The Municipality of Broad Arrow 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 ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

centred on the mining town of

Broad Arrow A broad arrow, of which a pheon is a variant, is a stylised representation of a metal arrowhead, comprising a tang and two barbs meeting at a point. It is a symbol used traditionally in heraldry, most notably in England, and later by the Brit ...

. It was established on 26 February 1897, following local agitation from the Broad Arrow Progress Committee. The first elections were held in April 1897, with the first formal meeting of the council held on 22 April. The municipality was initially based out of council chambers in the Broad Arrow Stock Exchange, but moved to the Mechanics' Institute building in 1900, subsequently known as the municipal hall. The hall was extended in 1903 to include a new library, reading room, town clerk's office, council chambers and fire station, the additions having been largely funded by the state government. The municipality annexed an additional area from the

Broad Arrow Road District The Broad Arrow Road District was an early form of local government area on the Western Australian goldfields. It was established on 15 December 1899, providing basic local government to the rural areas around the mining town of Broad Arrow, wh ...

on 30 September 1903, taking in the vacant area of land between its old boundaries and the nearby

Municipality of Paddington The Municipality of Paddington was a local government area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The municipality was proclaimed on 17 April 1860 and, with an area of 1.7 square kilometres, included the entire suburb of Paddington and parts of ...

. It then amalgamated with the Paddington council to form the

Municipality of Broad Arrow-Paddington The Municipality of Broad Arrow-Paddington was a local government area in Western Australia centred on the mining towns of Broad Arrow and Paddington (now Gudarra). It was established on 23 October 1903 with the amalgamation of the Municipality ...

on 23 October 1903. The amalgamation followed months of largely amicable merger negotiations between the two councils, with some delay occurring due to attempts from the Paddington councillors to have some meetings of the merged council held in that town, despite the Paddington council having "neither council chamber, municipal hall, nor offices", a request which was refused by the Broad Arrow council.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Broad Arrow, Municipality of Former local government areas of Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia