The City of Canterbury Bankstown (also known as Canterbury-Bankstown Council) is a

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

located in the South Western region of

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

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 council was formed on 12 May 2016 from a

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

of the

City of Canterbury The City of Canterbury () is a local government district with city status in Kent, England. As well as Canterbury itself, the district extends north to the coastal towns of Whistable and Herne Bay. History The district was formed on 1 April 1 ...

and the

City of Bankstown The City of Bankstown was a local government area in the south-west region of Sydney, Australia, centred on the suburb of Bankstown, from 1895 to 2016. The last Mayor of the City of Bankstown Council was Clr Khal Asfour, a member of the Labor ...

, after a review of local government in New South Wales by the

state government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, or ...

. In July 2022, the council began preparations to submit a business case to de-amalgamate the City of Canterbury Bankstown. The City of Canterbury Bankstown comprises an area of and as per the , had a population of making it the most populous local government area in New South Wales. The current Mayor of Canterbury-Bankstown is Khal Asfour, the final Mayor of Bankstown and a member of the Labor Party, who was first elected on 26 September 2017 as the inaugural Mayor.

History

Early history

The traditional Aboriginal inhabitants of the land now known as the Canterbury-Bankstown were the

Dharug The Dharug or Darug people, formerly known as the Broken Bay tribe, are an Aboriginal Australian people, who share strong ties of kinship and, in pre-colonial times, lived as skilled hunters in family groups or clans, scattered throughout much ...

(Darag, Daruk, Dharuk) and

Eora The Eora (''Yura'') are an Aboriginal Australian people of New South Wales. Eora is the name given by the earliest European settlers to a group of Aboriginal people belonging to the clans along the coastal area of what is now known as the Sy ...

peoples. Early indigenous groups relied upon the riparian network of the

Georges River The Georges River, also known as Tucoerah River, is an intermediate tide-dominated drowned valley estuary, located to the south and west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The river travels for approximately in a north and then easterly ...

and

Cooks River The Cooks River, a semi-mature tide-dominated drowned valley estuary, is a tributary of Botany Bay, located in south-eastern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The course of the long urban waterway has been altered to accommodate various deve ...

catchments towards

Botany Bay Botany Bay (Dharawal: ''Kamay''), an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cook ...

, with extant reminders of this lifestyle dating back 3,000 years including rock and overhang paintings, stone scrapers, middens and axe grinding grooves. Following the arrival of Europeans in 1788, the new British settlers in the area burned oyster shells from the middens along Cooks River to produce lime for use in building mortar. The first incursions and eventual land grants in the area by Europeans led to increasing tensions, culminating in a confrontation between Europeans and a group of Aboriginal people led by Tedbury, the son of

Pemulwuy Pemulwuy (also rendered as Pimbloy, Pemulvoy, Pemulwoy, Pemulwy or Pemulwye, or sometimes by contemporary Europeans as Bimblewove, Bumbleway or Bembulwoyan) (c. 1750 – 2 June 1802) was a Bidjigal man of the Eora nation, born around 1750 in th ...

, in what is now Punchbowl in 1809. However, following Tedbury's death in 1810, resistance to European settlement generally ended. In 1793, the eastern Canterbury area's first land grant was made to the chaplain of the

First Fleet The First Fleet was a fleet of 11 ships that brought the first European and African settlers to Australia. It was made up of two Royal Navy vessels, three store ships and six convict transports. On 13 May 1787 the fleet under the command ...

, the Reverend

Richard Johnson Richard or Dick Johnson may refer to: Academics * Dick Johnson (academic) (1929–2019), Australian academic * Richard C. Johnson (1930–2003), professor of electrical engineering * Richard A. Johnson, artist and professor at the University of ...

, and given the name Canterbury Vale. The District of Bankstown was named by Governor Hunter in 1797 in honour of botanist Sir

Joseph Banks Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the 1766 natural-history expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador. He took part in Captain James ...

