Municipality of Adamstown

Municipality of Adamstown was a Local Government Area of New South Wales from 1886 until 1938 when it became part of the City of Greater Newcastle. It was named after and comprised the township of Adamstown near Newcastle.

Municipality of Adamstown New South Wales
Adamstown Council Chambers c 1891
Population	3,959 (1921 census)[1]
• Density	1,320/km2 (3,420/sq mi)
Established	31 December 1885
Abolished	2 April 1938
Area	3.0 km2 (1.2 sq mi)
Region	Hunter Region
County	Northumberland
Parish	Kahibah
LGAs around Municipality of Adamstown: Lambton Waratah Hamilton New Lambton Municipality of Adamstown Merewether Wallsend Lake Macquarie Merewether

The township had been established in 1869. The Municipalities Act of 1857 provided that an area could become a municipality if there was a petition of at least 50 people who would be ratepayers in the district. Most of the nearby towns had become municipalities in the 1870s and 209 people signed a petition for Adamstown that was published in March 1885.^[2] The main reason for becoming a municipality was for roads, drains and nightsoil collection.^[3] The major employer in town was coal mining. The municipality was proclaimed on 31 December 1885 and its main boundaries were Hamilton and Merewether to the east, while the railway formed the north western boundary separating it from New Lambton.^[4]

The first council election was held on Saturday 6 March 1886, electing 9 aldermen to serve a 3-year term,^[5] including Alfred Edden, who was President of the Waratah colliery lodge.^[6] The aldermen unanimously elected Thomas Weir as the inaugural mayor of Adamstown.^[7]

Women were not eligible to serve on the council until 1919, however no women were subsequently elected.^[8]

There had been proposals to merge the "pocket-handkerchief municipalities" surrounding Newcastle since 1891, including the Greater Newcastle Royal Commission in 1919, however this did not eventuate until 1937 when the Greater Newcastle Act 1937 merged Adamstown and 9 other municipalities with City of Newcastle to create the City of Greater Newcastle.^[9] The date of the amalgamation was 2 April 1938.^[10]

Mayors

No	Mayors	Start	End	Time in office	Notes
1	Thomas Weir	10 March 1886	9 February 1887	336 days	[7]
2	Henry Evans	10 February 1887	14 February 1888	1 year, 4 days	[11]
3	Thomas Hetherington	15 February 1888	11 February 1889	362 days	[12]
4	Alfred Edden	12 February 1889	10 February 1890	363 days	[13]
5	Thomas Frith	11 February 1890	9 February 1891	363 days
(4)	Alfred Edden	10 February 1891	5 July 1891	145 days
6	John Sheedy	6 July 1891	8 February 1892	217 days
7	Richard Adams	9 February 1892	13 February 1893	1 year, 4 days
8	John Carr	14 February 1893	12 February 1894	363 days
9	John Thwaites	13 February 1894	11 February 1895	363 days	[14]
(6)	John Sheedy	12 February 1895	26 July 1895	164 days
9	John Thwaites	27 July 1895	10 February 1896	198 days
10	Jeremiah Jennings	11 February 1896	8 February 1897	363 days
11	Jeremiah Robinson	9 February 1897	7 February 1898	363 days	[15]
12	Matthew Lydon	8 February 1898	13 February 1899	1 year, 5 days
13	James Gray	14 February 1899	12 February 1900	363 days
14	William Court	13 February 1900	13 February 1901	1 year, 0 days
(9)	John Thwaites	14 February 1901	11 February 1902	362 days
(13)	James Gray	12 February 1902	9 February 1903	362 days
(12)	Matthew Lydon	10 February 1903	8 February 1904	363 days
(11)	Jeremiah Robinson	9 February 1904	9 February 1905	1 year, 0 days
15	Stephen Powell	10 February 1905	12 February 1906	1 year, 2 days
(14)	William Court	13 February 1906	4 February 1907	356 days
16	Thomas Rutherford	5 February 1907	6 February 1908	1 year, 1 day
17	Theophilus Robin	7 February 1908	7 February 1909	1 year, 0 days
18	James Bullerwell	8 February 1909	10 February 1910	1 year, 2 days
19	John Gellately	11 February 1910	2 February 1911	356 days
20	William Angus	3 February 1911	4 February 1912	1 year, 1 day
21	Anthony Shaw	5 February 1912	2 February 1913	363 days
(17)	Theophilus Robin	3 February 1913	7 February 1915	2 years, 4 days
(13)	James Gray	8 February 1915	8 February 1916	1 year, 0 days
(17)	Theophilus Robin	9 February 1916	5 February 1918	1 year, 361 days
22	Allan Cameron	6 February 1918	24 February 1920	2 years, 18 days
23	Benjamin Saunders	25 February 1920	21 December 1920	300 days
24	Joshua Arthur	22 December 1920	11 December 1923	2 years, 354 days
25	James Cousins	12 December 1923	9 December 1924	363 days
26	Robert Coote	10 December 1924	7 December 1926	1 year, 362 days
27	Frank Moxey	8 December 1926	4 December 1928	1 year, 362 days
(25)	James Cousins	7 December 1927	4 December 1928	363 days
28	James Wiggins	5 December 1928	3 December 1929	363 days
29	David Lloyd	4 December 1929	2 December 1930	363 days
(22)	Allan Cameron	3 December 1930	7 December 1931	1 year, 4 days
30	John Williams	8 December 1931	3 December 1932	361 days
31	Albert Bartley	4 December 1932	9 December 1934	2 years, 5 days
(29)	David Lloyd	11 December 1933	9 December 1934	363 days
(22)	Allan Cameron	10 December 1934	8 December 1936	1 year, 364 days
25	James Cousins	14 April 1936	8 December 1936	238 days
32	William Warnock	9 December 1936	1 April 1938	1 year, 113 days

