Gingin Road Board

1893 - 1961

Creation of Road Board Districts and Municipalities throughout the Swan River Colony enabled settlers to begin to take a more active part in local affairs however lack of funds forced Road Boards to be dependent on central Government. Swan Road Board administered the Gingin area from 1871 until the formation of the Gingin Road Board in March 1893, during which time Gingin had representation on the Board for most of its 21 years under Swan Road Board jurisdiction.

The request for a separate Gingin Roads Board was granted on 20 February 1893. The first Gingin Road Board election was held on 21 March 1893 and comprised prominent businessmen and farmers: Henry Brockman (Chairman), John Dewar, Reuben Edwards, Ephraim Cockram, William King, James Jones and William Williams (Honorary Secretary). The inaugural meeting of the Gingin Road Board was held on 25 March 1893 at the Granville Hotel.

As the name suggests, the Road Board was primarily concerned with the making and maintenance of roads and bridges. There were frequent changes in Board membership during the first decade of its operations due to the conflicts of interest of members who tendered for, and won Road Board contracts. The Road Board received its finance from Government grants and taxes on carts and carriages. No rates were levied on property until May 1903 when it was agreed that a rate of sixpence in the pound be charged and calculated as rental value less tenants’ rates and taxes. The method of rating was altered in 1904, 1907 and again in 1908 when it was agreed to calculate rates upon the capital value of unimproved land. Properties were re-valued three times during the period 1903 to 1908.

The original Road Board Office (Lot 126 Constable Street Gingin) opened on 29 April 1911, and remained the administration centre of the Shire until new premises were built in 1968.

The Municipality of Gingin

Around 1892 moves to form a Gingin Municipal Council were first discussed and a petition dated 19 July 1892 was sent to the Colonial Secretary for presentation to His Excellency the Governor, Sir William Robinson.

Authorities were supportive of forming the new municipality and the Colonial Secretary, George Shenton, expressed the hope that the inhabitants should receive every encouragement form the Government. The boundaries of the townsite were determined and gazetted on 22 February 1893 and Mr W R Williams was appointed to make all the necessary arrangements to set up an electoral list for the new Municipality of Gingin.

The first Council elect (May 1893) comprised; Henry Brockman, Chairman, Reuben Edwards, William King, William George, Frederick Hill, Joseph Mortimer and John Sims.

The beginning of the end of the Municipality of Gingin came in October 1902 when the Acting Mayor of Gingin, Mr J Ellis, wrote to the Colonial Treasurer tendering his resignation and advising that every effort had been made to obtain Councillors but none were willing to nominate. Town Clerk, William Philbey advised he was in a predicament, having no mayor or councillors, no returning officer for the forth-coming elections, and no auditors for accounts for payment to be passed.

Government officials in Perth realised that Gingin was too small to support both a Road Board and Municipal Council and moved to wind up the affairs of the Council and merge it with the Road Board but stalled the decision until December 1903 when an act to the amend the Municipal Institution Act 1900 was brought into force. Clause 5 read:

‘The Municipality of Gingin is dissolved, and the district thereof is included in and shall henceforth form part of the Gingin Road District, and all the property, assets and liabilities of such municipality are hereby vested in and shall attach to the Board of the Gingin Road District.’

The Municipality became defunct and unfortunately during this period of history the Minute Books and other records of this short lived, Gingin Municipal Council, were not preserved.

Further relevant local history is available by reading the following publications:

“Gingin 1830 –1960” by Hazel Udell

“Neergabby – A history of the Moore River and Lower Gingin Brook” by W J DeBurgh.

“A Brush with Nature” by W R Wedge

“Wannamal – a History” by Bruce Buchanan

“Origins – a Reflection of life in the Shire of Gingin”

