Litchfield Municipality

Litchfield Municipality
Northern Territory

Population

21,380 (2013 est)^[1]

• Density

7.3362/km² (19.001/sq mi)

Established

1985

Area

2,914.3 km² (1,125.2 sq mi)

Council seat

Bees Creek

Region

Outer Metropolitan Darwin

Federal Division(s)

Website

Litchfield Municipality

LGAs around Litchfield Municipality:
Darwin Palmerston	Van Diemen Gulf
Wagait	Litchfield Municipality
	Coomalie

The Litchfield Municipality is a local government area of the Northern Territory of Australia on the eastern and southeastern outskirts of the Darwin-Palmerston urban area. The municipality covers an area of 2,914.3 square kilometres (1,125.2 sq mi), and was created by the Northern Territory government on 6 September 1985.

History

The original inhabitants of the Litchfield area were the Larakia, Woolner and Djowei Aboriginal people. The arrival of European settlers dates from 1864. Litchfield is named after Frederick Henry Litchfield who with William Patrick Auld was a member of an early survey and settlement party and who explored areas of the Northern Territory from Escape Cliffs on the Timor Sea to the Daly River. Some growth took place during the 1870s and 1880s, after the construction of the Overland Telegraph Line. There was more substantial growth during the post-war years, especially during the 1970s.

The Litchfield Shire was proclaimed by an Act of the NT Parliament on 6 September 1985. On 7 December 1985 an election was held to elect the first Council composed of a Shire President and four Councillors each representing a ward - North, South, East and Central.

This first elected body formulated a series of objectives under which Council was to operate. The objectives were based upon the provision of services in what is traditionally known as the 3R's ( Roads, Rubbish and Recreation) and on the principle of contracting out the provision of these services. The level of services under these functions were to be commensurate with a philosophy of low rates.

In 2008 Litchfield Shire became a municipality under the new Local Government Act 2008, which saw changes in the structure of local government across the Northern Territory.

On 1 July 2008 Litchfield Council's responsibilities also included management of the Thorak Regional Cemetery.

Geography

Litchfield Municipality.

The Litchfield Municipality is bounded by the Adelaide River to the east, Van Diemen Gulf and the Coomalie Community Government Council in the south and the City of Darwin and City of Palmerston to the northwest. The Stuart and Arnhem Highways run through the Litchfield Municipality. Most of the Municipality is rural or rural-residential in character.

Localities

Localities within the boundary of the Municipality include:^[2]

Outer Darwin	Western Rural	Eastern Rural
Bees Creek Coolalinga Freds Pass Girraween Holtze Howard Springs Humpty Doo Knuckey Lagoon (with Robertson Barracks) McMinns Lagoon Noonamah Virginia Mickett Creek	Berry Springs Blackmore* Channel Island Darwin River Fly Creek Livingstone Southport Tumbling Waters Weddell# Wickham	Acacia Hills Black Jungle Gunn Point# Herbert Hughes Lambells Lagoon Lloyd Creek Manton Middle Point Murrumujuk* Daly Glyde Point# Koolpinyah# Shoal Bay# Wak Wak#

* amended localities
# newly created localities

Population

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1986	7,410	—
1991	9,746	+31.5%
1996	13,858	+42.2%
2001	16,086	+16.1%
2006	17,461	+8.5%
2011	18,994	+8.8%

Council presidents

John Maley (1985–1996)
Gerry Wood (1996–2001)
Mary Walshe (2001–2012)

Mayor

Alan McKay (2012-current)

References

↑ "3218.0 Regional Population Growth, Australia. Table 7. Estimated Resident Population, Local Government Areas, Northern Territory". 3 April 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
↑ http://nt.gov.au/placenames/localities/litchfield/index.shtml

External links

Suburbs and towns of the Litchfield Municipality, Northern Territory

Outer Darwin	Bees Creek Coolalinga Freds Pass Girraween Holtze Howard Springs Humpty Doo Knuckey Lagoon McMinns Lagoon Noonamah Virginia Mickett Creek

Western Rural	Berry Springs Blackmore Channel Island Darwin River Fly Creek Livingstone Southport Tumbling Waters Weddell Wickham

Eastern Rural	Acacia Hills Black Jungle Gunn Point Herbert Hughes Lambells Lagoon Lloyd Creek Manton Middle Point Murrumujuk Daly Glyde Point Koolpinyah Shoal Bay Wak Wak

Local government areas of the Northern Territory

Darwin Region	Belyuen Coomalie Darwin Darwin Rates Act Area Litchfield Palmerston Tiwi Islands Unincorporated Top End Region Wagait

Katherine Region	Katherine Victoria Daly Roper Gulf

Arnhem Land	Alyangula East Arnhem Nhulunbuy West Arnhem

Barkly Tableland	Barkly

Central Australia	Alice Springs Central Desert MacDonnell Yulara

Coordinates: 12°25′36″S 131°02′27″E / 12.4266°S 131.0409°E / -12.4266; 131.0409

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, September 11, 2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.