as the "Borough of Macdonald Town" or the "Municipality of Macdonaldtown"). On 19 July 1872, the first council, consisting of six aldermen in one electorate, was elected (Charles Brandling Henderson, Henry Knight, James Bryan, Alexander Swanson, William Irwin and James Heighington), with Henry Knight elected as the first mayor at the first meeting on 23 July 1872. Knight (1801–1887) was a prominent landowner, builder and brick-maker who had also served as an alderman for Kingston Ward on the first council of the Municipality of Newtown when it was created in February 1863, serving until 1866.
The council first met in a weatherboard cottage on Erskineville Road, which was replaced by a purpose-built Victorian style design Town Hall designed by architects, Drake and Walcott, who had also designed the Leichhardt Town Hall and were commissioned by the council in March 1889. Built by Thomas Johnson, of Ultimo, the hall was completed in 1890 and the council first met there in February 1890.
On 19 May 1884, a further proclamation divided the municipality into three wards: North Ward, Middle Ward and South Ward. On 27 March 1893 the Parliament of New South Wales passed the "Borough of Erskineville Naming Act, 1893", effecting the name change from Macdonaldtown to the "Borough of Erskineville". From 28 December 1906, following the passing of the Local Government Act, 1906, the council was again renamed as the "Municipality of Erskineville". With the area being a significant working-class and industrial area, from the late 1910s and 1920s the council was completely controlled by the Australian Labor Party. Non-Labour aldermen were not elected until the 1940s, when Lang Labor eventually took control of the council.

### Later history

By the 1930s, with the announcement of the widening and realignment of Erskineville Road, the Victorian-era town hall was set to be demolished. As a consequence, Erskineville Council commissioned plans for a new town hall on a site adjacent to the old hall. In 1936, an initial design by Sydney Architect Lindsay Gordon Scott was accepted. This design was an ambitious one, including two stories and a 75-foot-high clock tower. This design however was found to be too expensive and grand for a small municipality in a primarily working-class area of Sydney and was revised to be the current design of a single storey building without the tower in a similar red brick Georgian revival style. On 1 December 1937, the Mayor of the council, Alderman J. W. Elliott, laid the foundation stone and nearly year later, on 26 November 1938, the Secretary for Public Works and Minister for Local Government, Eric Spooner MLA, officially opened Erskineville Town Hall with the Mayor at that time, Alderman Nicholas McGuinness.
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 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, Erskineville Municipal Council was merged with the larger neighbouring City of Sydney.

## Mayors

| Years | Mayors |
| 23 July 1872 – 13 February 1873 | Henry Knight |
| 13 February 1873 – 13 February 1874 | Alexander Swanson |
| 13 February 1874 – 13 February 1878 | Charles Brandling Henderson |
| 13 February 1878 – 7 February 1880 | Thomas Braid |
| 7 February 1880 – 15 February 1882 | Joseph Horsfall |
| 15 February 1882 – 14 February 1883 | James Bryan |
| 14 February 1883 – 15 February 1884 | Joseph Horsfall |
| 15 February 1884 – 14 February 1885 | John Frederick Fallick |
| 14 February 1885 – 9 February 1887 | John Goddard |
| 9 February 1887 – 14 February 1888 | George Ives |
| 14 February 1888 – 8 February 1889 | John Baldwin |
| 8 February 1889 – 12 February 1890 | Andrew Murray |
| 12 February 1890 – 13 February 1891 | George Ives |
| 13 February 1891 – 10 February 1892 | Jacob Jacobsen |
| 10 February 1892 – 15 February 1893 | Thomas Carter |
| 15 February 1893 – 9 February 1894 | James Peake |
| 9 February 1894 – 13 February 1895 | Robert Anderson |
| 13 February 1895 – 12 February 1896 | Jacob Jacobsen |
| 12 February 1896 – 10 February 1897 | James Peake |
| 10 February 1897 – 10 February 1898 | Robert Anderson |
| 10 February 1898 – 8 February 1899 | George Crooks Watson |
| 8 February 1899 – 8 February 1902 | Gaius Clarke |
| 8 February 1902 – February 1908 | William Robinson |
| February 1908 – February 1911 | William Henry Jackson |
| February 1911 – 20 March 1911 | William Robinson |
| March 1911 – February 1914 | Leopold Frederick Theodore Schuler |
| February 1914 – February 1917 | William Robinson |
| February 1917 – February 1918 | J. Vincent (ALP) |
| February 1918 – February 1919 | Thomas English (ALP) |
| February 1919 – February 1920 | George Ouvrier (ALP) |
| February 1920 – December 1920 | Albert Patrick Henry (ALP) |
| December 1920 – December 1921 | James Higgins (ALP) |
| December 1921 – December 1922 | Thomas English (ALP) |
| December 1922 – December 1923 | Alfred Stevens White (ALP) |
| December 1923 – December 1924 | Albert Patrick Henry (ALP) |
| December 1924 – 21 December 1925 | George Ouvrier (ALP) |
| 21 December 1925 – December 1926 | John Patrick McCarthy (ALP) |
| December 1926 – 19 December 1927 | Thomas English (ALP) |
| 19 December 1927 – 17 December 1928 | Albert Patrick Henry (ALP) |
| 17 December 1928 – December 1929 | Thomas English (ALP) |
| December 1929 – December 1930 | Albert Patrick Henry (ALP) |
| December 1930 – December 1931 | Thomas English (ALP) |
| December 1931 – December 1932 | Albert Patrick Henry (ALP) |
| December 1932 – December 1933 | John William Elliott (ALP) |
| December 1933 – December 1934 | Thomas English (ALP) |
| December 1934 – December 1935 | Albert Patrick Henry (ALP) |
| December 1935 – December 1936 | John Patrick McCarthy (ALP) |
| December 1936 – December 1937 | John William Elliott (ALP) |
| December 1937 – December 1938 | Nicholas McGuinness (ALP) |
| December 1938 – December 1940 | J. J. Rose (ALP) |
| December 1940 – December 1941 | A. J. Miller (ALP) |
| December 1941 – December 1942 | John William Elliott (ALP) |
| December 1942 – December 1943 | Harry Wright (ALP) |
| December 1943 – December 1945 | John Patrick McCarthy (Ind/Lang) |
| December 1945 – December 1946 | M. C. Jordan (Lang) |
| December 1946 – December 1947 | Francisco Pietro Fitzjohn (Lang) |
| December 1947 – 31 December 1948 | W. J. Anderson (Lang) |

## Town Clerks

| Years | Town Clerk |
| 12 September 1872 – 4 September 1881 | George Kemmis Tarrant |
| September 1881 – 6 December 1882 | Robert Caunter |
| 6 December 1882 – 16 April 1883 | Beilby Portus Pell Kemp |
| 16 April 1883 – 14 October 1886 | William James Osborne Harman |
| 14 October 1886 – 20 December 1886 | Albert Thomas Fitt |
| 20 December 1886 – 1 August 1901 | William Falkland Bray |
| 6 August 1901 – 18 November 1910 | Arthur Francis Desborough |
| 21 November 1910 – March 1918 | John Crosdell Lough |
| 17 March 1918 – 24 May 1935 | Harold Knight Mackney |
| 22 October 1935 – 1 August 1939 | William Irvine Donald |
| August 1939 – July 1946 | Frank O'Grady |
| July 1946 – 31 December 1948 | E. R. Henry |