. The area remained very rural until residential and suburban development followed the development of the Bankstown Railway Line with the passing of the ''Marrickville to Burwood Road Railway Act'' by the NSW Parliament in 1890, extending the rail line from Marrickville Station (later Sydenham Station) to Burwood Road (later Belmore Station) by 1895. With the passing of the ''Belmore to Chapel Road Railway Act'' in 1906, the line was extended further to Lakemba, Punchbowl and

Bankstown Bankstown is a suburb south west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 16 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district and is located in the local government area of the City of Canterbury-Bankstown, hav ...

by 1909.

Local government history

Canterbury

After much petitioning of the

State Government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, or ...

by local residents, the Municipality of Canterbury was proclaimed on 17 March 1879. The council first met in the home of the first mayor, Alderman John Sproule, and premises were then leased in the St Paul's Church schoolroom at 47-49 Canterbury Road, Canterbury. The Canterbury Town Hall, located on Canterbury Road between Canton and Howard Streets, was opened in 1889 by the Premier of New South Wales,

Sir Henry Parkes Sir Henry Parkes, (27 May 1815 – 27 April 1896) was a colonial Australian politician and longest non-consecutive Premier of the Colony of New South Wales, the present-day state of New South Wales in the Commonwealth of Australia. He has be ...

. However, over time, Campsie became a more important centre, particularly along Beamish Street and Canterbury Council planned a gradual move of civic services there when funds became available. In 1954 a Baby Health Centre by Davey & Brindley opened on Beamish Street, followed by a library next door by Davey, Brindley & Vickery in 1958 at a cost of £30,000, and the municipal administration finally moved in 1963. At the time of its opening by the mayor R. J. Schofield on 26 September 1958, the Campsie Library was reputed to be the largest municipal library in Sydney. The Canterbury Municipal Administration Building designed by architects Whitehead & Payne, built by Rex Building Company Pty Ltd, and completed at a cost of £163,000 was opened adjacent to the Library and Baby Health Centre by the mayor, James S. Scott, on 21 September 1963. The City of Canterbury was proclaimed on 16 November 1993 by the

Governor of New South Wales The governor of New South Wales is the viceregal representative of the Australian monarch, King Charles III, in the state of New South Wales. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia at the national level, the governors of the ...

, Rear Admiral Peter Sinclair.

Bankstown

In March 1895 a petition was submitted to the NSW Colonial Government by 109 residents of the Bankstown area, requesting the establishment of the "Municipal District of Bankstown" under the ''Municipalities Act, 1867''. The petition was subsequently accepted and the "Municipal District of Bankstown" was proclaimed by Lieutenant Governor Sir Frederick Darley on 7 September 1895. The first six-member council, standing in one at-large constituency, was elected on 4 November 1895. With the passing of the ''Local Government Act 1906'', the council area became known as the "Municipality of Bankstown". Bankstown's city status was proclaimed in 1980 in the presence of

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

, becoming the "City of Bankstown".

Establishment of Canterbury-Bankstown Council

A 2015 review of local government boundaries by the

NSW Government The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales. It is currently held by a coalition of the Liberal Party and the National Party. The Governmen ...

Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal recommended that the City of Canterbury merge with the City of Bankstown to form a new council with an area of and support a population of approximately 351,000. Following an independent review, on 12 May 2016 the Minister for Local Government announced, with the release of the ''Local Government (Council Amalgamations) Proclamation 2016'', that the merger with the City of Bankstown would proceed with immediate effect, creating a new council with an area of . The council was initially under the management of Administrator Richard Colley until elections were held. The first meeting of the council was held at Bankstown Council Chambers on 24 May 2016. The former Bankstown General Manager, Matthew Stewart was proclaimed as the first General Manager of the council. Jim Montague PSM, Canterbury Council General Manager from 1983 to 2016, was initially proclaimed as a Deputy General Manager of the new Council, but retired two weeks after the proclamation. At the first council meeting on 24 May 2016, the administrator, Richard Colley, resolved to adopt

city status City status is a symbolic and legal designation given by a national or subnational government. A municipality may receive city status because it already has the qualities of a city, or because it has some special purpose. Historically, city status ...

