Western Downs Region

Western Downs Region
Queensland

Location within Queensland
Population 32,071 (2010)[1]
 • Density 0.843108/km2 (2.18364/sq mi)
Established 2008
Area 38,039 km2 (14,686.9 sq mi)
Mayor Ray Brown
Federal Division(s) Maranoa
Website Western Downs Region
LGAs around Western Downs Region:
Central Highlands Banana South and North Burnett
Maranoa Western Downs Region Toowoomba
Balonne Goondiwindi Toowoomba
The current corporate office for the Western Downs Regional Council
The former Dalby Regional Council offices. Now the location to the Town Library and the Dalby Civic Theatre

The Western Downs Region is a local government area in Queensland, Australia. The Council covers an area 38,039 square kilometres (14,687 sq mi), which is approximately the same size as the country of Switzerland, although with a population at the last census of a little over 32 000, it is over 235 times less densely populated.

The area is home to prime farming land and thus agriculture is a major industry in the area. Dalby, the biggest town in the region is home to the second largest cattle saleyards in Australia. The Dalby Saleyards process over 200 000 cattle annually in its state of the art facility which is comparable to Rockhampton and Casio

History

Western Downs Region was created in March 2008 as a result of the report of the Local Government Reform Commission released in July 2007. The new Council, located in the Darling Downs region contains the entire area of five previous local government areas;

as well as Division 2 of Shire of Taroom.

The report recommended that the new local government area should not be divided into wards and elect ten councillors and a mayor. The report estimated that the resident population in 2006 was 30,018 and the operating budget was A$74 million.

Originally called Dalby Regional Council, a name change to Western Downs was approved in August 2009.[2]

Towns and localities

The Regional Council covers the towns of:

Town Population Location
Bell 544 (2011) 39km NE of Dalby
Brigalow 404 (2011) 62km NW of Dalby, 20km SE of Chinchilla
Chinchilla 5,487 82km NW of Dalby
Condamine 426 125km W of Dalby, 59km SW of Chinchilla
Dalby 12,299 210km NW of Brisbane, 82km SE of Chinchilla
Drillham
Dulacca
Glenmorgan
Jandowae

and the localities of:

Mayors

References

  1. ↑ Australian Bureau of Statistics (31 March 2011). "Regional Population Growth, Australia, 2009–10". Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  2. ↑ "Council set to launch new identity". Western Downs Regional Council. 5 August 2009. Archived from the original on 2 October 2009. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  3. ↑ "2008 Dalby Regional Council - Mayoral Election - Election Summary". Electoral Commission of Queensland. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  4. ↑ "2012 Western Downs Regional Council - Mayoral Election - Election Summary". Electoral Commission of Queensland. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  5. ↑ "Councillor Profiles". Western Downs Regional Council. Retrieved 21 January 2014.

External links

Media related to Western Downs Region at Wikimedia Commons

Coordinates: 26°44′32″S 150°35′35″E / 26.74222°S 150.59306°E / -26.74222; 150.59306

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, February 16, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.