The Upper Hunter Shire is a local government area in the Upper Hunter 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. The Shire was formed in May 2004 from the Scone Shire and parts of

Murrurundi Murrurundi( ), is a rural town located in the Upper Hunter Shire, in the Upper Hunter region of New South Wales, Australia. Murrurundi is situated northwest by road from Newcastle and north from Sydney. At the the town had a population of ...

and Merriwa shires. The Mayor of the Upper Hunter Shire Council is Cr. Maurice Collison, following the sudden resignation of Wayne Bedggood as Mayor and as a Councillor on 9 June 2020. No reason has been given for the sudden resignation. Council's General Manager is Greg McDonald

Towns

The towns of the Upper Hunter are

Scone A scone is a baked good, usually made of either wheat or oatmeal with baking powder as a leavening agent, and baked on sheet pans. A scone is often slightly sweetened and occasionally glazed with egg wash. The scone is a basic component ...

, Parkville,

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, and Merriwa, as well as several villages, including

Bunnan Bunnan is a town in the Upper Hunter Shire in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is located on Bunnan Road east of Merriwa about 270 kilometres north of Sydney, and is part of the Hunter (federal) and Upper Hunter The Up ...

Gundy Gundy is a locality in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. The locality is in the Upper Hunter Shire local government area and on the Pages River, north of the state capital, Sydney. At the 2011 census, Gundy had a population of ...

, Moonan Flat, Ellerston, Wingen,

Blandford Blandford Forum ( ), commonly Blandford, is a market town in Dorset, England, sited by the River Stour about northwest of Poole. It was the administrative headquarters of North Dorset District until April 2019, when this was abolished and ...

and Cassilis. Of the towns, only Aberdeen on the Shire's southeastern border is situated on the

Hunter River Hunter River may refer to: *Hunter River (New South Wales), Australia *Hunter River (Western Australia) *Hunter River, New Zealand *Hunter River (Prince Edward Island), Canada **Hunter River, Prince Edward Island, community on Hunter River, Canada ...

Heritage listings

The Upper Hunter Shire has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * Ardglen, Main Northern railway:

Ardglen Tunnel The Ardglen Tunnel, also called the Liverpool Range tunnel, is a heritage-listed summit rail tunnel located on the Main North railway between Ardglen in the Liverpool Plains Shire and Murrurundi in the Upper Hunter Shire local government area ...

* Merriwa, Bow Street: Colonial Cottage Museum * Murrurundi, Main Northern railway:

Murrurundi railway station Murrurundi railway station is a heritage-listed railway station located on the Main Northern line in Murrurundi in the Upper Hunter Shire local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was built between 1872 and 1917. It is also known ...

* Murrurundi, Mount Street:

Rosedale Cottage The Rosedale Cottage is a heritage-listed residence at Mount Street, Murrurundi, Upper Hunter Shire, New South Wales, Australia. It was built from 1845 to 1850. The property is privately owned. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage ...

* Scone, 144 Kelly Street: Scone Civic Theatre

Scone, New South Wales Scone is a town in the Upper Hunter Shire in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. At the 2006 census, Scone had a population of 5,624 people. It is on the New England Highway north of Muswellbrook about 270 kilometres north of Sydn ...

* Scone, 41 Kingdon Road: Old Court Theatre * Scone, Main Northern railway:

Scone railway station Scone railway station is a heritage-listed railway station located on the Main Northern line in Scone, in the Upper Hunter Shire local government area of New South Wales, Australia. The station serves the town of Scone and opened on 17 April 1 ...

* Wingen, Raglan Street: Mountain House, Wingen

Demographics

At the , there were people in the Upper Hunter Shire local government area, of these 49.9 percent were male and 50.1 percent 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 3.9 percent of the population, which was higher than the national and state averages of 2.5 percent. The median age of people in the Upper Hunter Shire was 39 years, which was marginally higher than the national median of 37 years. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 21.2 percent of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 16.4 percent of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 51.6 per cent were married and 11.6 per cent were either divorced or separated. Population growth in the Upper Hunter Shire between the and the 2011 census was 6.00 percent. When compared with the total population growth of Australia for the same period, at 8.32 percent, population growth in the Upper Hunter Shire local government area was slightly lower than the national average. The median weekly income for residents within the Upper Hunter Shire was marginally lower than the national average. At the 2011 census, the proportion of residents in the Upper Hunter Shire local government area who stated their ancestry as

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 ...

or Anglo-Saxon exceeded 85 percent of all residents (national average was 65.2 percent). In excess of 75% of all residents in the Upper Hunter Shire nominated a

religious Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatur ...

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 percent. Meanwhile, as at the census date, compared to the national average, households in the Upper Hunter Shire local government area had a significantly lower than average proportion (3.1 percent) where two or more languages are spoken (national average was 20.4 percent); and a significantly higher proportion (93.9 percent) 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 percent).

Council

Current composition and election method

Upper Hunter 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: At the 2016 election, there were 10,094 people enrolled to vote in the local government area. The current Council, elected in 2016, in order of election, is:

Attractions

The Upper Hunter is the largest horse-rearing region in Australia. The

Burning Mountain Burning Mountain, the common name for Mount Wingen, is a hill near Wingen, New South Wales, Australia, approximately north of Sydney just off the New England Highway. It takes its name from a smouldering coal seam running underground through ...

Nature Reserve, near Wingen, is the site of a subterranean

coal seam fire A coal-seam fire is a burning of an outcrop or underground coal seam. Most coal-seam fires exhibit smouldering combustion, particularly underground coal-seam fires, because of limited atmospheric oxygen availability. Coal-seam fire instances ...

that has been burning for several thousand years. The council also owns several FM rebroadcasters of ABC Radio National and

SBS Radio SBS Radio is an Australian radio network owned by the Special Broadcasting Service directed towards newly arrived immigrants in Australia. SBS Radio originally began as two stations based in Melbourne and Sydney, set up to provide pre-recorded ...

, under the self-help schemes run by those broadcasters.

References

External links

* http://www.upperhunter.nsw.gov.au/ {{Authority control