City of Greater Taree

The Greater Taree City Council (GTCC) was a

Demographics

At the last

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 as Australian or Anglo-Saxon exceeded 83% of all residents (national average was 65.2%). In excess of 62% of all residents in the GTCC had nominated a religious affiliation with Christianity 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%).^[1]

Selected historical census data for Greater Taree local government area
Census year			2001[2]	2006[3]	2011[1]
Population		Estimated residents on Census night	42,838	45,145	46,541
		LGA rank in terms of size within New South Wales
		% of New South Wales population			0.67%
		% of Australian population	0.23%	0.23%	0.22%
Cultural and language diversity
Ancestry, top responses		Australian			34.3%
		English			33.1%
		Irish			8.0%
		Scottish			7.6%
		German			2.9%
Language, top responses (other than English)		German	0.2%	0.2%	0.3%
		Italian	0.2%	0.1%	0.1%
		Dutch	0.2%	0.2%	0.1%
		Cantonese	0.1%	0.2%	0.1%
		French	n/c	n/c	0.1%
Religious affiliation
Religious affiliation, top responses		Anglican	34.9%	33.3%	32.3%
		Catholic	20.0%	20.1%	19.2%
		No Religion	11.5%	14.8%	18.4%
		Uniting Church	8.7%	7.5%	6.8%
		Presbyterian and Reformed	5.1%	4.7%	4.4%
Median weekly incomes
Personal income		Median weekly personal income		A$336	A$395
		% of Australian median income		72.1%	68.5%
Family income		Median weekly family income		A$635	A$930
		% of Australian median income		61.8%	62.8%
Household income		Median weekly household income		A$798	A$770
		% of Australian median income		68.1%	62.4%

Council

GTCC was last formed with nine

The current council, elected in 2012, in order of election, is:[5]

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.^[6]

At an inquiry of the Boundaries Commission at Taree in 1976, the Dungog Shire 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.^[6] 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.^[6][7]

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 and Greater Taree councils was proclaimed on 12 May 2016, and followed the submission for such an amalgamation by Gloucester Shire Council.^[8]

References