Muswellbrook 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

Upper Hunter The Upper Hunter Shire is a local government area in the Upper Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire was formed in May 2004 from the Scone Shire and parts of Murrurundi and Merriwa shires. The Mayor of the Upper Hunter Shir ...

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 ...

. The Shire is situated adjacent to the

New England Highway New England Highway is an long highway in Australia running from Yarraman, north of Toowoomba, Queensland at its northern end to Hexham at Newcastle, New South Wales at its southern end. It is part of Australia's National Highway system, an ...

and the

Hunter railway line The Hunter Line is a commuter train line operated by NSW TrainLink, running from Newcastle to Dungog and Scone in the New South Wales Hunter Region. It operates on the Newcastle, Main North and North Coast lines. Description of Route Hunter ...

. Muswellbrook Shire was established on 1 July 1979 from the amalgamation of the Municipality of Muswellbrook with the adjacent

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

, which had been called Muswellbrook Shire between 1907 and 1968. 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 the Muswellbrook Shire Council is Cr. Steven Reynolds.

Main towns and villages

The Shire includes

Muswellbrook Muswellbrook ( ) is a town in the Upper Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, about north of Sydney and north-west of Newcastle. Geologically, Muswellbrook is situated in the northern parts of the Sydney basin, bordering the New Englan ...

Denman Denman may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places * Denman Glacier, near Antarctica * Denman Shire, New South Wales, Australia ** Denman, New South Wales, a town in the Hunter Valley of Australia * Denman Island, one of the Gulf Islands of British Columbia, Can ...

, Baerami, McCullys Gap, Martindale, Muscle Creek,

Sandy Hollow Sandy Hollow is a small rural town in New South Wales, Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous sm ...

, Widden and Wybong.

Coal Mining

Muswellbrook started as

coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

town in late 1800s and began open cut mining in 1944. The oldest coal was opened in 1906.

Heritage listings

The Muswellbrook Shire has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * Denman, 4883 Jerrys Plains Road: Merton * Muswellbrook, Denman Road: Rous Lench * Muswellbrook, 132 Bridge Street:

Weidmann Cottage Weidmann Cottage is a heritage-listed former retail building, residence and town house and now unused building located at 132 Bridge Street, Muswellbrook in the Muswellbrook Shire local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was bui ...

* Muswellbrook, 142-144 Bridge Street:

Loxton House Loxton House is a heritage-listed former residence and now restaurant located at 142-144 Bridge Street, Muswellbrook in the Muswellbrook Shire local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was built in 1838 and was added to the New So ...

* Muswellbrook, 178, 180-188 Bridge Street:

Eatons Group The Eatons Group is a heritage-listed site that contains a hotel, shop, house and retail centre located at 178, 180-188 Bridge Street, Muswellbrook, Muswellbrook Shire, New South Wales, Australia. It is also known as Eatons Hotel and St Vincent ...

* Muswellbrook, 710 Denman Road:

Edinglassie The Dunecht Estate is one of the largest private estates in Aberdeenshire, Scotland at . It is owned by The Hon Charles Anthony Pearson, the younger son of the 3rd Viscount Cowdray. Dunecht’s business interests include farming (in hand and let ...

* Muswellbrook, Hunter Terrace:

St Alban's Anglican Church St Alban's Anglican Church is a heritage-listed Anglican church located at Hunter Terrace, Muswellbrook in the Muswellbrook Shire local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott and built from 18 ...

* Muswellbrook, Main Northern railway:

Muswellbrook railway station Muswellbrook railway station is a Heritage register, heritage-listed railway station located on the Main Northern railway line, Main Northern line in Muswellbrook, New South Wales, Muswellbrook, in the Muswellbrook Shire local government area ...

Demographics

At the 2011 census, there were people in the Muswellbrook Shire local government area, of these 51.7 per cent were male and 48.3 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 of ...

made up 5.4 per cent of the population, which was significantly higher than 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 Muswellbrook Shire was 34 years, which was lower than the national median of 37 years. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 22.8 per cent of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 10.6 per cent of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 47.0 per cent were married and 11.8 per cent were either divorced or separated. Population growth in the Muswellbrook Shire between the 2001 census and the 2006 census was 3.25 per cent; and in the subsequent five years to the 2011 census, population growth was 3.64 per cent. 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 Muswellbrook Shire local government area was approximately half the national average. The median weekly income for residents within the Muswellbrook Shire was marginally higher than the national average. At the 2011 census, the proportion of residents in the Muswellbrook Shire 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 Au ...

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 81 per cent of all residents (national average was 65.2 per cent). In excess of 68% of all residents in the Muswellbrook 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 considerably higher than the national average of 50.2 per cent. Meanwhile, as at the census date, compared to the national average, households in the Muswellbrook Shire local government area had a significantly lower than average proportion (4.3 per cent) where two or more languages are spoken (national average was 20.4 per cent); and a significantly higher proportion (89.7 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).

Council

Current composition and election method

Muswellbrook Shire Council is composed of twelve

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 11 January 2022 and the makeup of the council is as follows: The current Council, elected in 2022, in order of election, is:

Mayors

The following is a list of mayors since the Shire of Denman amalgamated with the Municipality of Muswellbrook to form Muswellbrook Shire Council on 1 July 1979.

References

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