Upper Hunter Shire

This article is about the local government area established in 2004. For the local government area abolished in 1958, see Upper Hunter Shire (1906–1957).

Not to be confused with Electoral district of Upper Hunter.

Upper Hunter Shire New South Wales
Location in New South Wales
Coordinates	32°05′S150°51′E / 32.083°S 150.850°E / -32.083; 150.850
Population	14,229 (2021 census) [1]
• Density	1.8/km2 (4.7/sq mi)
Area	8,096 km2 (3,125.9 sq mi) [2]
Time zone	AEST (UTC+10)
• Summer (DST)	AEDT (UTC+11)
Mayor	Maurice Collison [3]
Council seat	Scone
Region	Hunter [4]
State electorate(s)	Upper Hunter [5]
Federal division(s)	Calare New England
Website	Upper Hunter Shire
LGAs around Upper Hunter Shire: Liverpool Plains Tamworth Walcha Warrumbungle Upper Hunter Shire MidCoast Council Mid-Western Muswellbrook Dungog

The Upper Hunter Shire is a local government area in the Upper Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire was formed in May 2004 from the Scone Shire and parts of Murrurundi and Merriwa shires.

The mayor of the Upper Hunter Shire Council is Cr. Maurice Collison, following the sudden resignation of Wayne Bedggood as mayor and as a councillor on 9 June 2020. No reason has been given for the sudden resignation.

Council's General Manager is Greg McDonald.^{[ citation needed ]}

Towns

The towns of the Upper Hunter are Scone, Parkville, Aberdeen, Murrurundi, and Merriwa, as well as several villages, including Bunnan, Gundy, Moonan Flat, Ellerston, Wingen, Blandford and Cassilis. Of the towns, only Aberdeen on the Shire's southeastern border is situated on the Hunter River.

Heritage listings

The Upper Hunter Shire has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

• Ardglen, Main Northern railway: Ardglen Tunnel ^[6]
• Merriwa, Bow Street: Colonial Cottage Museum ^[7]
• Murrurundi, Main Northern railway: Murrurundi railway station ^[8]
• Murrurundi, Mount Street: Rosedale Cottage ^[9]
• Scone, 144 Kelly Street: Scone Civic Theatre ^[10] Scone, New South Wales
• Scone, 41 Kingdon Road: Old Court Theatre ^[11]
• Scone, Main Northern railway: Scone railway station ^[12]
• Wingen, Raglan Street: Mountain House, Wingen ^[13]

Demographics

At the 2021 census, there were 14,229 people in the Upper Hunter Shire local government area, of these 50.0 percent were male and 50.0 percent were female. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 7.0 percent of the population, which was higher than the national and state averages of 3.4 and 3.2 percent respectively. The median age of people in the Upper Hunter Shire was 42 years, which was marginally higher than the national median of 38 years. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 18.6 percent of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 21.2 percent of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 47.3 per cent were married and 13.1 per cent were either divorced or separated. ^[2]

Population growth in the Upper Hunter Shire between the 2006 census and the 2011 census was 6.00 percent. When compared with the total population growth of Australia for the same period, at 8.32 percent, population growth in the Upper Hunter Shire local government area was slightly lower than the national average. ^[14] The median weekly income for residents within the Upper Hunter Shire was marginally lower than the national average. ^[2]

At the 2021 census, the proportion of residents in the Upper Hunter Shire local government area who stated their ancestry as Australian or English exceeded 85 percent of all residents (the national average was 62.9 percent). In excess of 29% of all residents in the Upper Hunter Shire nominated a religious affiliation with Anglican at the 2021 census, which was considerably higher than the national average of 9.8 percent. Meanwhile, as at the 2021 census date, compared to the national average, households in the Upper Hunter Shire local government area had a significantly lower than average proportion (5.3 percent) where two or more languages are spoken (the national average was 24.8 percent); and a significantly higher proportion 89.5 percent where only English was spoken at home (the national average was 72.0 percent). ^{[2] [1]}

