The City of Botany Bay was 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 ...

in the eastern 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 ...

, in the state 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 area encompassed the suburbs to the north of

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 ...

, such as

Botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

. First proclaimed in 1888 as the "Borough of Botany", the council became the "Municipality of Botany" from 1906 to 1996, when it was proclaimed a city as the "City of Botany Bay". The administrative centre was located at

Mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

, which is south of the

Sydney central business district The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main Central business district, commercial centre of Sydney. The CBD is Sydney's city centre, or Sydney City, and the two terms are used interchangeably. Colloquially, the CBD or c ...

. The city was amalgamated with the neighbouring

City of Rockdale The City of Rockdale was a local government area in southern and St George regions of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The city centre was located south of the Sydney central business district, on the western shores of Botan ...

on 9 September 2016 to form

Bayside Council Bayside Council is a local government in New South Wales, Australia. It is located in Sydney, around part of Botany Bay, to south of the CBD. It includes suburbs of South Sydney and the St George area separated by the Cooks River. It compris ...

. The last Mayor of the City of Botany Bay prior to amalgamation was Cr. Ben Keneally, a member of the Labor Party and the husband of

Kristina Keneally Kristina Marie Kerscher Keneally (born 19 December 1968) is an American-born Australian politician who was a Labor Senator for New South Wales from February 2018 until April 2022, when she resigned to unsuccessfully contest the House of Repres ...

, a former

Premier of New South Wales The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales acting as the legislature. ...

Suburbs in the local government area

Suburbs in the City of Botany Bay were: *

Banksmeadow Banksmeadow is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Banksmeadow is located 11 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Bayside Council. Banksmeadow sits on the nort ...

Daceyville Daceyville (formerly Dacey Garden Suburb) is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Daceyville is 7 km south of the Sydney central business district and is now part of Bayside Council (formerl ...

* Eastgardens * Eastlakes * Hillsdale *

(minor part located within

Marrickville Council Marrickville Council was a local government area located in the inner west region of Sydney, Australia. It was originally created on 1 November 1861 as the "Municipality of Marrickville". On 12 May 2016, Marrickville Council was forcibly merged ...

) *

Pagewood Pagewood is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 8 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district. It is part of the Bayside Council. Pagewood has a mixture of residential and industrial areas. H ...

(parts are located in City of Randwick council) * Rosebery (parts are located in

City of Sydney The City of Sydney is the local government area covering the Sydney central business district and surrounding inner city suburbs of the greater metropolitan area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established by Act of Parliament in 1842, th ...

council)

History

First proclaimed in 1888 as the "Borough of Botany", the first council, divided into three wards (Booralee Ward, Cook Ward, Banks Ward), was elected on 9 June 1888. On 15 July 1899, the Botany Town Hall, designed by Byera Hadley, was opened by the

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

, Lord Beauchamp. The town hall remained the seat and primary meeting-place of the council until amalgamation in 2016. The council became the "Municipality of Botany" from 1906 to 11 May 1996, when it was proclaimed a city as the "City of Botany Bay" 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 ...

Gordon Samuels Gordon Jacob Samuels, (12 August 1923 – 10 December 2007) was a British-Australian lawyer and judge who served as the 36th Governor of New South Wales from 1996 to 2001. Born in London in 1923, Samuels was educated at University College Schoo ...

at Sir Joseph Banks Park in Botany. The council wards were abolished from 31 January 1908. Under the Local Government (Areas) Act 1948, the

Municipality of Mascot The Municipality of Mascot was a Local government in Australia, local government area in the inner south of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The municipality was proclaimed as the Borough of North Botany on 29 March 1888 and was renamed to the ...

(formerly North Botany), which was located immediately to the North, was amalgamated into Botany.

