A Central Road Board and District Road Boards were established in the colony of Victoria, Australia, pursuant to the Roads Act given Royal Assent in February 1853. From this date many District Road Boards were created. District Road Boards were abolished in 1869.
Governance structure Under rules established in NSW in 1839 it became possible for a town in the Colony (which then included the Port Phillip District later Victoria) to establish a Market Commission. Elected Commissioners had the power to set the rules for the market and levy tolls to fund the system. A Market Commission was set up in the Port Phillip District with Commissioners elected from four wards. The first meeting was 8 November 1841. This governance structure, including the four wards, was transmuted into the Town of Melbourne Council in 1842.
The same approach was then applied to roads. In 1840 an Act allowed for a road Trust to be established. The Trust would have the right to levy tolls on the road and rates on the landowners within 5 km of the road. In 1841 the Heidelberg Road Trust was established.
In 1842 the Colonial Parliament in NSW used the same principles to establish District Councils. It was under this legislation that the Towns of Melbourne and Geelong were established. This mechanism did not work as well as had been hoped and a review in 1847 recommended the establishment of local road trusts (rather than District Councils) with responsibility for local or parish bridges and roads.Country Roads and Bridges. W McCormack and F Fricke in One Hundred Years of Engineering.
Road districts This approach was picked up by Victoria following Separation from NSW, and an Act was passed in 1853 to establish Road Districts.
The 1853 Roads Act authorised 'not less than five landholders and five householders in any road district in the colony' to begin the process.
Road Districts were established after public meetings to discuss issues such as boundaries and following a petition to the Lieutenant Governor. Upon the proclamation of a district a public meeting was held to elect officers of the District Road Board.
Once established, the elected District Road Board had the power to 'form, improve, contract, manage, and maintain new or existing parish or cross road, and any bridge theron (subject to the control of the Central Board)'. The District Board could 'describe the line' of a parish road. Control of main (not parish) roads was held by the Central Board. A further clause gave the Road District Board the power to 'fix rates of assessment to be chargeable upon owners and occupiers of land within the said district'.
These elected District Road Boards with powers to levy taxes and borrow moneyThe progress of Victoria: A statistical essay (Intercolonial Exhibition essays, 1866-67) by William Henry Archer. ASIN: B0008BRIUG were an early form of local government in Victoria. Many areas that became Shires arose from areas originally established as Road Districts. The Shire of Yackandandah is an example.
Other pathways Alongside the District Road Boards, the Legislative Council opened other pathways to the governance model of election to a body that could levy rates and tolls. The Municipal Institutions Act 1854 allowed local government structures in urban areas. Through this Act, Richmond and East Collingwood for example, became municipalities in 1855.
The Road District and Shires Act 1863 permitted the same structure in rural areas. This Act provide a pathway for Road Boards to achieve municipal status by taking on additional responsibilities related to pounds, slaughtering licences, thistles, dogs, licensed publicans, brewer's and spirit merchants' licences and commons. Many Road Districts became Shires in 1864 (see table below).
The Local Government Act of 1874 applied the same rules to urban and rural municipalities.Municipal wards in Victoria, 1982-1999, J O'Toole, N Burdess, 2003 In 1877 local governments lost the power to levy tolls.
Consequences The organic or bottom-up approach allowed for in the Road District legislation enabled well-organised communities to quickly establish a mechanism for designing, improving and maintaining roads. It also enabled the central government to avoid the establishment of a central authority with the responsibility of determining suitable parish boundaries.
There were however negative consequences.
The boundaries that emerged were in some cases sub-optimal. In 1862, Hamilton was in the District of Dundas. Rather than being in the centre of Dundas, the town abutted the western boundary of the Road District and the neighbouring District of Portland. This meant that some of the westernmost residents of Hamilton were paying rates to Portland, 80 km to the west. A Hamilton newspaper said 'These distant ratepayers are entirely unrepresented. They live too far away to attend at the election meetings, and they have literally no voice in spending their own money, and the only thing which reminds them of the existence of the Board is the extreme regularity with which they are looked up for their rates.'
