Municipality of Castlereagh
A petition from the residents of Castlereagh on 25th April , 1895. resulted in the proclamation of Municipality of Castlereagh on 9 September 1895. It was a small municipality serving a scattered rural community and by 1921 had a population of only 600. Over the next decade the population nearly doubled and in the early 1930’s new Council Chambers were built. This was undertaken as part of Council’s depression relief works and the simple brick building reflects both the size of the local community and the austerity of the period. As part of the rationalisation of municipal government after World War II the municipality was amalgamated with Penrith in 1949. The former Council Chambers remain as a symbol of this earlier phase of municipal government and as an important feature of the development of a local sense of identity in the late 19th century.
Castlereagh Hall – Former Castlereagh Council Chambers
Town Clerks
E Bissland 1895 -1896
A F DevIin 1896 -1927
D Leitch 1927-1948
Mayors
“Big Day at Castlereagh” – Nepean Times, 5 May 1934
– Additions to Council Building Officially Opened
Communal activity and public-spiritedness are conspicuous virtues of the people of Castlereagh. Though not numerically strong, they are possessed of an inspiring enthusiasm and spirit of progress that might be emulated with advantage by larger communities. It would be difficult to find a better example of patriotic large heartedness than that which prompted sporting bodies of that centre to guarantee to raise a balance of funds for the extension of the Council Chambers and the erection of the office.
The official opening of the new structure, which gives an appearance of much greater importance to the locality, was performed on Saturday afternoon by Mr J. Jackson, M.L.A., in the presence of a large and representative gathering of local people and visitors from neighbouring areas.
In front of the old weatherboard hall that has done duty for Council meetings and public functions for 40 years, has been erected a handsome brick addition of 24ft by 18ft and a council clerk’s office of 18ft by 16ft, with plastered walls, cement dado, panelled ceiling, and open fireplace. The new building is iron-roofed with cement enrichment at the front.
The architect was Mr A. Hodgson, of Glenbrook.