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Parramatta City Proclamation & 150th AnniversaryPrint Page Print this page

Parramatta City Councillors : 30-August-2014
Parramatta City Councillors : 30-August-2014

Photographs supplied by Sandra Brown

The tablet, erected in 1938, commemorates the proclamation of Parramatta as a city and its 150th anniversary. A second tablet also lists the names of the first council.

First incorporated on 27 November 1861 as the "Municipality of Parramatta", the first Mayor was emancipated convict John Williams who arrived in the colony in 1835. The council became known as the "Borough of Parramatta" on 23 December 1867 following the enactment of the Municipalities Act, 1867, and became a Municipality again following the 1906 Local Government Act. On 27 October 1938, the Local Government(City of Parramatta Act) was passed by the Parliament of New South Wales and proclaimed by the Governor, Lord Wakehurst, making the town the "City of Parramatta."

Parramatta became a city yesterday, the first day of its 150th anniversary celebrations. At a civic reception which inaugurated the celebrations The Governor, Lord Wakehurst, announced that he had that morning signed the bill which gave the town its new status. Lord Wakehurst was replying to an address presented by the Mayor of Parramatta, Alderman W. J. Irwin. He said that the close association of the early Governors of New South Wales with Parramatta, which was their country home until the middle of last century, gave him an added interest, in the celebrations. The people of the new city might well be proud of the wealth of history and tradition surrounding the institutions within their boundaries. The pen with which Lord Wakehurst signed the bill was brought to the reception in the pocket of the Chief Secretary, Mr. Gollan, who is the local member.

Mr. Spooner, the Minister for Local Government, said that Parramatta was the first city established by Act of Parliament In New South Wales and, as far as he knew, in Australia. It had already become the commercial centre of a Iarge district, But, he suggested, it had now the responsibility of establishing a new civic individuality and a new centre of culture.
The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW), 28 October 1938.

Location

Address:Church Street Mall , Town Hall , Parramatta, 2150
State:NSW
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -33.815785
Long: 151.003353
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Plaque
Monument Theme:Government
Sub-Theme:Local
Approx. Event Start Date:1788
Approx. Event End Date:1938

Dedication

Actual Monument Dedication Date:Thursday 27th October, 1938
Front Inscription

1788                     1938

This Tablet Was Erected
To Commemorate
THE PROCLAMATION OF
    PARRAMATTA
       AS A CITY 
On The 27th October 1938
     And To Mark
The Celebration
      Of Its 
150th Anniversary

Left Side Inscription

1788                            1938

         Members Of The
        FIRST COUNCIL
          Of The City Of
         PARRAMATTA

           [ Names ]

 

Source: H, MA
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au