Carrathool Shire

This article is about the local government area. For the regional town, see Carrathool, New South Wales.

Carrathool Shire New South Wales
Location in New South Wales
Coordinates
Population	2,700 (2012)
• Density	0.1426/km2 (0.369/sq mi)
Area	18,932.61 km2 (7,309.9 sq mi)
Council seat	Goolgowi
Region	Riverina and Far West
State electorate(s)	Murray
Federal Division(s)	Riverina
Website	Carrathool Shire
LGAs around Carrathool Shire: Central Darling Cobar Lachlan Balranald Carrathool Shire Bland Hay Hay Griffith

The Carrathool Shire is a local government area that borders both the Riverina and Far West regions of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire comprises 18,933 square kilometres (7,310 sq mi) and is located adjacent to the Mid-Western Highway and north of the Sturt Highway.

The largest town in the Shire is Hillston and the council seat is Goolgowi. The Shire also includes the villages of Merriwagga, Rankins Springs, Carrathool.

Where once regular droughts made life almost untenable, the area now has irrigated crops, gardens, greened sporting facilities and village verges. Over 15,000 square kilometres (5,800 sq mi) are now used in rural pursuits, including more than 600 square kilometres (230 sq mi) in wheat, rice, vineyards, cotton, potatoes, vegetables and orchard trees. Most of the change was made possible by the widespread use of river and underground water.

The mayor of the Carrathool Shire Council is yet to be determined following the 2012 local government election.

Council

Current composition and election method

Carrathool Shire Council is composed of ten councillors elected proportionally as five separate wards, each electing two councillors. All councillors are elected for a fixed four-year term of office. The mayor is elected by the councillors at the first meeting of the Council. The most recent election was due to be held on 8 September 2012. However, in all five wards there was an equal number of candidates, being those below, that nominated for election. There being no additional candidates, the election for all five wards was uncontested. The makeup of the Council is as follows:

Party		Councillors
	Independents and Unaligned	10
	Total	10

The current Council, elected in 2012, in order of election by ward, is:

Ward	Councillor		Party	Notes
A Ward		Mick Armnstrong	Unaligned
		Darryl Jardine	Independent
B Ward		Russell Campbell	Unaligned
		Margaret Merrylees	Independent
C Ward		Jim Caughey	Unaligned
		Bill Kite	Independent
D Ward		David Fensom	Unaligned
		Geoff Peters	Unaligned
E Ward		Vince Cashmere	Unaligned
		Peter Laird	Unaligned	Mayor (to be confirmed)