Another unintended consequence was fragmentation. When the Colonial Government announced road funding subsidies for communities that established Road Districts, there emerged 'quite an exciting race with the different districts who should be first in the field, so as to secure a share'. The Ovens & Murray Advertiser reported that following an application for District status from Yackandandah, the communities of Buckland, Rutherglen, Stanley and Indigo followed suit. Nonetheless, this left 'a very considerable territory still unappropriated'. This unclaimed area was divided between Stanley and Indigo. An effort then arose to split the Stanley district. This inspired succession movements in Reid's Creek, Woolshed Creek, El Dorado, Bowman's Forest, Tarrawingee, and a portion of Rutherglen. The newspaper made the point that the administration costs of each smaller District would be higher than in a more consolidated zone. They said that this constraint would mean that the salaries and competence of the officers would be lower. They noted that the central Government subsidy could not be applied to administrative costs. The newspaper marvelled at this 'parcelling out of the colony into districts of such lilliputian proportions'
The criticism of fragmentation was already being made a Government level. The 1863 Stuart Commission found that Victoria had too many local councils (54) with rate bases that were too small to enable them to fulfil their obligations. Similar reviews in 1873 and 1902-6 came to similar conclusions. Consolidation on a statewide basis occurred in 1994Local Government Act Review. Imagining Local Government in the 21st Century Yehudi Blacher 2015
Road Districts included:
Name Date proclaimed Notes Succeeded by (original LGAs) Date Barrabool 1853 Shire of Barrabool 1865 Portarlington 1853 Shire of Bellarine 1865 Belfast (Port Fairy) 1854 Shire of Belfast 1863 Boroondara (Hawthorn, Camberwell, Kew) 1854 Shire of Boroondara 1871 Epping 1854 Shire of Darebin 1870 Hawthorne Proclaimed 16 January 1854 Revoked 11 May 1854. Subsumed in Boroondara Road District Hawthorn municipal district 1860 Warrnambool 1854 Shire of Warrnambool 1863 Alberton 1855 Shire of Alberton 1864 Lower Leigh 1855 Bacchus Marsh 1856 Bacchus Marsh and Maddingley Road District 1862 Connewarre 1856 Amalgamated with South Barwon Borough Shire of South Barwon 1874 Gardiner 1856 Shire of Gardiner 1871 Portland 1856 Shire of Portland 1863 Templestowe 1856 Shire of Bulleen 1875 Upper Yarra 1856 Ballarat 1857 Shire of Ballarat 1863 Broadmeadows 1857 Shire of Broadmeadows 1871 Caulfield 1857 Shire of Caulfield 1871 Dandenong 1857 Shire of Dandenong 1873 Dundas 1857 Shire of Dundas 1863 Eltham 1857 Shire of Eltham 1871 Great Brighton 1858 Hampden and Heytesbury 1857 named from the counties Shire of Hampden 1863 Nunawading 1857 Shire of Nunawading 1872 South Barwon 1857 Borough of South Barwon 1863 Willowmavin 1857 Buninyong 1858 Shire of Buninyong 1864 Colac 1859 Shire of Colac 1864 Creswick 1858 Shire of Creswick 1863 Flinders 1868 Shire of Flinders & Kangerong 1874 Oakleigh and Mulgrave 1858 Shire of Oakleigh 1871 Woodstock 1858 Shire of Darebin 1870 Greensborough 1859 United with... Shire of Heidelberg 1875 Pentridge 1859 Coburg Road District 1869Upper Plenty 1859 Amherst and Clunes 1860 Shire of Talbot 1865 Braybrook 1860 Shire of Braybrook 