Hornsby Shire is a
local government area situated in
Northern Sydney
Northern Sydney is a large metropolitan area in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on the north shore of Sydney Harbour and Parramatta River. The region embraces suburbs in Sydney’s north-east, north and inner north west. Northern Sydney ...
(
Upper North Shore), as well as parts of the
Hills District Hills District may refer to:
Places
* Hills District, New South Wales
* Hills District, Queensland
See also
* Hills District Bulls, Rugby league team in Sydney
* Hills District Panthers
The Hills District Panthers is a defunct rugby league cl ...
, 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 shire stretches from the
M2 Hills Motorway
The Hills Motorway (also known as the Hills M2 Motorway, M2 Motorway or simply M2) is a tollway in north-western Sydney, Australia, owned by toll road operator Transurban. It forms majority of Sydney's M2 route and part of the 110 km Syd ...
in the south to the
Hawkesbury River
The Hawkesbury River, or Hawkesbury-Nepean River, is a river located northwest of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Hawkesbury River and its associated main tributary, the Nepean River, almost encircle the metropolitan region of Sydney ...
town of
Wisemans Ferry, some to the north, making it the largest local government council in the Greater Sydney Metropolitan region by total area. As of the the shire had an estimated population of .
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 Hornsby Shire is
Cr Philip Ruddock
Philip Maxwell Ruddock (born 12 March 1943 in Canberra) is an Australian politician and the current mayor of Hornsby Shire.
Ruddock is a member of the Liberal Party of Australia and currently the state president of the party's New South ...
, a member of the
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a l ...
, who was elected on 9 September 2017.
Suburbs, towns and localities in the local government area
Suburbs in the Hornsby Shire include:
Towns and localities in the Hornsby Shire are:
Demographics
At the , there were people in the Hornsby local government area, of these 48.8 per cent were male and 51.2 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 0.5 per cent of the population; significantly below the NSW and Australian averages of 2.9 and 2.8 per cent respectively. The
median age of people in the Hornsby Shire was 40 years; slightly higher than the national median of 38 years. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 19.5 per cent of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 16.2 per cent of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 58.8 per cent were married and 8.2 per cent were either divorced or separated.
Population growth in the Hornsby Shire between the and the was 4.58 per cent and in the subsequent five years to the , population growth was 3.65 per cent. At the 2016 census, the population in the Shire decreased by 9.04 per cent brought about predominately by an adjustment in local government boundaries.
The median
weekly income for residents within the Hornsby Shire was higher than the national average.
Council
Current composition and election method
Hornsby Shire Council is composed of ten
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
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 ...
, for a fixed four-year term of office. The Mayor is
directly elected while the nine other Councillors are elected
proportionally as three separate
wards, each electing three Councillors. 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 by ward, is:
Past mayors and shire presidents
History
Hornsby Shire is the traditional lands occupied by the
Darug
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 ...
and
Kuringgai
Kuringgai (also spelled Ku-ring-gai, Kuring-gai, Guringai, Kuriggai) (,) is an ethnonym referring to (a) an hypothesis regarding an aggregation of Indigenous Australian peoples occupying the territory between the southern borders of the Gamil ...
peoples of
indigenous Australians
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 o ...
. While the northern part of the Shire via the
Hawkesbury River
The Hawkesbury River, or Hawkesbury-Nepean River, is a river located northwest of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Hawkesbury River and its associated main tributary, the Nepean River, almost encircle the metropolitan region of Sydney ...
was visited by the first European settlers in late 1788, due to the Shire's rugged landscape permanent European settlement did not begin until almost half a century later.
Hornsby Shire got its name from the town of
Hornsby at the eastern end of the Shire, is derived from
convict
A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former convict ...
-turned-
Constable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...
Samuel Horne, who earned distinction by capturing
bushranger
Bushrangers were originally escaped convicts in Australia, convicts in the early years of the History of Australia (1788–1850), British settlement of Australia who used The bush#Australia, the bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities. B ...
s Dalton and MacNamara on 22 June 1830. In return he was granted land in the locality known as "Hornsby Place".
Hornsby Shire has remained largely rural for many decades. The construction of the
Main North railway line in the 1880s opened up the Shire to the rest of Sydney and also to
Newcastle, but it was not until motor vehicles became commonplace in the 1950s that the southern part of the Shire truly became part of Sydney's suburbia. The Shire was incorporated as a local government authority on 6 March 1906.
A
2015 review of local government boundaries by the
NSW Government Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal recommended that Hornsby Shire merge with adjoining councils. The government considered two proposals. The first proposed a merger of part of Hornsby with the
Ku-ring-gai Council
Ku-ring-gai Council is a local government area in Northern Sydney ( Upper North Shore), in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The area is named after the Guringai Aboriginal people who were thought to be the traditional owners of the are ...
to form a new council with an area of and support a population of approximately 270,000. The second proposed a merger of parts of
Parramatta
Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...
,
Auburn,
The Hills, Hornsby, and
Holroyd to form a new council with an area of and support a population of approximately 215,725. The outcome of the review was that the suburbs of Hornsby Shire Council south of the M2 joined an expanded Parramatta City Council. The NSW Government also gave in principle support for the Hornsby Shire suburbs north of the M2 to amalgamate with Ku-ring-gai Council. In July 2017, the
Berejiklian government decided to abandon the forced merger of the Hornsby and Ku-ring-gai local government areas, along with several other proposed forced mergers. This failed merger resulted in the council losing lucrative area south of the M2 including Epping and Carlingford.
