'' Inverell 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

North West Slopes The North West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia, refers generally to the area west of the Northern Tablelands, to the north of the Central West region and to the east of the Far West region. Despite its name, the region is in north- ...

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 Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

adjacent to the Macintyre River and the

Gwydir Highway Gwydir Highway is a state highway in northern New South Wales, Australia. The highway was named after the Gwydir River, which in turn was named after a locale in Wales. Route Gwydir Highway traverses the New England region from the inland pla ...

. 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 Inverell Shire Council is Cr. Paul Harmon, who is unaligned with any political party.

History

Inverell Shire was created on 1 July 1979 from the amalgamation of the

Municipality of Inverell 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 ...

with

Ashford Shire Ashford Shire was a local government area in the North West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia. Ashford Shire was proclaimed on 7 March 1906, one of 134 shires created after the passing of the ''Local Government (Shires) Act 1905''. Th ...

and

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

. Formerly part of Armidale Region, on 1 July 2019, Tingha was transferred to the Inverell Shire.

Main towns and villages

The shire includes the town of

Inverell Inverell is a large town in northern New South Wales, Australia, situated on the Macintyre River, close to the Queensland border. It is also the centre of Inverell Shire. Inverell is located on the Gwydir Highway on the western slopes of the No ...

and small towns and villages including

Gilgai A gilgai is a small, ephemeral#Geographical examples, ephemeral lake formed from a depression in the soil surface in expanding clay soils. Additionally, the term "gilgai" is used to refer to the overall micro-relief in such areas, consisting of mo ...

, Stannifer, Elsmore, Bukkulla, Ashford, Bonshaw,

Yetman Yetman is a hamlet in the New England region of northern New South Wales, Australia. At the , Yetman and the surrounding area had a population of 178. It is located on the Macintyre River about south of the Queensland border and north of Sy ...

, Wallangra, Graman, Oakwood,

Delungra Delungra is a small town on the Gwydir Highway, from Inverell and from Bingara in Inverell Shire, New South Wales, Australia. At the , Delungra and the surrounding area had a population of 647. The urban centre had a population of 285. Delun ...

, Mount Russell and Tingha. The locality of

Myall Creek The Myall Creek massacre was the killing of at least twenty-eight unarmed Indigenous Australians by twelve colonists on 10 June 1838 at the Myall Creek near the Gwydir River, in northern New South Wales. After two trials, seven of the twelve c ...

is split being Inverell Shire and

Gwydir Shire Gwydir Shire is a local government area located in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. The northern boundary of the Shire is located adjacent to the border between New South Wales and Queensland. The Shire was established on 1 ...

Demographics

At the , there were people in the Inverell local government area, of these 49.1 per cent were male and 50.9 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 6.5 per cent of the population which is approximately two-and-a-half times above both 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 Inverell Shire was 41 years; slightly higher than the national median of 37 years. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 21.3 per cent of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 19.2 per cent of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 51.3 per cent were married and 11.8 per cent were either divorced or separated. Between the 2001 census and the 2011 census the Inverell Shire experienced nominal population growth in both absolute and real terms. 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 Inverell local government area was significantly lower than the national average. The median weekly income for residents within the Inverell Shire was significantly below the national average. At the 2011 census, the proportion of residents in the Inverell 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-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

exceeded 88 per cent of all residents (national average was 65.2 per cent). In excess of 68 per cent of all residents in the Inverell 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 2011 census, which was higher than the national average of 50.2 per cent. Meanwhile, as at the census date, compared to the national average, households in the Inverell local government area had a significantly lower than average proportion (3.2 per cent) where two or more languages are spoken (national average was 20.4 per cent); and a significantly higher proportion (94.5 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).

Selected historical census data

Council

Current composition and election method

Inverell 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 as a single

ward 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 pris ...

. All councillors are elected for a fixed four-year term of office. The mayor is elected by the councillors at the first meeting of the council. The most recent election was held on 10 September 2016, and the makeup of the council is as follows: The current Council, elected in 2012, in order of election, is:

References

{{Authority control Local government areas of New South Wales New England (New South Wales) 1979 establishments in Australia