Shire of Esperance

Infobox Australian Place | type = lga
name = Shire of Esperance
state = wa


imagesize= 180
caption = Location in Western Australia
pop = 12,965 (2006 census)
area = 42546.9
est = 1895
seat = Esperance
mayor = Ian Mickel
region = Goldfields-Esperance

url = http://www.esperance.wa.gov.au
stategov = Eyre
fedgov = Kalgoorlie
near-nw = Dundas
near-n = Dundas
near-ne = Dundas
near-e = Dundas
near-se = Southern Ocean
near-s = Southern Ocean
near-sw = Southern Ocean
near-w = Ravensthorpe

The Shire of Esperance is a Local Government Area in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, about convert|400|km|mi|-1 south of the city of Kalgoorlie and about convert|720|km|mi|-1 east-southeast of the state capital, Perth. The Shire covers an area of convert|42547|km2|sqmi|0, and its seat of government is the town of Esperance, where about three-quarters of the Shire's population resides.

History

The Esperance Road Board was constituted and gazetted in 1895. A municipality covering the town of Esperance, gazetted the same year, was merged into the Road District in 1908. On 1 July 1961, it became a Shire Council following changes to the Local Government Act. [WA Electoral Commission, "Municipality Boundary Amendments Register" (release 2.0), 31 May 2003.] On July 11, 1979, the American Skylab Space Station reentered Earth's atmosphere headed for Western Australia and the Indian Ocean. It broke up during reentry and much of it landed in Esperance. In turn the Shire issued a $400 fine to the American government for littering. The fine is still unpaid.

Wards

The shire is divided into two wards. Prior to the 2005 elections, a 13-councillor setup with North, West and East wards each with 2 councillors was in place. The shire president is elected from amongst the councillors.

* Town Ward (7 councillors)
* Rural Ward (4 councillors)

Towns/Localities

* Esperance
** Bandy Creek
** Castletown
** Chadwick
** Nulsen
** Pink Lake
** Sinclair
** West Beach
** Windabout

* Cape Arid National Park
* Cape Le Grand National Park
* Cascade
* Condingup
* Coomalbidgup
* Dalyup
* Gibson
* Grass Patch
* Israelite Bay
* Neridup
* Salmon Gums
* Scaddan

References

External links

* [http://www.esperance.wa.gov.au/ Shire of Esperance]