This section is an excerpt from List of mayors of Adamstown.[edit]

People who served as the mayor of the Municipality of Adamstown are:^[8]

James Wiggins, Mayor (1928–29)

James Bullerwell, Mayor (1909-10)

James Gray, Mayor (1899–1900, 1902–03, 1915–16)

Jeremiah Robinson, Mayor (1897–98, 1904)

• 
  Alfred Edden, Mayor (1889-90, 1891)
• 
  Thomas Hetherington, Mayor (1888-89)

References

1. Docherty, James (1977). The Second City: Social and Urban Change in Newcastle, New South Wales 1900 - c. 1929 (PDF) (Thesis). Australian National University. p. 299. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
2. "Adamstown: petition for a municipality (102)". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales. 13 March 1885. p. 1637. Retrieved 3 October 2021 – via Trove.
3. Docherty (1977), p. 246.
4. "Proclamation (10)". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales. 8 January 1886. p. 161. Retrieved 27 November 2018 – via Trove.
5. "Municipal election: Adamstown". Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate. 8 March 1886. p. 3. Retrieved 3 October 2021 – via Trove.
6. McMinn, W G. "Edden, Alfred (1850–1930)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
7. "Adamstown council". Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate. 11 March 1886. p. 5. Retrieved 3 October 2021 – via Trove.
8. "Adamstown Aldermen (1886-1938)". Retrieved 3 October 2021.
9. Greater Newcastle Act 1937 (NSW)
10. "Greater Newcastle Act 1937 - Proclamation (5)". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales. 14 January 1938. p. 82. Retrieved 3 October 2021 – via Trove.
11. "Mr Henry Evans, Mayor of Adamstown". Australian Town and Country Journal. 30 July 1887. p. 10. Retrieved 4 October 2021 – via Trove.
12. "Mr Thomas Hetherington, Mayor of Adamstown". Australian Town and Country Journal. 15 September 1888. p. 28. Retrieved 4 October 2021 – via Trove.
13. "Mr Alfred Edden, Mayor of Adamstown". Australian Town and Country Journal. 17 August 1889. p. 28. Retrieved 4 October 2021 – via Trove.
14. "John Thaites, Mayor of Adamstown". Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate. 17 October 1894. p. 5. Retrieved 4 October 2021 – via Trove.
15. "Jeremiah Robinson, mayor of Adamstown". Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate. 22 May 1897. p. 5. Retrieved 4 October 2021 – via Trove.

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