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The first council, consisting of 24 aldermen elected across six wards, was declared elected on 3 November 1842 and first met in the George Street Market Building (now the site of the Queen Victoria Building) on 9 November and elected John Hosking as the first elected mayor of Sydney.
- The Right Honourable the Lord Mayor
- Council of the City of Sydney
- 4 years, renewable indefinitely (Since 1995)
- The Police
- Markets
- Roads
- Lights
- Water and Sewerage
- Rubbish and Rats
- Health
- City Planning
One of the reasons the City was formed was to set up the local police force, which would be paid by the City and controlled by the colony. After four years of failing to levy this unpopular rate, the City passed control back to the government so that the police force ultimately became a state rather than a local matter.
In the 19th century, markets formed an important part of Sydney's commercial sector, and tolls raised from running the wholesale and retail markets was a large part of revenue. They were also unhygienic and unruly places where unscrupulous trading practices were common. Hence many of the earliest City by-laws were attempts at maintaining law and or...
The City's attempts at road making, drainage and repair were often less than successful and by the 1870s numerous roads remained unformed, pot-holed or prone to washaways. From the 1880s, major streets were overlaid with woodblocks. This surface was durable but slippery, and bitumen was soon used. In the 1930s the City's laboratory at Wattle Street...
In 1841 the streets of Sydney were first lit by gas, provided by the Australian Gaslight Company. The City left it to the private company to provide Sydney's lighting for the next half-century. In 1904 when the Lady Mayoress switched on the first electric street lights at Pyrmont Power Station, the City took on the provision of electricity to both ...
Until it became polluted from over-use in the 1820s, the freshwater Tank Stream was the town's water supply. By 1839 convicts working under John Busby had carved out water tunnels from a swamp in the City's east. This was called Busby's Bore. Pipes conveyed water to standpipes at various parts of the town and water carters sold water at one shillin...
Garbage disposal is one function the City is still responsible for but it was not always a priority. In the 19th century garbage was dumped indiscriminately until the bubonic plague in 1900 pushed the City into action. Garbage was incinerated or tipped at Moore Park, then at Pyrmont or punted out to sea. There was public outcry in 1929 when spring ...
The City's by-laws have always covered public health, but the general level of understanding of what was required to keep a city healthy was limited. The City Health Officer was a part-time employee with an independent medical practice who did little more than offer advice to aldermen. The Nuisance Inspector oversaw a range of regulations from mark...
In 1879, the City gained control over insanitary and unsafe buildings but it had to share this power with a government-appointed City Improvement Board. When bubonic plague threatened Sydney in 1900, the City was held responsible for failing to eradicate the rats blamed for the public health scare. As a result the state government took over the Cit...
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John Rae. Lord Mayors of the City of Sydney | 1857 - 1902. 1857 | Alderman George Thornton. 1858 | Alderman John Williams. 1859 | Alderman George Smith. 1860 | Alderman James Murphy. 1861 | Alderman John Sutherland. 1862 | Alderman James Oatley. 1863 | Alderman Thomas Spence. 1864 | Alderman William Speer. 1865 | Alderman John Woods.
Clover Moore is the longest serving Lord Mayor of Sydney. She is the first popularly elected woman to lead the City of Sydney and previously served in the NSW Parliament and on the City and South Sydney councils.
Meet Clover - Clover Moore. > Meet Clover. Clover Moore was elected Lord Mayor of Sydney in 2004, the first popularly elected woman to lead the City of Sydney. She is also the longest serving Mayor since city government incorporation in 1842. She was re-elected for her fifth term in 2021.
John Hosking portrait. John Hosking, c. 1860. John Hosking (17 April 1805 [a] – 9 September 1882) was a politician, merchant and magistrate in the colony of New South Wales. He was the first elected mayor of Sydney, serving from 1842 to 1843. [b]
Moore is the first popularly elected female Lord Mayor of Sydney. [3] Early life and background. Clover Margaret Collins was born in 1945 and grew up in the suburb of Gordon, on Sydney's North Shore, one of three daughters of Kathleen and Francis Collins. She attended Loreto Kirribilli at Kirribilli and Elm Court Dominican Convent, Moss Vale.
