Dungog Shire is 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 ...

in the

Hunter Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products ( fur/ hide, bone/tusks, ...

region 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. The Shire is situated adjacent to the Barrington Tops and consists predominantly of very rugged to hilly country which becomes less rugged from north to south. Dungog Shire was formed on 1 July 1958 through the amalgamation of Wallarobba Shire with the Municipality of Dungog. The

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 the Dungog Shire Council is Clr. John Connors, an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

politician.

Main towns/villages

The major population centres within the Shire are Dungog,

Gresford Gresford (; ) is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. According to the 2001 Census, the population of the community, which also includes the village of Marford, was 5,334, reducing to 5,010 at the 2011 census. The Grad ...

, Paterson, Vacy, Martins Creek and Clarence Town. It also includes three main rivers, the Paterson River and Allyn River to the west and the Williams River to the east.

Demographics

At the , there were people in the Dungog Shire local government area, of these 50.3 per cent were male and 49.7 per cent were female. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 3.2 per cent of the population, which was higher than the national and state averages of 2.5 per cent. 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 Dungog Shire was 44 years, significantly higher than the national median of 37 years. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 18.8 per cent of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 17.6 per cent of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 54.7 per cent were married and 11.5 per cent were either divorced or separated. Population growth in the Dungog Shire between the 2001 census and the was 2.37 per cent; and in the subsequent five years to the , population growth was 3.18 per cent. When compared with total population growth of Australia for the same periods, being 5.78 per cent and 8.32 per cent respectively, population growth in the Dungog Shire local government area was approximately one-third of the national average. The median weekly income for residents within the Dungog Shire was lower than the national average. At the , the proportion of residents in the Dungog Shire 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 ...

or Anglo-Celtic exceeded 85 per cent of all residents (national average was 65.2 per cent). In excess of 56% of all residents in the Dungog Shire nominated a

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affiliation with

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at the , which was slightly higher than the national average of 50.2 per cent. Meanwhile, as at the census date, compared to the national average, households in the Dungog Shire local government area had a significantly lower than average proportion (2.0 per cent) where two or more languages are spoken (national average was 20.4 per cent); and a significantly higher proportion (95.0 per cent) where English only was spoken at home (national average was 76.8 per cent).

Council

Current composition and election method

Dungog Shire Council is composed of 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 elected proportionally in three separate wards, each electing three councillors. All councillors are elected for a fixed four-year term of office. The

is elected by the councillors at the first meeting of the council. The most recent election was held on 17 September 2017. An election was held in the A, B and C Wards. The makeup of the council is as follows: The current Council, elected in 2017, by ward, is:

Election results

2021

Proposed merger

A 2015 review of local government boundaries by the NSW Government Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal recommended that the Dungog Shire merge with adjoining councils. The government considered two proposals. The first proposed a merger of Dungog Shire and Mid-Coast Council councils to form a new council with an area of and support a population of approximately 14,000. Following the lodging of an alternate proposal by Mid-Coast Council Council to amalgamate 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, the NSW Minister for Local Government proposed a merger between the Dungog Shire and

City of Maitland The City of Maitland is a local government area in the lower Hunter region of New South Wales, Australia. The area is situated adjacent to the New England Highway and the Hunter railway line. The mayor of the City of Maitland is Cr. Philip ...

. In response to the government's proposal to merge the

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

and Port Stephens local government areas, Port Stephens Council has formally asked the government to evaluate a merger between Port Stephens and Dungog Shire. Although the Dungog Shire mayor is opposed to this merger, it is reported that the proposal has community support within both local government areas. The proposal was debated in the New South Wales parliament on 23 March 2016, with the Minister for Local Government confirming that the proposal had been referred to the Office of Local Government.

References

{{Authority control 1958 establishments in Australia