The Greater Taree City Council (GTCC) 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 ...

on the

Mid North Coast The Mid North Coast is a country region in the north-east of the state of New South Wales, Australia. The region covers the mid northern coast of the state, beginning from Port Stephens north of Sydney, and extending as far north as Woolgool ...

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 country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, until 12 May 2016 when it was amalgamated to form part of the

Mid-Coast Council MidCoast Council is a local government area (LGA) located in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. The council was formed on 12 May 2016 through a merger of the Gloucester Shire, Great Lakes and City of Greater Taree councils ...

. It was originally formed in 1981 from the Manning Shire, and the Taree and Wingham Municipal Councils. The council was centred on

Taree Taree is a town on the Mid North Coast, New South Wales, Australia. Taree and nearby Cundletown were settled in 1831 by William Wynter. Since then Taree has grown to a population of 26,381, and is the centre of a significant agricultural distr ...

, located adjacent to the

Manning River Manning River (Biripi: ''Boolumbahtee''), an open and trained mature wave dominated barrier estuary, is located in the Northern Tablelands and Mid North Coast districts of New South Wales, Australia. It is the only double delta river in the ...

, the Pacific Highway and the North Coast railway line. The last serving

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 ...

of GTCC was Cr. Paul Hogan, an unaligned politician.

Towns and localities

Towns and localities included in the former GTCC were: *

* Wingham * Bobin * Bohnock * Brinawa * Burrell Creek * Cedar Party *

Coopernook Coopernook is a small town in mid-north New South Wales, Australia (post code 2426). It is located 24 kilometres north of Taree and 11 kilometres west of Harrington and is administered by Mid-Coast Council. At the 2016 census, Coopernook and the ...

* Coralville * Croki *

Crowdy Head Crowdy Head is a headland on the coast of New South Wales, Australia, 7km from Harrington between Forster and Port Macquarie. The head is mostly cleared and was quarried between 1895 and 1901 for the Manning River Manning River (Biripi: '' ...

Cundletown Cundletown is a town on the Mid North Coast, New South Wales, Australia. Cundletown and the nearby larger town of Taree were both settled in 1831 by William Wynter. Cundletown had a population of 2,054 as of the 2016 census. and is a significant ...

* Diamond Beach * Dumaresq Island * Dyers Crossing * Elands * Ghinni Ghinni * Glenwarrin * Hallidays Point * Hannam Vale * Harrington * Johns River * Jones Island * Kippaxs * Killabakh * Kolodong * Koorainghat * Krambach *

Langley Vale Langley Vale is a village in the Borough of Epsom and Ewell, in Surrey, England, approximately south of central London. As its name suggests, the village is in a dry valley between Epsom Downs and Walton Downs. Historically part of the Ashtead ...

* Lansdowne * Manning Point * Marlee * Mitchells Island * Mooral Creek *

Moorland Moorland or moor is a type of habitat found in upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and montane grasslands and shrublands biomes, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils. Moorland, nowadays, generall ...

* Mount George * Old Bar * Oxley Island * Pampoolah * Possum Brush *

Purfleet Purfleet-on-Thames is a town in the Thurrock unitary authority, Essex, England. It is bordered by the A13 road to the north and the River Thames to the south and is within the easternmost part of the M25 motorway but just outside the Greater Lon ...

* Rawson River * Rocks Crossing * Stewarts River * Tinonee * Upper Lansdowne * Waitui * Wallabi Point * Wang Wauk * Wherrol Flat

Demographics

At the last 2011 Census performed for the local government area, there were people in the GTCC government area, of these 48.7% were male and 51.3% were female. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 5.4% of the population, double the national average. 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 f ...

age of people in the City of Greater Taree was 46 years; some nine years higher than the national median. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 18.6% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 22.5% of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 50.0% were married and 14.8% were either divorced or separated. Population growth in the GTCC between the 2001 Census and the 2006 Census has been 5.39%; and in the subsequent five years was 3.09%. When compared with total population growth of Australia for the same periods, being 5.78% and 8.32% respectively, population growth in the GTCC local government area was significantly lower than the national average. The median weekly income for residents within the GTCC was significantly below the national average, being one of the factors that place the GTCC in an area of social disadvantage. At the 2011 Census, the last to be performed for the former council, the proportion of residents in the 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 w ...

as Australian or

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a 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-Saxons happened wit ...

exceeded 83% of all residents (national average was 65.2%). In excess of 62% of all residents in the GTCC had 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 popula ...

at the 2011 Census, which was higher than the national average of 50.2%. Meanwhile, as at the Census date, compared to the national average, households in the GTCC government area had a significantly lower than average proportion (3.4%) where two or more languages are spoken (national average was 20.4%); and a significantly higher proportion (93.3%) 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 ...

only was spoken at home (national average was 76.8%).

Council

Previous composition and election method

GTCC was last formed with 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, including the

, for a fixed four-year term of office. The mayor was directly elected while eight other councillors were elected proportionally as one entire

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 ...

. The last election was held on 8 September 2012, and the makeup of the council when it was amalgamated into the Mid-Coast Council, including the mayor, was as follows: The current Council, elected in 2012, in order of election, is:

History

The first movement to establish the GTCC began in November 1959. The Taree Municipal Council applied to the Department of Local Government to extend its boundaries to the coastal area between Old Bar and Seal Rocks. At an inquiry of the Boundaries Commission at Taree in 1976, the

Dungog Shire Dungog Shire is a local government area in the Hunter region of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire is situated adjacent to the Barrington Tops and consists predominantly of very rugged to hilly country which becomes less rugged from north t ...

proposed that the areas covered by the shires of Dungog, Gloucester, Great Lakes and Manning and the municipalities of

and Wingham be combined into two areas "to elevate local government to its proper role". At this stage, Taree Municipal Council proposed only their merger with the Municipality of Wingham. A decision was postponed for five years. Due to the town of Taree not having a town hall, the Taree Municipal Council could not be renamed to The Greater Taree City Council as planned. However, by merging the Municipality of Taree and Municipality of Wingham together so that Taree could claim the town hall in Wingham as they own, only then could the formation of the Greater Taree City Council be formed. On 1 January 1981, the City of Greater Taree was proclaimed, encompassing the Municipalities of Taree and Wingham and the Manning Valley Shire. A 2015 review of local government boundaries by the

NSW Government The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales. It is currently held by a coalition of the Liberal Party and the National Party. The Governmen ...

Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal had recommended the merger of a number of adjoining councils. In the initial proposal, the City of Greater Taree was not included in any amalgamation proposals. The amalgamation of the Gloucester,

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

and Greater Taree councils was proclaimed on 12 May 2016, and followed the submission for such an amalgamation by

Gloucester Shire Gloucester Shire ( ) was a local government area in the Mid North Coast and Upper Hunter regions of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire was situated adjacent to the Bucketts Way and the North Coast railway line. The last mayor of the Glo ...

Council.

References

{{Authority control

Mid North Coast Taree