The Upper Hunter Shire is a local government area in the Upper Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire was formed in May 2004 from the Scone Shire and parts of Murrurundi and Merriwa shires.
| Upper Hunter Shire New South Wales | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Location in New South Wales | |||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 32°05′S 150°51′E / 32.083°S 150.850°E | ||||||||||||||
| Population | 14,229 (2021 census)[1] | ||||||||||||||
| • Density | 1.8/km2 (4.7/sq mi) | ||||||||||||||
| Area | 8,096 km2 (3,125.9 sq mi)[2] | ||||||||||||||
| Time zone | AEST (UTC+10) | ||||||||||||||
| • Summer (DST) | AEDT (UTC+11) | ||||||||||||||
| Mayor | Maurice Collison[3] | ||||||||||||||
| Council seat | Scone | ||||||||||||||
| Region | Hunter[4] | ||||||||||||||
| State electorate(s) | Upper Hunter[5] | ||||||||||||||
| Federal division(s) | |||||||||||||||
| Website | Upper Hunter Shire | ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
The mayor of the Upper Hunter Shire Council is Cr. Maurice Collison, following the sudden resignation of Wayne Bedggood as mayor and as a councillor on 9 June 2020. No reason has been given for the sudden resignation.
Council's General Manager is Greg McDonald.[citation needed]
Towns
editThe towns of the Upper Hunter are Scone, Parkville, Aberdeen, Murrurundi, and Merriwa, as well as several villages, including Bunnan, Gundy, Moonan Flat, Ellerston, Wingen, Blandford and Cassilis. Of the towns, only Aberdeen on the Shire's southeastern border is situated on the Hunter River.
Heritage listings
editThe Upper Hunter Shire has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
- Ardglen, Main Northern railway: Ardglen Tunnel[6]
- Merriwa, Bow Street: Colonial Cottage Museum[7]
- Murrurundi, Main Northern railway: Murrurundi railway station[8]
- Murrurundi, Mount Street: Rosedale Cottage[9]
- Scone, 144 Kelly Street: Scone Civic Theatre[10]Scone, New South Wales
- Scone, 41 Kingdon Road: Old Court Theatre[11]
- Scone, Main Northern railway: Scone railway station[12]
- Wingen, Raglan Street: Mountain House, Wingen[13]
Demographics
editAt the 2021 census, there were 14,229 people in the Upper Hunter Shire local government area, of these 50.0 percent were male and 50.0 percent were female. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 7.0 percent of the population, which was higher than the national and state averages of 3.4 and 3.2 percent respectively. The median age of people in the Upper Hunter Shire was 42 years, which was marginally higher than the national median of 38 years. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 18.6 percent of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 21.2 percent of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 47.3 per cent were married and 13.1 per cent were either divorced or separated.[2]
Population growth in the Upper Hunter Shire between the 2006 census and the 2011 census was 6.00 percent. When compared with the total population growth of Australia for the same period, at 8.32 percent, population growth in the Upper Hunter Shire local government area was slightly lower than the national average.[14] The median weekly income for residents within the Upper Hunter Shire was marginally lower than the national average.[2]
At the 2021 census, the proportion of residents in the Upper Hunter Shire local government area who stated their ancestry as Australian or English exceeded 85 percent of all residents (the national average was 62.9 percent). In excess of 29% of all residents in the Upper Hunter Shire nominated a religious affiliation with Anglican at the 2021 census, which was considerably higher than the national average of 9.8 percent. Meanwhile, as at the 2021 census date, compared to the national average, households in the Upper Hunter Shire local government area had a significantly lower than average proportion (5.3 percent) where two or more languages are spoken (the national average was 24.8 percent); and a significantly higher proportion 89.5 percent where only English was spoken at home (the national average was 72.0 percent).[2][1]
| Selected historical census data for the Upper Hunter Shire local government area | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Census year | 2006[14] | 2011[2] | 2016[15] | 2021[1] | ||
| Population | Estimated residents on Census night | 12,976 |  13,754 |
14,112 |
14,229 | |
| LGA rank in terms of size within New South Wales | ||||||
| % of New South Wales population | 0.19% | 0.20% |
 0.18% |
0.17%
| ||
| % of Australian population | 0.07% |  0.07% |
0.06% |
0.05%
| ||
| Cultural and language diversity | ||||||
| Ancestry, top responses |
Australian | – | 36.6% | 35.7% |
45.3%
| |
| English | – | 32.4% | 30.5% |
42.7%
| ||
| Irish | – | 8.2% | 8.7% |
11.7%
| ||
| Scottish | – | 7.9% | 7.6% |
10.5%
| ||
| German | 2.8% | 2.8% |
– | |||
| Australian Aboriginal | – | – | – | 6.4% | ||
| Language, top responses (other than English) |
Mandarin | n/c | 0.2% | 0.3% |
0.7%
| |
| Portuguese | n/c | 0.2% | – | 0.2%
| ||
| Filipino | 0.3% | 0.2% |
0.3% |
0.3%
| ||
| Cantonese | 0.2% | 0.1% |
0.2% |
0.2%
| ||
| Arabic | n/c | 0.1% |
– | – | ||
| Tagalog | 0.1% | 0.1% |
0.2% |
– | ||
| French | – | – | – | 0.2% | ||
| Religious affiliation | ||||||
| Religious affiliation, top responses |
Anglican | 41.3% | 39.3% |
35.1% |
29.9%
| |
| Catholic | 27.2% | 26.9% |
25.9% |
22.9%
| ||
| No Religion | 9.7% | 13.4% |
16.7% |
28.8%
| ||
| Uniting Church | 6.5% | 5.6% |
4.4% |
3.7%
| ||
| Presbyterian and Reformed | 3.2% | 3.3% |
– | – | ||
| Median weekly incomes | ||||||
| Personal income | Median weekly personal income | $438 | $552 |
$630 |
$751
| |
| % of Australian median income | 94.0% | 95.7% |
95.1% |
93.2%
| ||
| Family income | Median weekly family income | A$1,090 | A$1,392 |
