Shire of Albert

Shire of Albert Queensland
Population	143,697 (1991 census)[1]
• Density	117.419/km^2 (304.113/sq mi)
Established	1948
Area	1,223.8 km^2 (472.5 sq mi)
Council seat	Nerang
Region	South East Queensland
LGAs around Shire of Albert: Logan Redlands Redlands Beaudesert Shire of Albert Gold Coast Tweed (New South Wales) Tweed (New South Wales) Gold Coast

The Shire of Albert was a local government area in Queensland, located south of the capital, Brisbane, and taking in areas to the north and west of the Gold Coast. It was named after the Prince Consort of the United Kingdom, and husband of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert. When created in 1948, it was primarily a rural area, but its growth started in earnest in the late 1960s with the development of Logan on Brisbane's southern frontier. After the separate creation of Logan as a shire (later City) in 1978, Albert lost most of its population and became more centred upon the Gold Coast, which experienced a massive period of growth from then until the Shire's amalgamation with City of Gold Coast in 1995.

History

Divisional Boards

By the late 1870s, the Government of Queensland had become preoccupied with the idea of getting local residents to pay through rates for local services, which had become a massive cost to the colony and were undermaintained in many areas. The McIlwraith government initiated the Divisional Boards Act 1879 which created a system of elected divisional boards covering most of Queensland. It was assented by the Governor on 2 October 1879, and on 11 November 1879, the Governor gazetted a list of 74 divisions which would come into existence. Four of these—Nerang, Coomera, Beenleigh and Waterford—were in the Gold Coast region. Town dwellers had different needs to the rural landholders so Southport ratepayers lobbied the Queensland Government to create a separate Divisional Board so that rates monies raised by Southport landholders could be spent on town improvements. This resulted in the Southport Divisional Board on 14 July 1883.

Shires and towns

On 31 March 1903, following the enactment of the Local Authorities Act 1902, the divisions became shires. On 12 June 1914, the Coolangatta was created from part of the Shire of Nerang, and on 12 April 1918, Southport became a Town.

Amalgamations in 1948

On 9 December 1948, as part of a major reorganisation of local government in South East Queensland, an Order in Council replacing ten former local government areas between the City of Brisbane and the New South Wales border with only four.^[2][3] The former ten were:

• Beaudesert
• Beenleigh
• Cleveland
• Coolangatta
• Coomera
• Nerang
• Southport
• Tamborine
• Tingalpa
• Waterford

The four resulting local government areas were:

• the new Shire of Albert: a merger of Beenleigh, Coomera, Nerang (except for the Burleigh Heads area), the southern part of Tingalpa and the eastern part of Waterford^[4]
• an enlarged Shire of Beaudesert, an amalgamation of Beaudesert and Tambourine with the western part of Waterford
• Town of South Coast, an amalgamation of the Towns of Southport and Coolangatta with the Burleigh Heads part of Nerang (which later became City of Gold Coast)
• the new Redland Shire, an amalgamation of Cleveland and the northern part of Tingalpa (which later became Redland City)

The Order came into effect on 10 June 1949, when the first elections were held.

Suburban growth

The northern part of the Shire expanded rapidly from the late 1960s onwards with the development of the Logan area, which had become a southeastern suburban growth corridor for Brisbane. On 8 June 1978, the Shire of Logan was separately incorporated, and Albert lost 110.0 km² (42.5 sq mi) of its area and 54,650 people in the change—almost three-quarters of its population. The effect of this change was to transform Albert into a purely Gold Coast-area council. With the astronomic growth levels experienced by the Gold Coast area from the late 1970s onwards, the new Albert grew from 18,753 at the 1976 census to 143,697 in 1991.

On 19 March 1992, the Electoral and Administrative Review Commission, created two years earlier, produced its report External Boundaries of Local Authorities, and recommended a number of changes to local government boundaries and the amalgamation of some local governments.^[5] Although their recommendations only included boundary adjustments between City of Gold Coast and Albert Shire, the outcome following much public debate was a decision by the Queensland Government to absorb Albert Shire into Gold Coast City. The Local Government (Albert, Beaudesert and Gold Coast) Regulation 1994 was gazetted on 16 December 1994, resulting in the amalgamation of the Shire of Albert into Gold Coast City at the 1995 local government elections.

Towns and localities

Sugar cane at Steiglitz, 2014

Gold Coast suburbs: Broadbeach Waters Burleigh Waters Carrara Clear Island Waters Coomera Currumbin Waters Elanora Gaven Helensvale Highland Park Hope Island Mermaid Waters Merrimac Nerang Oxenford Pacific Pines Robina Upper Coomera Varsity Lakes

Northern region: Alberton Cedar Creek Gilberton Guanaba Jacobs Well Kingsholme Luscombe Maudsland Norwell Ormeau Ormeau Hills Pimpama South Stradbroke Island Stapylton Steiglitz Willow Vale Wongawallan Woongoolba Yatala

Western region: Advancetown Austinville Bonogin Clagiraba Currumbin Valley Gilston Lower Beechmont Mount Nathan Mudgeeraba Natural Bridge Numinbah Valley Reedy Creek Springbrook Tallebudgera Tallebudgera Valley Tallai Worongary

Chairmen

The following served as chairmen of the Shire of Albert:^[6]

Chairman	Term
Eric Gaven	1949–1950
Frank Oxenford	1950–1952
Alex Clark	1952–1958
Russ Hinze	1958–1967
Hugh Dunstan Muntz	1967–1982
Bill Laver	1982–1994
Ray Stevens	1994–1995

Population

The population of the Albert region is only offered from the 1947 census onwards. The 1949 Queensland Year Book (p. 42) notes the following populations.

Local Authority	Area (sq.mi.)	1933	1947
Beenleigh	100	2,322	2,421
Coomera	118	1,152	1,114
Nerang	245	3,730	4,029
Waterford	135	1,052	1,004
Total	598	8,256	8,568

The 1950 Year Book, which uses the new boundaries, gives an area of 511 sq mi (1,323 km²) and a population of 7,261 (a difference of 1,307 people) for the Shire of Albert.

Year	Population	Annual growth (%)
1947	7,261	N/A
1954	8,714	2.64
1961	10,669	2.93
1966	13,782	5.25
1971	29,360	16.33
1976	72,062	19.67

Following the 1976 census, most of Albert's population were transferred to the new Logan local government area.

Year	Population	Annual growth (%)
1976	18,753	N/A
1981	54,870	23.95
1986	92,766	11.07
1991	143,697	9.15

References

1. Australian Bureau of Statistics (1993). 2730.3 Census counts for small areas : Queensland. ISBN 0-642-17236-6.
2. "New coast names.". The Courier-Mail (Brisbane: National Library of Australia). 10 December 1948. p. 3. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
3. "DETAILS OF SOUTH COAST SHIRES.". The Queensland Times (Ipswich, Qld.: National Library of Australia). 10 December 1948. p. 1. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
4. "Agency ID290, Albert Shire Council". Queensland State Archives. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
5. "External Boundaries of Local Authorities" (PDF). Electoral and Administrative Review Commission. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
6. Jones, Michael Anthony (1988). Country of five rivers, Albert Shire 1788–1988. Allen and Unwin. ISBN 0-04337-005-5.

External links

• Local Government (Albert, Beaudesert and Gold Coast) Regulation 1994
• University of Queensland: Queensland Places: Albert Shire

Coordinates: 27°59′56.32″S 153°20′19.77″E / 27.9989778°S 153.3388250°E