Lockhart 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 State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

in the Riverina region of New South Wales,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The Shire was created in 1906 and is an agricultural and pastoral area. The main towns and villages in the Shire include Lockhart (950 people), The Rock (860),

Yerong Creek Yerong Creek is a town in the Riverina area of southern New South Wales, Australia. It is about south-west of Wagga Wagga on the Olympic Highway. At the , Yerong Creek had a population of 173.Based on the resident population of meshblocks 10494 ...

(145), Pleasant Hills (130) and

Milbrulong Milbrulong is a locality in the central east part of the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The locality is south west of the state capital, Sydney and south west of the regional centre Wagga Wagga in the Lockhart Shire local gove ...

(35). It has 1302 rural residents. The mayor of Lockhart Shire is yet to be determined following the 2012 local government election.

Demographics

Proposed amalgamation

A 2015 review of local government boundaries by the NSW Government Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal recommended that the Lockhart Shire merge with the Corowa and Urana shires to form a new council with an area of and support a population of approximately 16,000. In May 2016 the Minister for Local Government announced that following an independent review of merger proposals, the Government decided that the Corowa and Urana shire councils merge to form the Federation Council; while the Lockhart Shire would not amalgamate.

Heritage listings

Lockhart Shire has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * Chinese Crossing * The Rock railway station

Council

Current composition and election method

Lockhart Shire Council is composed of nine councillors elected proportionally as three separate

wards 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 priso ...

, each electing three councillors. 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. However, in C Ward there was an equal number of candidates, being those below, that nominated for election. There being no additional candidates, the election for C Ward was uncontested. An election was held for A and B Wards. The makeup of the Council is as follows: The current Council, elected in 2016, in order of election by ward, is:

References