A$1,589 |
A$1,914
| |
| % of Australian median income | 93.1% | 94.0% |
91.6% |
90.2%
| ||
| Household income | Median weekly household income | A$882 | A$1,071 |
A$1,242 |
A$1,429
| |
| % of Australian median income | 85.9% | 86.8% |
86.3% |
81.8%
| ||
Council
editCurrent composition and election method
editUpper Hunter Shire Council is composed of nine councillors elected by Optional Preferential Voting as a single ward. 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 4 December 2021 and the makeup of the council is as follows:[16]
| Party | Councillor | |
|---|---|---|
| Independents | Allison McPhee | |
| Independents | Maurice Blackburn | |
| Independents | James Burns | |
| Independents | Tayah Clout | |
| Independents | Ron Campbell | |
| Independents | Elizabeth Flaherty | |
| Independents | Belinda McKenzie | |
| Independents | Lee Watts | |
| Independents | Adam Williamson | |
| Greens | Sue Abbott | |
| Total | 9 | |
Election results
edit2024
edit| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent | Maurice Collison (elected) | 1,197 | 14.6 | −5.5 | |
| Independent | Peter McGill (elected) | 1,173 | 14.3 | ||
| Independent | George Fraser (elected) | 1,038 | 12.7 | ||
| Independent | Troy Stolz (elected) | 893 | 10.9 | ||
| Independent | Tayah Clout (elected) | 653 | 8.0 | +3.0 | |
| Independent | Earle Shields (elected) | 624 | 7.6 | ||
| Independent National | Pat Ryan (elected) | 595 | 7.3 | ||
| Independent | Adam Williamson (elected) | 582 | 7.1 | +1.6 | |
| Independent National | Allison McPhee (elected) | 573 | 7.0 | +1.2 | |
| Independent National | James Burns | 539 | 6.6 | +0.6 | |
| Independent | Christopher Richards | 338 | 4.1 | ||
| Total formal votes | 8,205 | 92.5 | |||
| Informal votes | 669 | 7.5 | |||
| Turnout | 8,874 | 84.1 | |||
Attractions
editThe Upper Hunter is the largest horse-rearing region in Australia.
The Burning Mountain Nature Reserve, near Wingen, is the site of a subterranean coal seam fire that has been burning for several thousand years.[20]
The council also owns several FM rebroadcasters of Radio National and SBS Radio, under the self-help schemes run by those broadcasters.
References
edit- ^ a b c Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Upper Hunter Shire". 2021 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
- ^ a b c d e Australian Bureau of Statistics (31 October 2012). "Upper Hunter Shire (A)". 2011 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
- ^ "September Council Meeting Recap". councilnews.com.au. 26 September 2023. Archived from the original on 2 March 2024. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
- ^ "Upper Hunter". yourcouncil.nsw.gov.au. 135 Liverpool Street Scone NSW 2337. Archived from the original on 1 March 2024. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: location (link) - ^ "The Legislative Assembly District of Upper Hunter". New South Wales Electoral Commission. 4 October 2023. Archived from the original on 1 March 2024. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
- ^ "Ardglen Tunnel". New South Wales State Heritage Register. Department of Planning & Environment. H01021. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC BY 4.0 licence.
- ^ "Cottage Museum". New South Wales State Heritage Register. Department of Planning & Environment. H00259. Retrieved 18 May 2018. Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC BY 4.0 licence.
- ^ "Murrurundi Railway Station group". New South Wales State Heritage Register. Department of Planning & Environment. H01205. Retrieved 18 May 2018. Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC BY 4.0 licence.
- ^ "Rosedale Cottage". New South Wales State Heritage Register. Department of Planning & Environment. H00421. Retrieved 18 May 2018. Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC BY 4.0 licence.
- ^ "Scone Civic Theatre". New South Wales State Heritage Register. Department of Planning & Environment. H01660. Retrieved 18 May 2018. Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC BY 4.0 licence.
- ^ "Old Court Theatre". New South Wales State Heritage Register. Department of Planning & Environment. H00340. Retrieved 18 May 2018. Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC BY 4.0 licence.
- ^ "Scone Railway Station". New South Wales State Heritage Register. Department of Planning & Environment. H01242. Retrieved 18 May 2018. Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC BY 4.0 licence.
- ^ "Mountain House". New South Wales State Heritage Register. Department of Planning & Environment. H00311. Retrieved 18 May 2018. Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC BY 4.0 licence.
- ^ a b Australian Bureau of Statistics (25 October 2007). "Upper Hunter (A)". 2006 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
- ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "-Upper Hunter Shire (A)". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
- ^ Green, Antony. "Upper Hunter Shire". NSW Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 2 March 2024. Retrieved 28 January 2023 – via ABC News.
- ^ "ALLISON MCPHEE". New South Wales Electoral Commission. 16 August 2024. Archived from the original on 6 September 2024. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
- ^ "JAMES BURNS". New South Wales Electoral Commission. 16 August 2024. Archived from the original on 10 September 2024. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
- ^ "PATRICK RYAN". New South Wales Electoral Commission. 16 August 2024. Archived from the original on 6 September 2024. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
- ^ Krajick, Kevin (May 2005). "Fire in the hole". Smithsonian. pp. 54ff. Archived from the original on 2 March 2024. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
