The City of Mackay was a local government area located in the Central Queensland region of Queensland, Australia, encompassing the regional city of Mackay and the surrounding region. The city was created as a municipal borough in 1869, and prior to amalgamation with the Shire of Pioneer in 1994, the city was limited to the central suburbs on the south shore of the Pioneer River. From 1994 until 2008, the City covered an area of . In 2008, it amalgamated with the Shires of Mirani and Sarina to become the Mackay Regional Council.

History The Borough of Mackay was proclaimed on 22 September 1869 under the Municipal Institutions Act 1864. The Pioneer Division was established on 11 November 1879 as one of 74 founding divisions under the Divisional Boards Act 1879.

Initially the council meetings were held in the Court House in River Street, the Post and Telegraph office in Wood Street, and in a building on Sydney Street owned by Mr R. Fleming. The first town hall was a timber structure constructed in 1872 on land that the council purchased at 63 Sydney Street.

With the passage of the Local Authorities Act 1902, Pioneer Division became the Shire of Pioneer and Mackay became Town of Mackay on 31 March 1903. Mackay received City status on 17 August 1918.

During the boom in sugar prices, the borough council decided in 1884 that a larger town hall was needed. However, it was not until 1909 that they decided to proceed with a brick building on the site of the existing town hall in Sydney Street. The council held a design competition, which was won by a local architect and engineer Arthur Rigby. The first town hall was moved to the rear of the block to be behind the new building. The first official Council meeting was held in the (now heritage-listed) second town hall on 19 October 1912 with the official opening the next day.

After the council moved into their new Civic Administration Centre in 1974, they proposed to demolish the town hall and sell off the land to defray the costs of the new civic centre. However, following public protest, they renovated the building to make it available for community purposes.

On 21 November 1991, the Electoral and Administrative Review Commission, created two years earlier, produced its second report, and recommended that local government boundaries in the Mackay area be rationalised. The Local Government (Mackay and Pioneer) Regulation 1993 was gazetted on 17 December 1993, and on 30 March 1994, the two amalgamated into a larger City of Mackay, which first met on 8 April 1994.

On 15 March 2008, under the Local Government (Reform Implementation) Act 2007 passed by the Parliament of Queensland on 10 August 2007, the City of Mackay merged with the Shires of Mirani and Sarina to form the Mackay Regional Council.

Towns and localities Prior to 1994, Mackay consisted of the suburbs of North Mackay, West Mackay, South Mackay and East Mackay.

All other suburbs of Mackay belonged into the defunct Shire of Pioneer.

After the amalgamation, the City of Mackay included the following settlements:

Suburbs: Mackay: North Mackay East Mackay West Mackay South Mackay Andergrove Beaconsfield Blacks Beach Bucasia Cremorne Dolphin Heads Eimeo Erakala Foulden Glenella Mackay Harbour Mount Pleasant Nindaroo Ooralea Paget Racecourse Richmond Rural View Shoal Point Slade Point Te Kowai

Towns: Bakers Creek Ball Bay Brampton Island Calen Dalrymple Bay Farleigh Halliday Bay Hampden Kuttabul Laguna Quays Lindeman Island McEwens Beach Midge Point Mount Ossa Oakenden Pindi Pindi Seaforth St Helens Beach Walkerston National Parks: Cape Hillsborough NP Eungella NP Mount Jukes NP Mount Martin NP Mount Ossa NP Pioneer Peaks NP Reliance Creek NP

Other localities: Alexandra Balberra Balnagowan Belmunda Bloomsbury Chelona Dumbleton Dunnrock Greenmount Habana Homebush Mentmore Mount Charlton Mount Pelion Palmyra Pleystowe Rosella Sandiford Sunnyside The Leap Victoria Plains Yalboroo

