The Municipality of Cossack 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 town of

Cossack The Cossacks , es, cosaco , et, Kasakad, cazacii , fi, Kasakat, cazacii , french: cosaques , hu, kozákok, cazacii , it, cosacchi , orv, коза́ки, pl, Kozacy , pt, cossacos , ro, cazaci , russian: казаки́ or ...

. It was established on 1 December 1887. The council consisted of seven members with a chairman elected by the members. The first election was held on 20 December 1887, with A. W. Anderson becoming the first chairman. Meetings were held in the Cossack Assembly Room until council chambers were established by the mid-1890s. In March 1888, the '' Daily News'' in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

reported of the municipality: "Our Cossack Municipality has at last shaped itself into something like a body, but as yet they have had no meeting beyond that required for swearing in the members." A town clerk was appointed on 15 March 1888, and municipal by-laws were advertised in July. The municipality gained responsibility for the Cossack Commonage Reserve in June 1889. The municipality faced some issues due to the town's remoteness, with reports in January 1891 that the municipality was unable to meet strict legislative requirements for taking action against rate defaulters due to the lack of a steamer service capable of conveying messages to Perth in the required timeframe. It was involved in lobbying for the establishment of basic services, including a post office, police station and jail, well into the 1890s. It ceased to exist on 12 August 1910, when both the Cossack municipality and the nearby

Municipality of Roebourne 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 g ...

were dissolved and merged into the Roebourne Road District, which surrounded the town. ''

The Northern Times ''The Northern Times'' was a newspaper published in Carnarvon, Western Australia from 1905–1983. History ''The Northern Times'' was published from 26 August 1905 to 26 August 1983 in Carnarvon, Western Australia. It absorbed the ''Geral ...

'' wrote of the merger that the expanded road district was "likely to be more highly regarded and to do better work than three inferior ones whose scope for usefulness was circumscribed in several ways", while ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' said of the Cossack municipality that "it certainly did not do much good during the latter part of its existence and should have gracefully passed itself out some time ago".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cossack, Municipality of Former local government areas of the Pilbara