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 federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

on the Mid North Coast of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, until 12 May 2016 when it was amalgamated to form part of the Mid-Coast Council. It was originally formed in 1981 from the Manning Shire, and the Taree and Wingham Municipal Councils. The council was centred on Taree, located adjacent to the

Manning River Manning River (Birpai language, Biripi: ''Boolumbahtee''), an open and Breakwater (structure), trained mature wind wave, wave dominated estuary#Lagoon-type or bar-built, barrier estuary, is located in the Northern Tablelands and Mid North Coast ...

, 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 corporation, 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 responsibilitie ...

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

Towns and localities

Towns and localities included in the former GTCC were: * Taree * Bobin * Bohnock * Brinawa * Burrell Creek * Cedar Party * Coopernook * Coralville * Croki * Crowdy Head * Cundletown * 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 * Lansdowne * Manning Point * Marlee * Mitchells Island * Mooral Creek *

Moorland Moorland or moor is a type of Habitat (ecology), habitat found in upland (geology), upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and the biomes of montane grasslands and shrublands, characterised by low-growing vegetation on So ...

* 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 ...

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

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 Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups, w ...

made up 5.4% of the population, double the national average. The

median The median of a set of numbers is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a Sample (statistics), data sample, a statistical population, population, or a probability distribution. For a data set, it may be thought of as the “ ...

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 ...

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 Aus ...

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

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 a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural ...

affiliation with

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

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

Council

GTCC was last formed with nine

councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...

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 Taree 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. 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 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 spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

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

References

{{Authority control Taree Mid North Coast Taree Taree