The South Sydney City Council 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 ...

covering the inner-eastern and inner-Southern Sydney suburbs of Sydney. It was forcibly merged with the

Sydney City Council The City of Sydney is the local government area covering the Sydney central business district and surrounding inner city suburbs of the greater metropolitan area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established by Act of Parliament in 1842, th ...

by the New South Wales State Government in 2004. The council chambers were located in the Erskineville Town Hall, with the administrative offices at Joynton Avenue in Zetland. The administrative offices were relocated to the TNT tower building in Redfern in 2001.

History

First creation, 1968–1981

The forerunner of the City of South Sydney was the Northcott Municipal Council (named after the late Governor Sir John Northcott, who served from 1946 to 1957 as the first Australian Governor of NSW), which was created on 1 January 1968 when the City of Sydney boundaries were changed. Newtown,

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

Erskineville Erskineville is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 6 kilometres south west of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney. Erskinevill ...

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

, Waterloo and Redfern were combined to form the new council. The council was renamed the South Sydney Municipal Council on 1 December 1968, which was itself abolished on 1 January 1982 and all of these areas were returned to the City of Sydney.

Second creation, 1989–2004

In the late 1980s the New South Wales State Government perceived that the Sydney City Council was insufficiently committed to some major infrastructural projects such as the

monorail A monorail (from "mono", meaning "one", and "rail") is a railway in which the track consists of a single rail or a beam. Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accurately, ...

and the redevelopment of

Darling Harbour Darling Harbour is a harbour adjacent to the city centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia that is made up of a large recreational and pedestrian precinct that is situated on western outskirts of the Sydney central business district. Origin ...

. In March 1987 the New South Wales State Government dismissed the Council of the City of Sydney and replaced it with commissioners appointed by the NSW Government who administered the city until 31 December 1988. A special inquiry and subsequent report (the Goran Report) advocated separating the central business district (CBD) from surrounding suburbs and replacing municipal government in the CBD with a special commission to ensure it was governed as a financial, commercial and tourist centre. In 1989, a new South Sydney City Council was created with the pre-1982 areas but also including most of

Surry Hills Surry Hills is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Surry Hills is immediately south-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Sydney. Surry Hills is surroun ...

and the eastern side of the City from the Domain to Boundary Road, including

Woolloomooloo Woolloomooloo ( ) is a harbourside, inner-city eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Woolloomooloo is 1.5 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Sydney. It is in a low ...

and Kings Cross,

Potts Point Potts Point is a small and densely populated suburb in inner-city Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Potts Point is located east of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney. Potts Po ...

and Elizabeth Bay which had not previously been a part of South Sydney. The South Sydney City Council was established on 1 January 1989 under th
City of Sydney Act 1988
with nine

aldermen An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members them ...

(Councillors from 1993) divided across three

wards 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 priso ...

: North, South and East wards. The first election for the City of South Sydney was held on 3 December 1988. In 2002, parts of the City of South Sydney and Leichhardt were proposed to be merged with the City of Sydney. In 2003, Potts Point, Elizabeth Bay, Kings Cross, Darlinghurst, Chippendale, Ultimo, and parts of Rushcutters Bay, Camperdown and Darlington were transferred from South Sydney to the City of Sydney. As the financial viability of the residual City of South Sydney was under threat as a result, the City of Sydney and the City of South Sydney were combined by proclamation on 6 February 2004. The 2003 merger was perceived as an attempt to bring more working class Labor Party voters into the City of Sydney.O'Rourke, C
Costly loss for South Sydney as court rules on council turf war
''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'', 21 August 2001.

Mayors

Northcott/South Sydney Municipality, 1968–1982

City of South Sydney, 1989–2004

References

{{NSW former LGAs , state=collapsed South Sydney Northcott South Sydney South Sydney South Sydney South Sydney