BLACKTOWN CITY HISTORY Blacktown and the council election
by John Horne
Last month the citizens of Blacktown City elected fifteen councillors to the Blacktown City Council to administer local government in our area for the next four years . At their first meeting they elected the new Mayor of Blacktown City .
For the first seventy years of European settlement in New South Wales there was no system of local government in Blacktown . Even when the first railway line reached the area in 1860 and Black Town Road Station was built , there still wasn ’ t any local government for another forty-six years .
In February 1906 the Shire of Blacktown was established by order of the New South Wales Government . The enactment of the Local Government ( Shires ) Act that year meant that shires were established all over the state .
On 16 May 1906 the NSW Government appointed five temporary councillors for the Shire of Blacktown whose role was to direct and supervise the creation of lists of electors and then supervise the arrangements for the democratic election of Blacktown ’ s first council . The five temporary councillors , James Angus , Esquire of Rooty Hill ; Matthew Squire Pearce , Esquire of Seven Hills ; Richard Joseph Sherlock , Esquire of Blacktown ; William Edmund Smith , Esquire of Rooty Hill and John James Walters , Esquire of Bungarribee , Blacktown , were given six months to get this done .
At the time it was not compulsory to vote and only 37 per cent of eligible voters voted . Eligible voters numbered
Rooty Hill School of Arts .
only 1507 people in 1906 , whereas in 2024 the City of Blacktown ’ s eligible voters number more than one hundred thousand .
The Shire of Blacktown was divided into three areas called Ridings ( A , B and C ) and the following Councillors were elected on Saturday 3 November 1906 to the first Blacktown Council :
- Riding A : James John Pye and Matthew Squire Pearce
- Riding B : Thomas Willmot and Robert Edward Donaldson
- Riding C : James Angus and Adam Thomas Pringle
The first meeting of the Blacktown Shire Council in 1906 took place in the Rooty Hill School of Arts on Rooty Hill Road South . The building is still used today as a community centre .
At their first meeting Thomas Willmot was elected by the Councillors to be President of the Blacktown Shire .
The first councillors , Blacktown Shire Council , 1906
James John Pye , a descendant of a convict farmer from the early days of Quakers Hill , was a landowner and grazier from Schofields . He specialised in farming , fruit-growing and the breeding of buffalo for beef cattle and their introduction to the northern parts of Australia . He represented Blacktown ’ s A Riding from 1906 until his resignation in 1930 . He died in 1933 and was buried in the Riverstone Cemetery .
Matthew Squire Pearce , a descendant of one of the first free settlers in Seven Hills was an orchardist , grazier and sheep breeder from Stanhope Park , Kellyville . He was one of the temporary Blacktown councillors before the election in 1906 and was elected as one of the two representatives for Riding A . He served on the Blacktown Council from its inception for one term before his death in 1917 . He is buried in the Pearce Family cemetery at 257 Seven Hills Road , Bella Vista .
Thomas Wilmott , an English emigrant , from Toongabbie , who had already served as the Shire Clerk in Rockdale , was the
Blacktown ’ s Pioneer Shire Council with the First Shire Clerk ( or Chief Executive Officer ). Back Row ( from the left ): Robert Edward Donaldson , Hugh Reid ( Shire Clerk ), Matthew Squire Pearce , and James John Pye . Front Row : Adam Thomas Pringle , Thomas Willmot ( Shire President ), James Angus . ( Australian Town and Country Journal , 26 June 1907 , page 28 ).
first President of the Shire of Blacktown . He was deeply interested in furthering the development of the Shire in its early days . He did much to formulate the Blacktown Shire Council ’ s policies and direction . He was an engineer who was responsible for the electrification of Sydney ’ s tram network , wood-blocking George Street in Sydney ( street paving before concrete and asphalt ), the Clyde-Carlingford Railway and the Toongabbie to Prospect Quarry railway line . He served on Blacktown Council from 1906 until 1914 . He died in 1938 and was buried in St Bartholomew ’ s churchyard in Prospect . One of the new suburbs in the Mt Druitt area was named Willmot in his honour in 1971 .
Robert Edward Donaldson , a Scottish emigrant , made his fortune in Queensland in the sugar industry in Mackay and in Fiji . He already had experience in local government with the Queensland divisions or shires . When he stood for election for the Blacktown Shire Council as a running mate with Thomas Willmot for Riding B in 1906 , he was a fruit-grower and exporter who lived in Windsor Road , Baulkham Hills . He was reelected in the 1908 election but resigned in 1910 due to poor health and moved to Toowong , Brisbane where he died in 1921 . James Angus , a Scottish emigrant , made his fortune in New Zealand before moving to Rooty Hill . In 1890 he gained ownership of the Minchinbury Estate which produced champagne and sparkling wines . He sold most of the Minchinbury Estate to Penfolds & Co in 1913 . He was one of the temporary Blacktown councillors before the election in 1906 and was elected as one of the two representatives for Riding C . He resigned from Council in 1912 and was tragically killed by a train while crossing the railway line at Rooty Hill in 1916 . He is buried in St Mary ’ s cemetery .
Adam Thomas Pringle , another Scottish emigrant , was a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the New South Wales Volunteer Defence Force and after 1901 , in the Australian Army . He commanded coastal artillery batteries at South Head . When he retired , he settled at his residence , Oaklea , at Plumpton . A councillor on the Blacktown Shire Council for nine years , he died in 1923 and was buried in the Presbyterian section of the General Cemetery at St Marys .
Even though women were voters in 1906 and afterwards , no woman was elected to the Blacktown Council until 1974 when Heather Gow , Dorothea Lamerton , Joan Sookee and Nevis Worboys were elected as councillors .
Blacktown
and District Historical Society Incorporated
EMERTON VILLAGE
02 8632 3408
Great Coffee , Great Food , Great Service !
Founded in 1976 to ensure that the history of the Blacktown area would be collected and conserved for all time by tapping into documents and people ’ s memories .
You are welcome to visit our Research Centre , open Tuesdays 10.00 am to 2.00pm , or by appointment .
Grantham Heritage Park BDHS Research Centre 71 Seven Hills Road South , Seven Hills NSW 2147 PO Box 500 Blacktown NSW 2148 Phone 02 9676 1198 www . blacktownhistory . org . au
SHOP 1 , 40 JERSEY ROAD , EMERTON
Monday – Sunday 7:00am – 5:00pm Kitchen last order 3:00pm
Leaf Cafe Emerton Village leafcafeco _ emerton www . leafcafe . com . au
10 ISSUE 43 // OCTOBER 2024 theindependentmagazine . com . au BLACKTOWN CITY INDEPENDENT