Dungog Shire 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 ...

in the

Hunter Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

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 situated adjacent to the

Barrington Tops Barrington Tops is part of the Great Dividing Range in New South Wales, Australia, between Gloucester and Scone. In 1934, the area was difficult to access and was described as being "not traceable to any man-made feature". Part of the area has ...

and consists predominantly of very rugged to hilly country which becomes less rugged from north to south. Dungog Shire was formed on 1 July 1958 through the amalgamation of

Wallarobba Shire Wallarobba Shire was a local government area in the Hunter region of New South Wales, Australia. Wallarobba Shire was proclaimed on 7 March 1906, one of 134 shires created after the passing of the ''Local Government (Shires) Act 1905''. The s ...

with the

Municipality of Dungog A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

. 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 a ...

of the Dungog Shire Council is Clr. John Connors, 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 * Independ ...

politician.

Main towns/villages

The major population centres within the Shire are

Dungog Dungog is a country town on the Williams River in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. Located in the middle of dairy and timber country, it is the centre of the Dungog Shire local government area and at the 2016 census it had a po ...

, Gresford, Paterson, Vacy, Martins Creek and

Clarence Town Clarence Town is a town in the Bahamas. It is located on Long Island. Clarence Town is the capital of Long Island and has a population of 86 people as of 2010.Paterson River Paterson River, a perennial river that is part of the Hunter River catchment, is located in the Hunter and Mid North Coast regions of New South Wales, Australia. Course and features Paterson River rises in the Barrington Tops National Park, we ...

and

Allyn River Allyn River, a perennial stream of the Hunter River catchment, is located in the Hunter region of New South Wales, Australia. Course Allyn River rises on Allyn Range, on the slopes of the Gondwana Rainforests Barrington Tops, west of Careys Pe ...

to the west and the Williams River to the east.

Demographics

At the , there were people in the Dungog Shire local government area, of these 50.3 per cent were male and 49.7 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. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

made up 3.2 per cent of the population, which was higher than the national and state averages of 2.5 per cent. 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 Dungog Shire was 44 years, significantly higher than the national median of 37 years. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 18.8 per cent of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 17.6 per cent of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 54.7 per cent were married and 11.5 per cent were either divorced or separated. Population growth in the Dungog Shire between the 2001 census and the was 2.37 per cent; and in the subsequent five years to the , population growth was 3.18 per cent. 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 Dungog Shire local government area was approximately one-third of the national average. The median weekly income for residents within the Dungog Shire was lower than the national average. At the , the proportion of residents in the Dungog Shire 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 whom ...

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

Anglo-Celtic Anglo-Celtic people are descended primarily from British and Irish people. The concept is mainly relevant outside of Great Britain and Ireland, particularly in Australia, but is also used in Canada, the United States, New Zealand and South Africa, ...

exceeded 85 per cent of all residents (national average was 65.2 per cent). In excess of 56% of all residents in the Dungog Shire nominated a

religious Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ...

affiliation with

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

at the , which was slightly higher than the national average of 50.2 per cent. Meanwhile, as at the census date, compared to the national average, households in the Dungog Shire local government area had a significantly lower than average proportion (2.0 per cent) where two or more languages are spoken (national average was 20.4 per cent); and a significantly higher proportion (95.0 per cent) where

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

only was spoken at home (national average was 76.8 per cent).

Council

Current composition and election method

Dungog Shire Council is composed of nine

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 in three separate wards, each electing three councillors. All councillors are elected for a fixed four-year term of office. The

is elected by the councillors at the first meeting of the council. The most recent election was held on 17 September 2017. An election was held in the A, B and C Wards. The makeup of the council is as follows: The current Council, elected in 2017, by ward, is:

Proposed merger

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 Dungog Shire merge with adjoining councils. The government considered two proposals. The first proposed a merger of Dungog Shire and Mid-Coast Council councils to form a new council with an area of and support a population of approximately 14,000. Following the lodging of an alternate proposal by Mid-Coast Council Council to amalgamate the Gloucester,

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

and Greater Taree councils, the NSW Minister for Local Government proposed a merger between the Dungog Shire and

City of Maitland The City of Maitland is a local government area in the lower Hunter region of New South Wales, Australia. The area is situated adjacent to the New England Highway and the Hunter railway line. The Mayor of the City of Maitland is Cr. David ...

. In response to the government's proposal to merge the

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

and Port Stephens local government areas, Port Stephens Council has formally asked the government to evaluate a merger between Port Stephens and Dungog Shire. Although the Dungog Shire mayor is opposed to this merger, it is reported that the proposal has community support within both local government areas. The proposal was debated in the New South Wales parliament on 23 March 2016, with the Minister for Local Government confirming that the proposal had been referred to the Office of Local Government.

References

{{Authority control 1958 establishments in Australia