Rural City of Marong

Infobox Australian Place | type = lga
name = Rural City of Marong
state = vic
region =
area = 1488.93
est = 1861
seat = Marong
pop = 15880 (1992) [cite book|title=Victorian Year Book|author=Australian Bureau of Statistics, Victoria Office|year=1994|page=52|id=ISSN 0067-1223]

logosize =


caption = Location in Victoria
county = Bendigo
near-nw = Korong
near-n = East Loddon
near-ne = Huntly
near-w = Bet Bet
near-e = Bendigo (C)
near-sw = Tullaroop
near-s = Maldon
near-se = Strathfieldsaye
_noautocat = yes

The Rural City of Marong was a Local Government Area located about convert|150|km|mi|0 north-northwest of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The shire covered an area of convert|1488.93|km2|sqmi|1, and existed from 1861 until 1994.

History

Marong was first incorporated as a district on 27 August 1861, and became a shire on 23 December 1864. On 1 October 1915, the Borough of Raywood, which was gazetted on 17 January 1865 on convert|23.31|km2|sqmi|2 of land convert|28|km|mi|0 north of Bendigo, [Victorian Municipal Directory (1915), p.326.] was united with Marong. On 1 October 1990, the Shire of Marong became a Rural City under the Local Government Act 1989.cite book|title=Victorian Municipal Directory|year=1992|publisher=Arnall & Jackson|location=Brunswick|pages=414 Accessed at State Library of Victoria, La Trobe Reading Room.]

Amalgamation

The council briefly made State headlines in the circumstances surrounding its amalgamation. The Kennett Liberal government, elected in 1992, had embarked on an ambitious program of local government reform and restructuring across Victoria. Under the Local Government (General Amendment) Act 1993, a Local Government Board chaired by Leonie Burke was established to advise the State Government on municipal matters. In a report on 17 February 1994, the Local Government Board recommended that the five councils in the Bendigo region merge to form a "super city" with a population of about 81,000, much as Geelong had done the previous year. Marong, Eaglehawk and Huntly had earlier objected to the proposal, and the Board noted a weak no vote against the merger proposal in a referendum in the region [cite news|title=A Bendigo super council sought to absorb area's five|last=Taylor|first=Thomas|page=6|date=18 February 1994|work=The Age Accessed via Factiva online.] —about 70% had voted against, but with a turnout of between 30% and 40% of eligible voters.

The three councils filed a writ in the Supreme Court alleging failure to follow process by the Minister for Local Government, Roger Hallam, but by the time the new "super city" was announced, the writ had not yet been heard, and on 24 March 1994, the Rural City of Marong successfully applied for an injunction blocking the publication of the gazette the following day abolishing the five councils and appointing three commissioners led by Peter Ross-Edwards, the former leader of the Victorian National Party. [cite news|title=Supercouncil plan to go ahead|last=Taylor|first=Thomas|page=6|date=26 March 1994|work=The Age] The government responded by introducing legislation, the City of Greater Bendigo Bill 1994, to Parliament to effectively override the Supreme Court action, with Hallam saying "the bill would make clear that the Government is determined to achieve its objective for a more efficient municipal structure for the Bendigo region." Marong mayor Robert Hynes described the action as "terribly disappointing", adding, "One way or another, I believe it does mean an end to our fight... it seems the Government are above the law to me."cite news|title=Government to force Bendigo merger|last=Winkler|first=Tim|page=5|date=30 March 1994|work=The Age] On 6 April 1994, the Marong council voted to drop the Supreme Court action—effectively in doing so voting itself out of existence—and on 7 April 1994, the City was abolished and merged with the City of Bendigo, the Borough of Eaglehawk and the Shires of Huntly and Strathfieldsaye to form the City of Greater Bendigo. [cite web|url=http://www.mav.asn.au/guide.nsf/Council/Greater+Bendigo+City+Council?OpenDocument|title=Greater Bendigo City Council|author=Municipal Association of Victoria|year=2006|accessdate=2008-01-08 Date cross-checked with the Records Division, Greater Bendigo City Council.] [cite news|title=Marong to fall in line on super council|last=Taylor|first=Thomas|page=6|date=6 April 1994|work=The Age] On 29 April 1994, the Minister confirmed the Bill was not being proceeded with. [cite news|title=Alert Digest 6 of 1994 - (14) City of Greater Bendigo Bill|author=Parliament of Victoria, Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee|date=2 May 1994|accessdate=2008-01-08]

Wards

Marong was divided into three wards on 30 May 1988, each of which elected three councillors:
* Central Ward
* North Ward
* South Ward

Towns and Localities

* Big Hill
* Bridgewater On Loddon
* Campbell's Forest
* Crusoe Gully
* Derby
* Eastville
* Kangaroo Flat
* Laanecoorie
* Leichhardt
* Lockwood
* Maiden Gully
* Marong
* Myer's Flat
* Newbridge
* Ravenswood
* Raywood
* Sebastian
* Shelbourne

Population

* Estimate in the 1958 Victorian Year Book.

References