and the council name would be known as the "City of Canterbury Bankstown" by way of changing the council's trading name and business registration. However, as this act merely changed the trading name of the council, the legal name as proclaimed in 2016 remains "Canterbury-Bankstown Council", which can only be changed by official proclamation in the

NSW Government Gazette The ''Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales'', also known as the ''New South Wales Government Gazette'', is the government gazette of the Government of New South Wales in Australia. The ''Gazette'' is managed by the New South Wales ...

under section 206 of the
Local Government Act, 1993
'.

Proposed de-amalgamation

In 2021, the council began resolving a proposal to de-amalgamate the City of Canterbury Bankstown. The de-amalgamation would restore the former City of Canterbury and City of Bankstown to their original boundaries. In July 2022, the council began preparations to submit a business case to the NSW government for approval.

Suburbs in the local government area

are: *Bankstown area: ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** Mahanan ** ** ** One Tree Point ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** *Canterbury area: ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ;Notes:

Demographics

Council

The Council comprises fifteen

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 elected proportionally, with three Councillors elected in five

wards Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a priso ...

. On 9 September 2017 the current Council was elected for a fixed term of office. Although the fixed term of the council is typically four years, due to delays caused by amalgamations and the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the first term from 9 September 2017 expired on 4 December 2021. The Mayor and Deputy Mayor are elected by the Councillors for two-year and one-year terms, respectively. The City of Canterbury Bankstown was under the management of Administrator Richard Colley and Interim General Manager Matthew Stewart until elections were held on 9 September 2017 and the first meeting of the elected Council on 26 September 2017.

Officeholders

Current composition

The most recent election was held on 4 December 2021, and the makeup of the council, by order of election, is as follows:

Heritage listings

The City of Canterbury Bankstown has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * Ashbury, Holden Street:

Ashfield Reservoir The Ashfield Reservoir is a Heritage register, heritage-listed reservoir located at Holden Street, Ashbury, New South Wales, Ashbury, City of Canterbury-Bankstown, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed and built by the Sydney Water, Metro ...

* Belmore, Burwood Road:

Belmore railway station Belmore railway station is a heritage-listed railway station located on the Bankstown line at Burwood Road, Belmore in the City of Canterbury-Bankstown local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It is served by Sydney Trains T3 Bankst ...

* Canterbury, Bankstown railway: Canterbury railway station, Sydney * Canterbury, 9 Fore Street:

Bethungra, Canterbury ''Bethungra'' is a large stone house in Sydney, Australia. It is heritage-listed, and was at one time used as a convent, but now a private residence. The house is located at 9 Fore Street, Canterbury in the City of Canterbury-Bankstown local g ...

* Canterbury, Sugar House Road: Old Sugarmill * Condell Park, Corner of Marion and Edgar Street:

Bankstown Bunker Bankstown Bunker, formerly known as Air Defence Headquarters Sydney (ADHQ Sydney), is a heritage-listed defunct Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) operations facility, located on the corner of Marion and Edgar Street, in Condell Park, City of ...

* Earlwood, Pine Street:

Cooks River Sewage Aqueduct The Cooks River Sewage Aqueduct is a heritage-listed sewage aqueduct located at Pine Street, Earlwood, New South Wales, Australia. It crosses the Cooks River to Thornley Street, Marrickville. It was designed by Sewerage Construction Branch ...

* Earlwood, Unwin Street:

Wolli Creek Aqueduct The Wolli Creek Aqueduct is a heritage-listed sewage aqueduct located at Unwin Street, Earlwood, City of Canterbury-Bankstown, New South Wales, Australia. The Wolli Creek Aqueduct crosses Wolli Creek to Thompson Street, Turella. It was desig ...

References

External links

City of Canterbury-Bankstown website
{{coord missing, New South Wales Local government areas in Sydney 2016 establishments in Australia Hume Highway South Western Sydney Georges River