Wollondilly Shire

Towns, villages and localities in the Wollondilly Shire are:

Wollondilly Shire was constituted by proclamation in the NSW Government Gazette on 7 March 1906, following the passing of the Local Government (Shires) Act 1905 (Shire No. 122 of 134), and included a wide area bounded by the local government areas of Camden, Campbelltown and Picton and Nepean Shire.^[3] A temporary council of five members was appointed on 16 May 1906, which comprised: Richard Henry Antill of Jarvisfield, Picton, Thomas Donohue of Burragorang, George Frederick Litchfield of Yerranderie, George Macarthur-Onslow of Camden Park, Menangle, and John Simpson of Macquarie Dale, Appin.^[4] The council first met on 15 June 1906, electing Macarthur-Onslow as Chairman of the Temporary Council and C. A. Thompson as secretary and shire clerk.^[5][6][7] A. P. Minton, was later appointed Shire Clerk in June 1907.^[8]

The first elections for the council were held on 24 November 1906 for six councillors in three ridings of two councillors each: A Riding, B Riding and C Riding:^[9]

The final meeting of the Temporary Council and the first meeting of the elected Council was held on 3 December 1906 at The Oaks, at which the chairman of the Temporary Council, George Macarthur-Onslow was elected at the first Shire President of Wollondilly.^[10] However, on 11 January 1907, Macarthur-Onslow resigned as president, citing the distance between the shire offices and his home at Camden Park, and John E. Moore was elected Shire President in his place.^[11][12] On 13 February 1908, James O. Moore was elected as Shire President, and re-elected to a second term in February 1909.^[13][14] Following the resignation of James O. Moore in June 1909, Alfred Leonard Bennett was elected Shire President of the on 8 June 1909.^[15][16]

On 31 May 1911 part of the Blue Mountains Shire was transferred to the Wollondilly Shire and part of Wollondilly Shire was transferred to the Nepean Shire from 21 March 1940.^[17][18][19]

At the 2016 census, there were 48,519 people in the Wollondilly local government area, with an equal proportion of males and females. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 2.4% of the population which is on par with the national average. The median age of people in the Wollondilly Shire was 36 years. Children aged 0–14 years made up 23.1% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 10.8% of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 54.9% were married and 10.4% were either divorced or separated.^[28]

Population growth in the Wollondilly Shire between the 2001 Census and the 2006 Census was 9.18%; and in the subsequent five years to the 2011 Census, population growth was 7.23%. This was higher than the population growth for Australia from 2001 to 2006 (5.78%) but less than the national figure for 2006 to 2011 (8.32%).^[29] The median weekly income for residents within the Wollondilly Shire was marginally higher than the national average.^[28][30]

At the 2011 Census, the proportion of residents in the Wollondilly local government area who stated their ancestry as Australian or Anglo-Saxon was more than 63% (national average was 65.2%). More than 69% of Wollondilly Shire residents nominated a religious affiliation of Christianity at the 2011 Census, which was well above the national average of 50.2%. Compared to the national average, there was a lower than average proportion of households in the Wollondilly local government area (8.3%) where two or more languages were spoken (national average was 20.4%), and a significantly higher proportion (91.2%) where English only was spoken at home (national average was 76.8%).^[28]

More information Selected historical census data for Wollondilly local government area, Census year ...

Selected historical census data for Wollondilly local government area
Census year		2001[29]	2006[30]	2011[28]	2016[31]	2021[32]
Population	Estimated residents on census night	36,953	40,344	43,259	48,519	53,961
	Average population growth p/a		1.84%	1.45%	2.43%	2.23%
	LGA rank in terms of size within New South Wales		54th	49th	47th	46th
	% of New South Wales population	0.59%	0.62%	0.63%	0.65%	0.67%
	% of Australian population	0.20%	0.20%	0.20%	0.21%	0.21%
Median weekly incomes
Personal income	Median weekly personal income		A$502	A$617	A$738	A$877
	% of Australian median income		107.7%	106.9%	111.5%	108.9%
Family income	Median weekly family income		A$1,186	A$1,661	A$2,032	A$2,350
	% of Australian median income		115.5%	112.2%	117.2%	110.8%
Household income	Median weekly household income		A$1,321	A$1,478	A$1,871	A$2,151
	% of Australian median income		112.8%	119.8%	130.1%	123.2%

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More information Selected historical census data for Camden local government area, Ancestry, top responses ...