1871 Campaspe 1860 Shire of Huntly 1866 Cranbourne 1860 Shire of Cranbourne 1868 Fryers 1860 Mount Alexander United Shire 1871 Gisborne 1860 Shire of Gisborne 1871 Glenlyon 1860 Shire of Glenlyon 1865 Heidelberg 1860 Shire of Heidelberg 1871 Lexton 1860 Shire of Lexton 1864 Metcalfe 1860 Shire of Metcalfe 1865 Mortlake 1860 Shire of Mortlake 1864 Mount Eliza 1860 Shire of Mornington 1871 Mount Rouse 1860 Shire of Mount Rouse 1864 Newstead 1860 Shire of Newstead 1865 Tullaroop 1860 Shire of Tullaroop 1865 Winchelsea 1860 Shire of Winchelsea 1864 Yandoit and Franklin 1860 Shire of Mount Franklin 1871 Carngham 1861 Carngham and Beaufort Road District 1863 Strathfieldsaye 1861 Shire of Strathfieldsaye 1866 Marong 1861 Shire of Marong 1864 Corio 1861 Ararat 1861 Shire of Ararat 1864 Avoca 1861 Shire of Avoca 1864 Bet Bet 1861 Shire of Bet Bet 1864 Grenville 1861 Shire of Grenville 1864 Leigh 1861 Shire of Leigh 1864 Ripon 1861 Shire of Ripon 1863 Shelford 1861 Stawell 1861 Shire of Stawell 1864 St Arnaud 1861 Shire of St Arnaud 1864 Woady Yallock 1861 Woodend, Newham and Rochford 1861 Shire of Newham 1871 Bacchus Marsh and Maddingley 1862 Ballan 1862 Shire of Ballan 1864 Bannockburn 1862 Shire of Bannockburn 1864 Berwick 1862 Shire of Berwick 1868 Bulla 1862 Shire of Bulla 1866 Campbell's Creek 1862 Mount Alexander United Shire 1871 Chiltern 1862 Shire of Chiltern 1874 Horsham 1862 Kangerong 1862 Shire of Flinders & Kangerong 1874 Kingower and Wedderburne 1862 Korong 1862 Shire of Korong 1864 Kowree 1862 Shire of Kowree 1872 Melton 1862 Shire of Melton 1871 Moorabbin 1862 Shire of Moorabbin 1871 Oxley 1862 Shire of Oxley 1865 Romsey 1862 Shire of Romsey 1871 Rutherglen 1862 Shire of Rutherglen 1871 Swan Hill 1862 Shire of Swan Hill 1871 Whittlesea 1862 Shire of Whittlesea 1874 Wyndham 1862 Shire of Wyndham 1864 Yackandandah 1862 Shire of Yackandandah 1864 Baringhup 1863 Shire of Maldon Bungaree 1863 Shire of Bungaree 1871 Carngham and Beaufort 1863 previously Carngham Donnybrook, Wallan Wallan and Bylands 1863 Shire of Merriang Glenelg 1863 Shire of Glenelg 1864 Keilor 1863 Shire of Keilor 1871 Maldon 1863 Shire of Maldon 1864 Malvern 1863 Shire of Malvern 1878 McIvor 1863 Shire of McIvor 1864 North Ovens 1863 Shire of North Ovens 1867 Pyalong 1863 Shire of Pyalong 1871 Seymour 1863 Shire of Seymour 1871 Waranga 1863 Shire of Waranga 1865 Avon 1864 Shire of Avon 1865 East Loddon 1864 Shire of East Loddon 1871 Echuca 1864 Shire of Echuca 1871 Kyneton 1864 Amalgamation of Kyneton Borough and Lauriston & Edgecombe, Tylden & Trentham and Carlsruhe RDs Shire of Kyneton 1865 Bairnsdale 1867 Shire of Bairnsdale 1868 Alexandra 1868 Shire of Alexandra 1869 Benalla 1868 Shire of Benalla 1869 Goulburn 1868 Shire of Goulburn 1871 Broadford 1869 Shire of Broadford 1875 Coburg 1869 renaming of Pentridge Shire of Coburg 1875 Howqua 1869 Shire of Howqua 1875 Rosedale 1869 Shire of Rosedale 1871 Towong 1869 Shire of Towong 1874 Yea 1869 Shire of Yea 1873 Phillip Island 1871 Shire of Phillip Island and Woolamai 1874 Morang Shire of Darebin 1870 Lauriston and Edgecombe Kyneton Road District 1864 Tylden and Trentham Kyneton Road District 1864 Carlsruhe Kyneton Road District 1864 Bylands and Glenburnie Carisbrook Heathcote Indented Heads Indigo Lancefield Meredith North Harrow Wooragee
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