ICAC Operation Ricco

In February 2016, the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) commenced a public inquiry (known as Operation Ricco) into allegations that the former chief financial officer employed by the Council and other Council employees, dishonestly exercised official functions to obtain financial benefits for themselves and others by causing fraudulent payments of more than 4.2 million to be made by the Council through false invoicing to either themselves, or various entities. It was also alleged that the former Chief Financial Officer and the Council employees dishonestly exercised official functions to obtain financial benefits for themselves and others by using Council resources. The inquiry heard that certain senior staff were "totally unqualified" for their positions, and that a culture of "extremely poor corporate governance" allowed official corruption to occur. It was also revealed that the council's General Manager until 2011, Peter Fitzgerald, had used thousands of dollars in "discretionary" council funds for personal items, private travel for himself and family, in addition to receiving annual cheques for $20,000 from the council for travelling expenses. Fitzgerald admitted that he had not seen a single statement for any of his Council accounts until shortly before his retirement in 2011, and was not aware if he had exceeded those "discretionary" limits. In July 2017, ICAC released its report and found that former chief financial officer, Gary Goodman, and eleven other council employees had acted corruptly, after raising more than $5 million in fake invoices and charging more than $600,000 in personal expenditure on council credit cards, and recommended prosecutions against all. However, despite the specific findings against individuals, the final report noted in particular that "The scale, breadth and duration of corruption at the Council cannot be attributed to a few rogue individuals alone. Overwhelming failures in the Council’s procedures and governance framework created significant opportunities for corruption, and Mr Goodman and others took full advantage." With the merger of Botany Bay into Bayside Council in September 2016, the legacy of "significant breakdowns in administrative, financial and governance internal controls identified in the former council" had ramifications for the auditing and accounting processes in the new Council with the Council stating that it was unable "to ensure completeness of

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officiall ...

financial statements as a whole", and the first Mayor of Bayside Council, Bill Saravinovski, in particular noted that, "the misappropriations and costs of remediation result in a net fund deficit of $17 million, placing Bayside Council at a significant disadvantage".

Creation of Bayside 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 Botany Bay merge with the

to form a new council with an area of and support a population of approximately . There was significant community opposition to the merger from within both communities. In Botany Bay, residents were given the chance to have their say in a community poll which was held on 27 February 2016. Ultimately 97.8 per cent of Botany Bay residents voted 'no' when asked the question 'Do you agree that the City of Botany Bay should merge with Rockdale City Council?'. Botany Bay attempted to seek a compromise by proposing to merge with the City of Randwick and parts of the

. With the proclamation of the majority of council amalgamations on 12 May 2016, Botany Bay Council appealed the decision in the

Supreme Court of New South Wales The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the highest state court of the Australian State of New South Wales. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters, and hears the most serious criminal matters. Whilst the Supreme Court i ...

, thereby delaying the proposed amalgamation until a decision was made by the Court. The Supreme Court rejected the appeal in early September 2016, and the Minister for Local Government,

Paul Toole Paul Lawrence Toole (born 2 August 1970), an Australian politician, is the Deputy Premier and leader of the New South Wales Nationals since October 2021. Toole is the Minister for Regional New South Wales in the second Berejiklian and Perrot ...

, moved quickly to proclaim the formation of Bayside Council on 9 September 2016, with the former Administrator of

Central Darling Shire Central Darling Shire is a local government area in the Far West region of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire is located adjacent to the Barrier Highway. Central Darling Shire was constituted in 1959 and at , it is the largest incorporated ...

, Greg Wright, appointed as the Administrator.

Demographics

As of the 2011 census, there were 39,356 people in the Botany Bay local government area, of these 49.5% were male and 50.5% 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. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

made up 1.6% of the population. The

median In statistics and probability theory, the median is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a data sample, a population, or a probability distribution. For a data set, it may be thought of as "the middle" value. The basic fe ...

age of people in the City of Botany Bay was 37 years. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 18.2% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 14.4% of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 47.6% were married and 11.4% were either divorced or separated. Population growth in the City of Botany Bay between the 2001 census and the 2006 census was 5.18%; and in the subsequent five years to the 2011 census, population growth was 5.19%. When compared with total population growth of Australia for the same periods, being 5.78% and 8.32% respectively, population growth in Botany Bay local government area was lower than the national average.

Council

Final composition and election method

Botany Bay City Council was 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 Mayor, for a fixed four-year term of office. The Mayor was directly elected for a four-year term from 1995 to 2016 while the six other Councillors were elected proportionally as six separate wards, each electing one Councillor. From 1948 to 1995 the council consisted of 15 councillors/aldermen, with three elected in each of five wards. From 1995 to 2008, the councillors were elected at-large and from 2008 to 2012 the councillors were elected to three wards (A, B, C), with two Councillors elected in each. The most recent election was held on 8 September 2012. In Wards One and Five, only one candidate nominated for election. There being no additional candidates, the election for these Wards was uncontested. The final makeup of the Council at the last election for the term 2012–2016, including the Mayor, was as follows:

Mayors

Town Clerks/General Managers

The Local Government Act, 1993 removed the requirement that the administrative head of a council be a "Town or Shire Clerk" and specified that the head was to be known as the "General Manager".

References

External links

City of Botany Bay website (Archived)
{{DEFAULTSORT:City Of Botany Bay

Botany Bay Bayside Council