MEMBERS		WEDGE FA	1930 - 1937
BROCKMAN H	1893 - 1905	HERBERT PJ	1931
WILLIAMS WR	1893 - 1895	PHILBEY WR	1931 - 1933
DEWAR J	1893 - 1894	de BURGH RSM	1933 - 1934
KING WT	1893 - 1895	TURNER WR	1935 - 1940
COCKRAM E	1893	ALLOM RM	1935 - 1938
EDWARDS RE	1893 - 1907	de BURGH RH	1937 - 1940
JONES JVA	1893 - 1896	MULLINS C	1938 - 1941
O'NEIL J	1893 - 1896	TURNER LR	1938 - 1941
JONES ER	1895	HARRIS JR	1939 - 1949
COCKRAM J	1895 - 1896	EDGAR AB	1940 - 1941
DEWAR F	1895 - 1896	MacCORMICK WR	1940 - 1941
ATKINSON J	1895 - 1896	FEWSTER NT	1941 - 1952
KING WJ	1896 - 1900	TURNER WR	1941 - 1945
GEORGE W	1896 - 1897	TURNER WJ	1941 - 1956
WEDGE JE	1896 - 1909	HUDSON OJ	1942 - 1944
GEE W	1896 - 1898	WEDGE CJ	1944 - 1961
KING H	1897 - 1900	MacCORMICK HW	1944 - 1949
HEWBY AG	1897 - 1898	de BURGH WJ	1945 - 1951
WILLIAMS WR	1898 - 1899	EDGAR RP	1949
JONES RD	1898 - 1909	HORTON MMJ	1949 - 1951
JONES JVA	1900 - 1901	MASTERS A	1949 - 1951
DEWAR JY	1900 - 1909	EDGAR AB	1951 - 1952
JONES ER	1900 - 1904	EDWARDS FWC	1951 - 1957
de BURGH RSM	1902 - 1907	HARRIS JR	1951 - 1956
JONES HS	1904 - 1906	MacCORMICK HW	1951 - 1955
MEAKINS JA	1905	de BURGH WJ	1952 - 1961
WELLS CH	1905 - 1909	COLLETT AW	1952 - 1958
FORRESTER GE	1907 - 1910	RODROGUES Mrs J	1955 - 1956
BANDY TA	1906 - 1907	ROE FLW	1956 - 1961
FRASER PJ	1907 - 1913	HARPER H	1956 - 1957
HILL FF	1907	BARRETT-LENNARD DG	1956 - 1957
JONES L	1907 - 1909	FEWSTER NT	1957 - 1961
WAKE MS	1907 - 1909	JONES RH	1957 - 1961
JONES ER	1908 - 1909	PRINCE CH	1957 - 1961
COCKRAM E	1909 - 1910	SHARPE DJ	1958 - 1961
HORAN WHJ	1909 - 1913
HARRIS J	1909 - 1911	CHAIRMAN
HATCH G	1909 - 1910
TURNER WR	1909 - 1915	BROCKMAN H	1893 - 1897
JONES HS	1909	EDWARDS R	1898 - 1899
WELLS H	1909	BROCKMAN H	1899 - 1900
CHRISTIAN J	1909 - 1910	WEDGE JE	1900 - 1909
JONES JVA	1910 - 1915	CHRISTIAN J	1909
EDWARDS JM	1910 - 1916	HORAN WHJ	1909 - 1912
THOMAS J	1910 - 1912	TURNER WR	1913
DARCH TR	1911 - 1919	HARPER PH	1913 - 1916
HARPER PH	1912 - 1916	LUCRAFT A	1916 - 1918
WELLS H	1913 - 1914	de BURGH RSM	1918 - 1920
EDWARDS RE	1913 - 1923	HARPER PH	1920 - 1923
de BURGH RSM	1913 - 1924	RENNIE VG	1931 - 1932
MacCORMICK WR	1914 - 1919	WEDGE FA	1932 - 1933
HILL FF	1914 - 1915	RENNIE VG	1933 - 1934
DARCH FJ	1914 - 1944	WEDGE FA	1934 - 1937
LUCRAFT A	1916 - 1918	RENNIE VG	1938 - 1939
LUIVLEY PJ	1917	HARPER PH	1939 - 1951
WELLS LJ	1918	WEDGE CJ	1951 - 1953
TURNER WR	1918 - 1927	de BURGH WJ	1953 - 1959
JONES JVA	1919 - 1920	WEDGE CJ	1959 - 1960
THOMAS A	1919 - 1920	de BURGH WJ	1960 - 1961
HARVEY FC	1919 - 1921
HORAN WHJ	1920 - 1925	SECRETARY
HARPER PH	1920 - 1923
EDGAR DW	1921	WILLIAMS WR	1893 - 1903
WEDGE JE	1921 - 1922	HEWBY AG	1898 - 1900
DEWAR JY	1921 - 1930	PHILBEY WR	1903
KENDALL F	1922 - 1923	SCOTT AP	1908
JONES JVA	1923 - 1929	HERBERT PJ	1912 - 1940
EDGAR ABA	1923 - 1926	HORAN WHJ	1925 - 1937
HERBERT PJ	1923 - 1925	HORAN Miss L	1937 - 1948
RENNIE VG	1925 - 1939	RILEY CR	1948
KING HS	1926 - 1935	BRENDISH AT	1948
HARPER PH	1927 - 1951	GORDON K	1951 - 1958
EDWARDS JM	1929 - 1931	WARNE EA	1958 - 1960
FRASER PJ	1930 - 1938	WALLACE NHV	1960 - 1961