Heritage listings
The Hornsby Shire has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
* Brooklyn, Main Northern railway:
Hawkesbury River railway station
* Cheltenham, 67 Cobran Road:
''Ahimsa'', Cheltenham
* Galston, 161 Main Road:
Tunks Creek Bridge
The Tunks Creek Bridge is a heritage-listed timber truss road bridge that carries Galston Road (Main Road 161) across Tunks Creek, in Galston, New South Wales, Australia. The bridge spans Tunks Creek in the valley of the Galston Gorge. The road ...
* Galston, 11 School Road:
Galston Congregational Church Pipe Organ
The Galston Uniting Church Pipe Organ or Pipe Organ from Bourke Street Congregational Church is a heritage-listed church pipe organ located at 11 School Road, Galston in the Hornsby Shire local government area of New South Wales, Australia. ...
* Hornsby, 2a Manor Road (Rosamond Street):
Mount Wilga House
Mount Wilga House is a heritage-listed former residence and rehabilitation hospital at 2a Manor Road (Rosamond Street), Hornsby in the Hornsby Shire local government area of New South Wales, Australia. Its design is attributed to Henry Marcus ...
* Hornsby, Old Man's Valley, off Quarry Road:
Old Man's Valley Cemetery
* Normanhurst, 82-84 Pennant Hills Road: ''
Gilligaloola''
* Wahroonga, 9 Highlands Avenue:
''Highlands''
Geography
Hornsby calls itself the 'Bushland Shire'. This is in reference to its location on a high ridge separating two expansive areas of natural bushland which consists of up to 70% of the total area:
[http://www.hornsby.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/98129/ulowresFNL-Whole-Updated-Snapshot-of-the-Hornsby-Shire-in-2016.pdf ] The
Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park
Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park is a national park on the northern side of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. The park is north of the Sydney central business district and generally comprises the land east of the M1 Pacific Motorway, s ...
on the eastern side and the
Berowra Valley Regional Park on the western side. These provide large areas of natural parkland that form a
green belt
A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wilderness, wild, or agricultural landscape, land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenway (lan ...
running from Sydney at the south to the
Hawkesbury River
The Hawkesbury River, or Hawkesbury-Nepean River, is a river located northwest of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Hawkesbury River and its associated main tributary, the Nepean River, almost encircle the metropolitan region of Sydney ...
at the Shire's northern end. These parks are extremely popular with day-trippers from all areas of Sydney and provides diverse recreations such as bushwalking and boating.
The northern half of Hornsby Shire remains a semi-rural area, retaining a number of farmlands and market gardens. This area consists of small village settlements such as
Mount Colah
Mount Colah is an outer suburb of Northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 29 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Hornsby Shire.
Mount Colah is 5 km north of Horns ...
and
Hornsby Heights
Hornsby Heights is a suburb of Northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Hornsby Heights is located 26 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Hornsby Shire. The subur ...
. The village of
Galston is the centre of this rural area.
The western part of the shire shares a border with
The Hills Shire and is separated from the rest of the Shire by national parks and the
Galston Gorge.
The southern half of the Shire is urban, forming part of Sydney's suburbia on the
North Shore North Shore or Northshore may refer to:
Geographic features Australia
*North Shore (Sydney), a suburban region of Sydney
**Electoral district of North Shore
**North Shore railway line, Sydney
*Noosa North Shore, Queensland
* North Shore, New So ...
and
Northern Suburbs. Traditionally most of the Shire's residents live in free-standing houses, but in recent years a number of semi-detached housings as well as high-density apartments have appeared around Hornsby's central business district.
The Shire has several areas with industrial activity including Hornsby, Asquith and Thornleigh. The major commercial centres of the Shire, apart from Hornsby's central business district, are the suburbs of Pennant Hills and North Epping.
Local attractions in the Hornsby Shire include its easily accessible wilderness areas including part of the
Great North Walk, parkland recreational facilities such as
Fagan Park
Fagan Park, 38–48 Arcadia Road, Galston, New South Wales has been described as "the crown jewel of Hornsby Shire’s parks." The park covers 55 hectares of undulating land and includes a range of activities. It was once home to the Fagan fam ...
at Galston, Pennant Hills Park,
Koala Park Sanctuary in
West Pennant Hills, and the village of Brooklyn on the Hawkesbury River.
Hornsby Shire has four public
libraries
A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...
(at Hornsby, Pennant Hills, Berowra and Galston, two public swimming pools ("Aquatic Centres"), and a range of other sporting and community facilities.
See also
*
Local government areas of New South Wales
This is a list of local government areas (LGAs) in New South Wales, sorted by region. As of there were 128 local government areas in New South Wales, listed below in alphabetical order by region. There is also the Unincorporated Far West Re ...
References
External links
Hornsby Shire Website*
Creative Commons license">CC-By-SA
A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work".A "work" is any creative material made by a person. A painting, a graphic, a book, a song/lyrics ...
]
{{Authority control
Hornsby Shire,
1906 establishments in Australia
Local government areas in Sydney, Hornsby