Selected historical census data for the Upper Hunter Shire local government area
Census year			2006 [14]	2011 [2]	2016 [15]	2021 [1]
Population		Estimated residents on Census night	12,976	13,754	14,112	14,229
		LGA rank in terms of size within New South Wales
		% of New South Wales population	0.19%	0.20%	0.18%	0.17%
		% of Australian population	0.07%	0.07%	0.06%	0.05%
Cultural and language diversity
Ancestry, top responses		Australian	–	36.6%	35.7%	45.3%
		English	–	32.4%	30.5%	42.7%
		Irish	–	8.2%	8.7%	11.7%
		Scottish	–	7.9%	7.6%	10.5%
		German		2.8%	2.8%	–
		Australian Aboriginal	–	–	–	6.4%
Language, top responses (other than English)		Mandarin	n/c	0.2%	0.3%	0.7%
		Portuguese	n/c	0.2%	–	0.2%
		Filipino	0.3%	0.2%	0.3%	0.3%
		Cantonese	0.2%	0.1%	0.2%	0.2%
		Arabic	n/c	0.1%	–	–
		Tagalog	0.1%	0.1%	0.2%	–
		French	–	–	–	0.2%
Religious affiliation
Religious affiliation, top responses		Anglican	41.3%	39.3%	35.1%	29.9%
		Catholic	27.2%	26.9%	25.9%	22.9%
		No Religion	9.7%	13.4%	16.7%	28.8%
		Uniting Church	6.5%	5.6%	4.4%	3.7%
		Presbyterian and Reformed	3.2%	3.3%	–	–
Median weekly incomes
Personal income		Median weekly personal income	$438	$552	$630	$751
		% of Australian median income	94.0%	95.7%	95.1%	93.2%
Family income		Median weekly family income	A$1,090	A$1,392	A$1,589	A$1,914
		% of Australian median income	93.1%	94.0%	91.6%	90.2%
Household income		Median weekly household income	A$882	A$1,071	A$1,242	A$1,429
		% of Australian median income	85.9%	86.8%	86.3%	81.8%

Council

Current composition and election method

Upper Hunter Shire Council is composed of nine councillors elected by Optional Preferential Voting as a single ward. All councillors are elected for a fixed four-year term of office. The mayor is elected by the councillors at the first meeting of the council. The most recent election was held on 4 December 2021 and the makeup of the council is as follows: ^[16]

Party		Councillor
	Independents	Allison McPhee
	Independents	Maurice Blackburn
	Independents	James Burns
	Independents	Tayah Clout
	Independents	Ron Campbell
	Independents	Elizabeth Flaherty
	Independents	Belinda McKenzie
	Independents	Lee Watts
	Independents	Adam Williamson
	Greens	Sue Abbott
	Total	9

Attractions

The Upper Hunter is the largest horse-rearing region in Australia.

The Burning Mountain Nature Reserve, near Wingen, is the site of a subterranean coal seam fire that has been burning for several thousand years. ^[17]

The council also owns several FM rebroadcasters of Radio National and SBS Radio, under the self-help schemes run by those broadcasters.

References

1. Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Upper Hunter Shire". 2021 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
2. Australian Bureau of Statistics (31 October 2012). "Upper Hunter Shire (A)". 2011 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
3. "September Council Meeting Recap". councilnews.com.au. 26 September 2023. Archived from the original on 2 March 2024. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
4. "Upper Hunter". yourcouncil.nsw.gov.au . 135 Liverpool Street Scone NSW 2337. Archived from the original on 1 March 2024. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
5. "The Legislative Assembly District of Upper Hunter". New South Wales Electoral Commission . 4 October 2023. Archived from the original on 1 March 2024. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
6. "Ardglen Tunnel". New South Wales State Heritage Register . Department of Planning & Environment. H01021. Retrieved 18 May 2018. Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC-BY 4.0 licence .
7. "Cottage Museum". New South Wales State Heritage Register . Department of Planning & Environment. H00259. Retrieved 18 May 2018. Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC-BY 4.0 licence .
8. "Murrurundi Railway Station group". New South Wales State Heritage Register . Department of Planning & Environment. H01205. Retrieved 18 May 2018. Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC-BY 4.0 licence .
9. "Rosedale Cottage". New South Wales State Heritage Register . Department of Planning & Environment. H00421. Retrieved 18 May 2018. Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC-BY 4.0 licence .
10. "Scone Civic Theatre". New South Wales State Heritage Register . Department of Planning & Environment. H01660. Retrieved 18 May 2018. Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC-BY 4.0 licence .
11. "Old Court Theatre". New South Wales State Heritage Register . Department of Planning & Environment. H00340. Retrieved 18 May 2018. Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC-BY 4.0 licence .
12. "Scone Railway Station". New South Wales State Heritage Register . Department of Planning & Environment. H01242. Retrieved 18 May 2018. Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC-BY 4.0 licence .
13. "Mountain House". New South Wales State Heritage Register . Department of Planning & Environment. H00311. Retrieved 18 May 2018. Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC-BY 4.0 licence .
14. Australian Bureau of Statistics (25 October 2007). "Upper Hunter (A)". 2006 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
15. Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "-Upper Hunter Shire (A)". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
16. Green, Antony. "Upper Hunter Shire". NSW Electoral Commission . Archived from the original on 2 March 2024. Retrieved 28 January 2023– via ABC News.
17. Krajick, Kevin (May 2005). "Fire in the hole". Smithsonian . pp. 54ff. Archived from the original on 2 March 2024. Retrieved 13 October 2012.