The Mayor of Ashburton officiates over the

Ashburton District Ashburton District is a territorial authority district in the Canterbury Region of the South Island of New Zealand. It encompasses the town of Ashburton, a number of small towns and settlements and the surrounding rural area, roughly coterminou ...

of New Zealand's

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

. The district is administered by a district council. From 1878 until the

1989 local government reforms The 1989 New Zealand local government reform was the most significant reform of local government in New Zealand in over a century. Some 850 local bodies were amalgamated into 86 local authorities, made up of regional and territorial levels. Backg ...

, the area was administered by a borough council. Neil Brown is the current mayor of Ashburton; he was elected in the 2019 local elections.

History

The Ashburton Borough Council was inaugurated in 1878. The first mayor was Thomas Bullock, who was elected on 2 September 1878. Nine borough councillors were elected on 5 September and the first council meeting was held on 9 September.

Hugo Friedlander Hugo Friedlander (born Friedländer, January 1850 – 1 October 1928) was a New Zealand businessman, local politician, and horse breeder from Ashburton. Friedlander was born in a Jewish family in Kolmar, in the Prussian Province of Pose ...

was the second mayor when he resigned in July 1892 as he had urgent business in England to attend to. Henry Davis was declared elected unopposed for 12 years in a row. The first time he had an opponent, in April 1915, he was defeated. Methven farmer Angus McKay was mayor for two terms from the 2010 local elections to 2016. Donna Favel was the mayor of Ashburton between 2016 and 2019. Since 2019, the current mayor has been Neil Brown; he was sworn in on 24 October.

List of mayors of Ashburton

References

{{Mayors in New Zealand Ashburton Ashburton Ashburton District