The Municipality of Enfield 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 ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

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 municipality was proclaimed as the Borough of Enfield on 17 January 1889 and, with an area of 3.6 square kilometres, included the modern suburbs of

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

, Croydon Park and

Strathfield South Strathfield South is a suburb, in the Inner West of Sydney, Australia in the state of New South Wales, 13 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the Strathfield local government area. The area was historically part of ...

("Druitt Town" until 1890s), with parts of Enfield, Belfield and

Greenacre Greenacre is a suburb in Sydney, located 20 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Most of Greenacre is in the local government area of the City of Canterbury-Bankstown, while a part ...

included in the West Ward. In 1949, the council was split into two, with Central and East Wards being added to the

Municipality of Burwood The Municipality of Burwood (also known as Burwood Council) is a local government area in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The mayor of the Municipality is Cr. John Faker, a member of the Labor Party. The ...

and the West Ward being added into the

Municipality of Strathfield The Municipality of Strathfield is a Local government in Australia, local government area in the inner west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The municipality was incorporated on 2 June 1885. The council area was made up of ...

, with the passing of the ''

Local Government (Areas) Act 1948 Local Government (Areas) Act 1948 was a landmark 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 Queensl ...

''.

Council history and location

Although originally very much of a rural character, by 1888 the population of Enfield area had reached 1500 and 153 local residents submitted a petition on 22 August 1888 to the NSW Governor,

Lord Carrington Peter Alexander Rupert Carington, 6th Baron Carrington, Baron Carington of Upton (6 June 1919 – 9July 2018), was a British Conservative Party politician and hereditary peer who served as Defence Secretary from 1970 to 1974, Foreign Secreta ...

, requesting the formation of a municipality with the name of the "Borough of Enfield" with three wards. The petition was subsequently accepted and the Enfield Borough Council was incorporated on 22 January 1889, consisting of three wards, Central Ward, West Ward and East Ward. The first council was elected on 26 March 1889, with three aldermen elected for each ward: The council first met on 30 March 1889, with Alderman James Eve elected as the first mayor. Initially renting premises for the council chambers in Tennyson Parade, the council moved to a new town hall on the corner of Liverpool Road and The Parade, Enfield, in 1893. On 10 May 1889, the first town clerk was appointed, Edward A. Pyman. From 28 December 1906, following the passing of the ''Local Government Act, 1906'', the council was renamed as the "Municipality of Enfield".

Later history

In April 1916 the

Supreme Court of NSW The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the highest state court of the Australian State of New South Wales. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters, and hears the most serious criminal matters. Whilst the Supreme Court ...

heard an application from an Enfield ratepayer that the serving mayor, Ebenezer Ford, be removed from office. The case rested on the fact that Ford was a director of the Enfield Park Brick Company Ltd, which had recently been given a contract from the municipality. Justice David Ferguson ruled in the plaintiff's favour, with the result that Ford would be removed from office. However Ford appealed the case to the High Court and the case was overturned by a majority of the court. In 1930 the council commissioned and completed the Enfield Council Chambers at the junction of Coronation Parade and Liverpool Road, Enfield, designed in the Inter-war stripped classical style by architects Morrow & Gordon. The foundation stone was laid on 1 March 1930 by the mayor, Stanley Lloyd, and the Minister for Local Government,

Michael Bruxner Lieutenant Colonel Sir Michael Frederick Bruxner (25 March 1882 – 28 March 1970) was an Australian politician and soldier, serving for many years as leader of the Country Party (and its predecessors) in New South Wales. Born in the north ...

. In November 1933 the council opened the Enfield Olympic Swimming Pool in Henley Park, the first chlorinated freshwater public pool in Sydney designed by architects Rudder & Grout. By the end of the Second World War, the NSW Government had realised that its ideas of infrastructure expansion could not be effected by the present system of the patchwork of small municipal councils across Sydney and the Minister for Local Government,

Joseph Cahill John Joseph Cahill (21 January 189122 October 1959), also known as Joe Cahill or J. J. Cahill, was a long-serving New South Wales politician, railway worker, trade unionist and New South Wales Labor Party, Labor Party Premier of New South Wale ...

, passed a bill in 1948 that abolished a significant number of those councils. Under the

, Enfield Municipal Council was split in two, with Central and East Wards being added to the

and the West Ward being added into the

. The new Strathfield council was divided into two wards – First Ward and Second Ward, with the Second Ward composed of three aldermen from the Enfield Council area. Former Enfield Aldermen Allan Stanley Hanson, James Clarence Morgan, and William James Weiss were elected to the Second Ward in the 1948 municipal election.

Mayors

Town clerks

References

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