District Council of Orroroo

District Council of Orroroo
South Australia
District Council of Orroroo is located in South Australia
District Council of Orroroo
District Council of Orroroo
Coordinates32°26′S 137°22′E / 32.44°S 137.36°E / -32.44; 137.36
Established1888
Abolished1997
Council seatOrroroo
LGAs around District Council of Orroroo:
Wilmington/Hammond
Mount Remarkable		 Carrieton Pastoral unincorporated
Wilmington/Hammond
Mount Remarkable		 District Council of Orroroo Coglin
Peterborough
Port Germein
Mount Remarkable		 Yongala
Caltowie
Peterborough
Jamestown		 Coglin
Peterborough

The District Council of Orroroo was a local government area in South Australia, centred on the town of Orroroo. It was gazetted on 5 January 1888 under the provisions of the District Councils Act 1887[1] and included all the land defined by the hundreds of Black Rock Plain, Coomooroo, Erskine, Pekina, and Walloway in the County of Dalhousie.

In 1898, it leased the new Orroroo Water District from the South Australian Government and became responsible for local water supply until 1963, when those responsibilities were transferred to the state Energy and Water Supply Department. It built its own powerhouse in 1923, and was responsible for electricity supply until 1962, when Orroroo was connected to the state grid.[2] It had also undertaken a tree planting scheme at Orroroo, Pekina, Morchard, Yatina and Black Rock.[3]

In 1923, the municipality covered an area of 322,880 acres, approximately 500 square miles, and comprising the Hundreds of Black Rock Plains, Coomooroo, Erskine, Pekina and Walloway, each hundred having its own ward. It was responsible for 89½ miles of main roads and 530 miles of district roads.[4] It began sealing town streets in 1930, and finished all streets in the town by 1982.[2] In 1936 it was reported to have approximately 2,000 residents, 700 of them in Orroroo township.[3] A community library, financed in tandem with the Education Department, was established at the Orroroo Area School in 1981.[2]

In 1987, the council published a book on their history, One Hundred Years of Local Government: A History of the District Council of Orroroo 1887–1987 by Gerald J. Kuerschner, June A. Chapman and Jonathan W. Oliver.[5] The municipality to exist in March 1997, when it merged with the adjacent District Council of Carrieton to create the District Council of Orroroo Carrieton; the council seat remained in Orroroo.[6][7]

  1. ^ "The District Councils Act 1887 No. 419". Government of South Australia. 1887. Retrieved 27 March 2015 – via Flinders University. DISTRICT OF ORROROO.—Comprising the Hundreds of Black Rock Plain, Coomooroo, Erskine, Pekina, and Walloway.
  2. ^ a b c Matthews, Penny (1986), South Australia, the civic record, 1836-1986, Wakefield Press, pp. 616–621, ISBN 978-0-949268-82-2
  3. ^ a b Hosking, P. (1936). The Official civic record of South Australia : centenary year, 1936. Adelaide: Universal Publicity Company. pp. 764–767.
  4. ^ The Civic record of South Australia, 1921-1923. Associated Publishing Service. 1924. p. 223.
  5. ^ "One hundred years of local government : a history of the District Council of Orroroo 1887-1987". Trove. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  6. ^ "Orroroo Carrieton (S.A.). Council". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  7. ^ "District Council of Orroroo Carrieton". Retrieved 31 January 2016.