History of City of Sydney council

The settlement of Sydney was established in 1788, when Arthur Phillip led the 11 ships of the First Fleet into Port Jackson. The settlement that sprung up around Sydney Cove was a convict colony, ruled by governors appointed by London.

In 1823 the New South Wales Legislative Council was established, although the governor retained the power to appoint officials and override decisions.

By the 1840s convict transportation had virtually ended and the colonists wanted more control over their affairs. An Imperial Act of 1842 created a new Legislative Council where one third was nominated and two thirds elected by property holders. In the same year Sydney was incorporated as a city. This was despite the city being an unruly village of dusty, poorly lit lanes with unhygienic dwellings without water or sanitation, and where cattle were routinely driven through the streets. The governor nominated magistrate Charles Windeyer as interim mayor until elections were held.

At the first municipal election, on 3 November 1842, about 3,000 men were eligible to vote. Candidates had to hold property worth £1000, and there were to be six wards each represented by four councillors. Electors chose local businessmen to run Sydney’s affairs, with John Hosking being the first mayor.

At the time the City of Sydney took up an area of 11.65 square kilometres, taking in present-day Woolloomooloo, Surry Hills, Chippendale and Pyrmont. Six wards were marked by boundary posts, one of which survives at the front of Sydney Square, by Town Hall.

At the first 1842 council election voters had to occupy property with an annual value of £25 for at least 1 year. This low property qualification alarmed conservatives who warned of the dangers of democracy. In 1879 the vote was extended to those who paid rates, whether they were owners or renters. By 1900 even lodgers and women could vote, although they had to be property-holders. In 1941 all resident adults were entitled to vote in council elections. Since then there have been numerous tinkerings with the franchise, as the party in power of the state government looks to slant the vote in the direction that favours its own interests.

At the first Sydney Council meeting, a merchant and contractor, John Hosking, became the first elected mayor of Sydney. However, he had to resign less than a year later when he went bankrupt in the financial depression of the early 1840s.

The first Municipal Council meeting was held in the George Street Market Building (now the site of the Queen Victoria Building) on 9 November 1842. From 1842 to 1843, quarterly meetings took place at the Royal Hotel in George Street and then at the Pultenay Hotel in York Street.

In April 1843 Council suggested that if the graves were removed from the old, disused and overgrown burial ground in George Street, the land could be used for a town hall.

But the NSW Legislative Council opposed the idea of disinterring the dead so the City of Sydney continued searching for a permanent site, meeting at various hotels in the meantime. By 1869 it secured the George Street site and the graves were moved to Sydney’s new Rookwood Necropolis. Sydney Town Hall was occupied in September 1874.

The City boundaries have been fairly elastic. In 1909, the Municipality of Camperdown was amalgamated with the City and in 1949 Alexandria, Darlington, Erskineville, Newtown, Redfern, Waterloo, Paddington and Glebe were included. Most of these suburbs were shed again in 1968, largely making up the new municipality of South Sydney.

In 1982, South Sydney was brought back into the City, only to be carved off again in 1988, when the City Council area contracted to 6.19 square kilometres, smaller than its original size. The entire area covered by South Sydney Council and parts of Leichhardt Council were returned to the City's control by 2004.

Municipalities in NSW are established by an act of the state government, which determines their powers and funding. For much of its existence the City has competed with the state government for control of the city. The Council of 1842 had insufficient funds to provide adequate services so the state government abolished it in October 1853, and administered the city for the next four years through three commissioners. The new New South Wales Legislative Assembly restored the Council in 1856.

Council has been dissolved three times since; in 1928-30, 1967-69 and 1987-88 when, amid allegations of incompetence and corruption, Council was dismissed by the state government and the city was administered by unelected commissioners.

The state government also has the power to remove whole districts from Council, as it did with the creation of the Sydney Cove Redevelopment Authority in 1968 and the Darling Harbour Authority in 1984.

Local authorities have also had powers and responsibilities removed from them and taken over by the state government.

The City of Sydney provides a wide range of community services and facilities to residents, business and tourists but many of its original functions have been taken over by the state government and its authorities.

The police

One of the reasons the City was formed was to set up the local police force, which would be paid by the City and controlled by the colony. After four years of failing to levy this unpopular rate, the City passed control back to the government so that the police force ultimately became a state rather than a local matter.

Markets

In the 19th century, markets formed an important part of Sydney's commercial sector, and tolls raised from running the wholesale and retail markets was a large part of revenue. They were also unhygienic and unruly places where unscrupulous trading practices were common. Hence many of the earliest City by-laws were attempts at maintaining law and order.

Initially the markets were located in the centre of town, but rising land prices and changing transport methods eventually forced them further out. In 1945 the state government assumed control of the fish market, and later in 1968 the State Marketing Authority was formed to take over the fruit and vegetable markets. Several of Sydney's old city market buildings survive under other guises.

The George Street markets expanded in 1858, deteriorated by 1891 and were replaced by the Queen Victoria Market Building in 1898. While this was still called a market building it was really arcades of high-class shops, because the City fathers had worked out that this would create more revenue.