Selected historical census data for Camden local government area
Ancestry, top responses
2001[29]		2006[30]		2011[28]		2016[31]		2021[32]
No Data		No Data		Australian	33.9%	Australian	33.3%	Australian	43.5%
				English	29.2%	English	28.2%	English	39.5%
				Irish	7.9%	Irish	7.7%	Irish	10.3%
				Scottish	6.2%	Scottish	6.4%	Scottish	9.1%
				Italian	2.9%	Italian	3.4%	Italian	5.4%
Country of Birth, top responses
2001[29]		2006[30]		2011[28]		2016[31]		2021[32]
Australia	81.1%	Australia	81.9%	Australia	83.1%	Australia	82.1%	Australia	84.2%
England	5.2%	England	4.5%	England	4.3%	England	3.8%	England	3.3%
New Zealand	0.9%	New Zealand	1.0%	New Zealand	1.0%	New Zealand	1.0%	New Zealand	1.0%
Scotland	0.7%	Scotland	0.6%	Scotland	0.6%	Scotland	0.5%	Scotland	0.5%
Italy	0.6%	Italy	0.5%	Italy	0.5%	Italy	0.4%	Italy	0.4%
Germany	0.6%	Germany	0.5%	Germany	0.4%	Germany	0.4%	Malta	0.4%
Language, top responses (other than English)
2001[29]		2006[30]		2011[28]		2016[31]		2021[32]
Italian	0.8%	Italian	0.8%	Italian	0.8%	Italian	0.7%	Italian	0.7%
Arabic	0.5%	Arabic	0.5%	Arabic	0.4%	Arabic	0.6%	Arabic	0.7%
Maltese	0.5%	Maltese	0.4%	Maltese	0.4%	Spanish	0.4%	Spanish	0.5%
German	0.4%	Greek	0.3%	Greek	0.3%	Maltese	0.4%	Maltese	0.4%
Estonian	0.4%	German	0.3%	German	0.3%	Greek	0.3%	Croatian	0.3%
Religious affiliation, top responses
2001[29]		2006[30]		2011[28]		2016[31]		2021[32]
Anglican	33.4%	Anglican	32.3%	Anglican	32.5%	Catholic	30.2%	No Religion	31.9%
Catholic	29.3%	Catholic	30.1%	Catholic	30.9%	Anglican	27.5%	Catholic	28.8%
No Religion	11.2%	No Religion	13.7%	No Religion	15.4%	No Religion	21.4%	Anglican	21.1%
United Church	5.3%	United Church	4.2%	United Church	3.8%	Uniting Church	3.0%	United Church	2.0%
Presbyterian and Reformed	3.2%	Presbyterian and Reformed	2.8%	Presbyterian and Reformed	2.4%	Presbyterian and Reformed	2.0%	Christian (Undefined)	1.7%

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The Wollondilly Shire has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

• Appin, Cataract Road: Cataract Dam^[39]
• Appin, Wilton Road: Windmill Hill, Appin^[40]
• Bargo, Avon Dam Road: Nepean Dam^[41]
• Bargo, Hume Highway: Wirrimbirra Sanctuary^[42]
• Bargo, Main Southern railway 96.265 km: Bargo railway viaduct^[43]
• Camden Park, Elizabeth Macarthur Avenue: Camden Park Estate^[44]
• Cordeaux, Cordeaux River: Cordeaux Dam^[45]
• Couridjah, Main Southern railway: Couridjah railway station^[46]
• Menangle, Main Southern railway: Menangle railway station^[47]
• Menangle, Main Southern railway: Nepean River railway bridge, Menangle^[48]
• Orangeville, Brownlow Hill Loop Road: Brownlow Hill Estate^[49]
• Picton, Hume Highway Deviation: Jarvisfield^[50]
• Picton, Main Southern railway: Picton railway station^[51]
• Picton, Main Southern railway: Stonequarry Creek railway viaduct, Picton^[52]
• Picton, Oaks Road: Abbotsford^[53]
• Picton, Prince Street: Victoria Bridge, Picton^[54]
• Tahmoor, Main Southern railway: Tahmoor railway station^[55]
• Thirlmere, NSW Rail Transport Museum, Barbour Road: Rail Paybus FP1^[56]
• Warragamba, Coxs River Arms: Coxs River track^[57]
• Warragamba, Warragamba Dam: Megarritys Bridge^[58]
• Warragamba, Warragamba Dam: Warragamba Dam – Haviland Park^[59]
• Warragamba, Warragamba Dam: Warragamba Dam Emergency Scheme^[60]
• Wilton, Wilton Park Road: Wilton Park^[61]

Wollondilly is home to two local newspapers, the District Reporter and the Wollondilly Express. Other regional media which serve the area are radio stations, 2MCR and C91.3FM, and the "Macarthur Chronicle" a regional newspaper covering the wider Macarthur Region.