Bellingen Shire is a local government area in the

mid north coast The Mid North Coast is a country region in the north-east of the state of New South Wales, Australia. The region covers the mid northern coast of the state, beginning from Port Stephens north of Sydney, and extending as far north as Woolgoo ...

region of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia. The Shire is located adjacent to the Pacific Highway, Waterfall Way and the North Coast railway line. The

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well as ...

of the Bellingen Shire is Cr. Steve Allan, an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

Towns and localities

Towns and localities in the Bellingen Shire are: * Bellingen * Bostobrick * Brierfield *

Cascade Cascade, Cascades or Cascading may refer to: Science and technology Science * Cascade waterfalls, or series of waterfalls * Cascade, the CRISPR-associated complex for antiviral defense (a protein complex) * Cascade (grape), a type of fruit * B ...

* Darkwood * Deer Vale * Dorrigo * Fernmount *

Gleniffer Bryanston, Gauteng is an affluent residential suburb of Sandton, South Africa north of Johannesburg . First named as an area in 1949, it was established in 1969 as a suburb of Sandton and provided with tarred roads and municipal service but after ...

* Hydes Creek *

Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Sta ...

Megan Megan is a Welsh feminine given name, originally a diminutive form of Margaret. Margaret is from the Greek μαργαρίτης (''margarítēs''), Latin ''margarīta'', "pearl". Megan is one of the most popular Welsh-language names for women in ...

* Mylestom * Orama * Raleigh * Repton * Tarkeeth * Thora *

Urunga Urunga is a small town located within the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia, in Bellingen Shire. It is famous for its surf spots (reefs, beaches and mouth of two rivers). At the , Urunga had a population of 3,020. The town is s ...

Valery The French name Valery () is a male given name or surname of Germanic origin ''Walaric'' (see Walric of Leuconay), that has often been confused in modern times with the Latin name '' Valerius''—that explains the variant spelling Valéry (). The ...

Demographics

At the , there were people in the Bellingen local government area, of these 48.5 per cent were male and 51.5 per cent were female.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation The British Empire was composed of the dominions, coloni ...

made up 3.0 per cent of the population which is higher than the national and state averages of 2.5 per cent. The median age of people in the Bellingen Shire was 46 years; some 10 years higher than the national median. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 19.5 per cent of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 19.9 per cent of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 46.1 per cent were married and 17.4 per cent were either divorced or separated. Population growth in the Bellingen Shire between the , , and the 2011 census was marginal. When compared with total population growth of Australia for the same periods, being 5.78 per cent and 8.32 per cent respectively, population growth in the Bellingen local government area was significantly lower than the national average. The median weekly income for residents within the Bellingen Shire was significantly below the national average, being one of the factors that place the Bellingen Shire in an area of social disadvantage. At the 2011 Census, the proportion of residents in the Bellingen local government area who stated their

ancestry An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder or a forebear, is a parent or ( recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from wh ...

as Australian or Anglo-Celtic exceeded 82 per cent of all residents (national average was 65.2 per cent). In excess of 69 per cent of all residents in the Bellingen Shire nominated a

religious Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

affiliation with

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesu ...

at the 2011 Census, which was significantly above the national average of 50.2 per cent. Meanwhile, as at the Census date, compared to the national average, households in the Bellingen local government area had a significantly lower than average proportion (4.7 per cent) where two or more languages are spoken (national average was 20.4 per cent); and a significantly higher proportion (94.1 per cent) where English only was spoken at home (national average was 76.8 per cent).

Council

Bellingen Shire Council is composed of seven

Councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

s, including the

, for a fixed four-year term of office. The Mayor is directly elected while the six other Councillors are elected proportionally as one entire ward. The most recent election was held on 4 December 2021, and the makeup of the council, including the Mayor, is as follows: The current Council, elected in 2021, in order of election, is:

References

{{Mid North Coast NSW , state=autocollapse Local government areas of New South Wales Mid North Coast

Towns and localities

Demographics

Council

See also

References