By the 1950s there was talk of demolishing the building, but by 1988 it was restored and remains one of the City's most imposing heritage buildings.

A fish market was established at Forbes Street, Woolloomooloo in 1872, and upgraded in 1893, before moving in 1914 to the Sydney Municipal Markets at Haymarket. What is now known as Paddy's market was originally the Sydney Municipal Markets. They were built between 1909 and 1914 and were the source for all wholesale fresh produce in the city, containing vegetable and fruit markets, a fish market, poultry market and cold storage.

Roads

The City's attempts at road making, drainage and repair were often less than successful and by the 1870s numerous roads remained unformed, pot-holed or prone to washaways. From the 1880s, major streets were overlaid with woodblocks. This surface was durable but slippery, and bitumen was soon used. In the 1930s the City's laboratory at Wattle Street, Pyrmont pioneered methods of dry-rolling concrete, creating a surface that could be laid cold and used almost immediately. Newer asphalt techniques did not catch on until a massive street upgrading program after World War II.

In 1925 the state government took control of some roads and left some in local control.

Lights

In 1841 the streets of Sydney were first lit by gas, provided by the Australian Gaslight Company. The City left it to the private company to provide Sydney's lighting for the next half-century.

In 1904 when the Lady Mayoress switched on the first electric street lights at Pyrmont Power Station, the City took on the provision of electricity to both private customers and suburban councils.

In the 1920s there was an explosion in domestic consumption as people enthusiastically acquired more new-fangled electrical gadgets and the City's huge Electricity Department was unable to keep up with the demand.

This, combined with a corruption scandal at Bunnerong Power Station, led to the creation of Sydney County Council in 1935 to generate and supply electricity. This later became the New South Wales Electricity Commission.

Water and sewerage

Until it became polluted from over-use in the 1820s, the freshwater Tank Stream was the town's water supply. By 1839 convicts working under John Busby had carved out water tunnels from a swamp in the City's east. This was called Busby's Bore. Pipes conveyed water to standpipes at various parts of the town and water carters sold water at one shilling a cask.

The City had connected about 72 private houses to the main water pipes by 1844 but their inability to improve the supply was a major reason for their sacking in 1853.

In later years dams were built at Botany and Bunnerong, reservoirs at Paddington and Woollahra, and the water mains were gradually extended beyond the City's boundaries. Supply was often erratic, water was not always pure, and in dry periods it was rationed. The sewerage system was even worse with raw sewage being discharged directly into Sydney Harbour.

After a series of near catastrophes, fraud allegations and investigations, legislation in 1880 enabled the construction of a new dam on the Upper Nepean and a sewage outfall at Bondi. All this was beyond the City's capacity to administer and in 1888 these responsibilities went to the new Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board.

Rubbish and rats

Garbage disposal is one function the City is still responsible for but it was not always a priority. In the 19th century garbage was dumped indiscriminately until the bubonic plague in 1900 pushed the City into action.

Garbage was incinerated or tipped at Moore Park, then at Pyrmont or punted out to sea. There was public outcry in 1929 when spring tides washed up assorted debris including rats and butcher's offal onto city beaches.

Waste management is now administered according to various state acts, including the NSW Waste Minimisation and Management Act 1995, which established the Inner City Waste Board.

Health

The City's by-laws have always covered public health, but the general level of understanding of what was required to keep a city healthy was limited. The City Health Officer was a part-time employee with an independent medical practice who did little more than offer advice to aldermen.

The Nuisance Inspector oversaw a range of regulations from markets inspections to kite flying and house-to-house inspections.

By the early 20th century there was also involvement in infant health protection and maternal education.

In 1896 the first state public health act was passed. This was not a case of the state taking over. It was more an expansion by all authorities into the new realm of public health concerns.

City planning

In 1879, the City gained control over insanitary and unsafe buildings but it had to share this power with a government-appointed City Improvement Board.

When bubonic plague threatened Sydney in 1900, the City was held responsible for failing to eradicate the rats blamed for the public health scare. As a result the state government took over the City's health powers and resumed the wharves and slums of The Rocks and Millers Point, placing them under control of the newly formed Sydney Harbour Trust.

From 1957, the City's skyline changed dramatically when the 1912 restriction on building heights was lifted. But the City's town-planning efforts had little effect on Sydney's rampant development. In 1964 ultimate authority was vested in the State Planning Authority, which was empowered to overturn local development decisions.

The 1960s and 1970s saw profound physical change as landmarks such as Anthony Hordens and the Theatre Royal were demolished. Many felt that the Sydney they knew was disappearing too fast. And there were development pressures beyond the city centre as well.

In 1988 the Central Sydney Planning Committee, including both Council aldermen and ministerial appointees, was set up to approve major development applications. This removed significant decisions from the City. However, the role of the Land and Environment Court in overturning decisions of the City and of the Central Sydney Planning Committee is currently the subject of considerable criticism and comment.