Mayors 1869–1871: David Hay Dalrymple 1872: Alexander Shiels 1873: George Smith 1873–1874: David Hay Dalrymple (second term) 1875–1876: George Smith 1876–1877: Korah H. Wills 1878: William Marsh 1879: Charles R. Dutallis 1880: William Paxton 1881: George Smith (second term) 1882: Edmund S. Rawson 1883: Thomas Pearce 1884: Michael J. Fay 1885: John Harney 1886: George Dimmock 1887: Archibald McIntyre 1888: Henry Lindesay Black 1889: W. Robertson 1890: W.G. Hodges 1891: W.J. Byrne 1891: Henry B. Black 1892: Alexander Pine 1893: N.C. Morthensen 1894: G. Dimmock 1895: Henry B. Black 1895/6?: P.M. Hynes 1896: W.G. Hodges 1897: Henry B. Black 1898: J.H. Thornber 1899: Samuel Lambert 1900: C. Morley 1901: W.G. Hodges 1902: Cecil Garcia Smith 1903: C.P. Ready 1904–1906: Thomas Chataway 1907: Alexander J. McLean 1908: C.R. Klugh 1909: E.J. Marryatt 1910–1911: James Christie 1912: Hans Ditley Petersen 1913: C.P. Ready 1914–1915: George B. Fay 1916: V. Macrossan 1917–1918: James Prout Moule (died 1 June 1918) 1918: William Crawford Weir (resigned to become Town Clerk in November 1918) — available online 1918: Robert Hague 1919: Arthur Hucker 1920: George M. Cameron 1921–1924: A.F. Williams 1924–1927?: George A. Milton 1924–1927?: Lewis Windermere Nott 1927–1930: George A. Milton 1930–1933: Ian A.C. Wood 1933–1934: J.M. Mulherin 1934–1939: George Moody 1939–1952: Ian A.C. Wood 1952–1967: John (Jack) Binnington 1967–1970: Ian A.C. Wood 1970–1988: Albert F. Abbott 1988–1991: Peter J. Jardine 1991–1994: Gregory R. Williamson Amalgamation of Mackay City and Pioneer Shire Councils 1994–1997: Gordon White, prior to the amalgamation with Pioneer Shire, White had been chairman of the Pioneer Shire Council (1983–1994) 1997–2008: Julie Boyd Amalgamation of Mackay City Sarina Shire and Mirani Shire Councils 2008–2012: Colin Meng 2012–2016: Dierdre Comerford 2016 - : Gregory R. Williamson

Town Clerks The town clerks of the City of Mackay were: 1869–1871: Thomas Purves 1871–1872: M.J. Fay 1872: R.W. Smith 1872: A.M. Rheuben 1872: J. Rutherford 1872–1873: A.M Rheuben 1873–1875: H.F. Morgan 1876–1881: J.C. Binney 1881–1883 : F.N. Beddek 1883–1886: W.G. Hodges 1886–1890: C. Davie 1891: G. Dimmock 1892–1895: C. Davie 1895–1901: G. Dimmock 1902: James H. Tornber (died 29 December 1902) 1903–1915: Fred Morley 1916–1918: Arthur Fadden 1918–1943: William Crawford Weir 1944–1957: S. Murray 1957–1980: L.A. Payne 1980–1994: S.B. Fursman 1994–1997: T.P. Crompton 1997-before 2000: R.C. Bain before 2000-before 2004: J. Harris before 2004–2008: K. Gouldthorp

Transport Mackay Airport North Coast railway line, Mackay Station Bruce Highway

Sister cities Matsuura, Japan (Nagasaki Prefecture)

Population Year Population(Mackay) Population(Pioneer) Population(Total) 1933 10,665 9,926 20591 1947 13,486 11,606 25092 1954 14,762 14,316 29,078 1961 16,809 15,741 32,550 1966 18,640 19,900 38,540 1971 19,148 22,561 41,709 1976 20,224 26,938 47,162 1981 20,664 33,732 54,396 1986 22,199 36,084 58,283 1991 23,052 40,614 63,666 1996 71,894 2001 75,020 2006 20,803 85,399 2015 120,000

References

External links

Mackay City Council web archive, State Library of Queensland