Hornsby Shire

Hornsby Shire New South Wales
Population:	164,034(2010)
• Density:	338/km² (875.4/sq mi)
Area:	462 km² (178.4 sq mi)
Mayor:	Nick Berman
Council Seat:	Hornsby
Region:	Metropolitan Sydney
State electorate:	Hornsby, Hawkesbury, Epping, Castle Hill, Ku-ring-gai
Federal Division:	Berowra, Bennelong, Bradfield
Website: http://www.hornsby.nsw.gov.au/
LGAs around Hornsby Shire: The Hills Shire City of Gosford City of Gosford The Hills Shire Hornsby Shire Warringah Council City of Parramatta City of Ryde Ku-ring-gai Council

Hornsby Shire is a Local Government Area in the Northern region of Sydney, Australia. The Shire stretches from the suburb of Eastwood in the south to the Hawkesbury River town of Wisemans Ferry, some 53 kilometres (33 mi) to the north. As at June 2010, it had an estimated population of 164,034.

Towns and localities

Suburbs in Hornsby Shire are:

• Asquith
• Beecroft
• Berowra
• Berowra Heights
• Berowra Waters
• Carlingford (shared with The Hills Shire and City of Parramatta)
• Castle Hill (shared with The Hills Shire)
• Cheltenham
• Cherrybrook
• Epping (shared with City of Parramatta and City of Ryde)
• Hornsby
• Hornsby Heights
• Mount Colah
• Mount Kuring-gai
• Normanhurst
• North Epping
• Pennant Hills
• Thornleigh
• Wahroonga (shared with Ku-ring-gai Council)
• Waitara
• Westleigh
• West Pennant Hills (shared with The Hills Shire)

• Hookhams Corner
• Roselea
• Round Corner
• Thompsons Corner

Towns and rural localities in Hornsby Shire are:

• Arcadia
• Berrilee
• Bobbin Head
• Brooklyn
• Canoelands
• Cowan
• Dangar Island
• Dural (shared with The Hills Shire)
• Fiddletown
• Fishermans Point
• Forest Glen
• Galston
• Glenhaven (shared with The Hills Shire)
• Glenorie (shared with The Hills Shire)
• Laughtondale
• Maroota
• Middle Dural
• Milsons Passage
• Singletons Mill
• Wisemans Ferry (shared with City of Gosford and The Hills Shire)

History

Hornsby Shire was originally occupied by the Dharug and Gu-ring-gai tribes of Indigenous Australians. While the northern part of the Shire (via the Hawkesbury River) was visited by the first European settlers in late 1788, due to the Shire's rugged landscape permanent European settlement did not begin until almost half a century later.

Hornsby Shire got its name from the town of Hornsby at the eastern end of the Shire, is derived from Convict-turned-Constable Samuel Horne, who earned distinction by capturing bushrangers Dalton and MacNamara on 22 June 1830. In return he was granted land in the locality known as "Hornsby Place".

Hornsby Shire has remained largely rural for many decades. The construction of the Northern Railway Line (see Cityrail) in the 1880s opened up the Shire to the rest of Sydney and also to Newcastle, but it was not until motor vehicles became commonplace in the 1950s that the southern part of the Shire truly became part of Sydney's suburbia.

Geography

Hornsby calls itself the 'Bushland Shire'. This is in reference to its location on a high ridge separating two expansive areas of natural bushland: The Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park on the eastern side and the Berowra Valley Regional Park on the western side. These provide large areas of natural parkland that form a green belt running from Sydney at the south to the Hawkesbury River at the Shire's northern end. These parks are extremely popular with day-trippers from all areas of Sydney and provides diverse recreations such as bushwalking and boating.

The northern half of Hornsby Shire remains a semi-rural area, retaining a number of farmlands and market gardens. The village of Galston is the centre of this rural area.

The southern half of the Shire is urban, forming part of Sydney's suburbia. Traditionally most of the Shire's residents live in free-standing houses, but in recent years a number of semi-detached housings as well as high-density apartments have appeared around Hornsby's central district.

The Shire has two industrial areas, in Hornsby and Thornleigh. The major commercial centres of the Shire, apart from Hornsby's central district, are the suburbs of Pennant Hills, Epping and Carlingford.

Local attractions in the Hornsby Shire include its easily accessible wilderness areas including part of the Great North Walk, parkland recreational facilities such as Fagan Park at Galston, Pennant Hills Park, Koala Park Sanctuary in West Pennant Hills, and the village of Brooklyn on the Hawkesbury River.

Infrastructure

Transport

The urban areas of Hornsby are serviced by two railway lines (the Northern Line and the North Shore Line) of the CityRail network.

The Northern Line forms an arc which begins at the Sydney central business district (CBD), going through the Inner Western suburbs, turns north and enters the Hornsby Shire at its south-western end, heading north-east to central Hornsby, before proceeding northward to Newcastle and beyond. The North Shore Line begins at the central business district, crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge and passing through North Sydney, then proceeds northward until terminating at Hornsby.

Because Hornsby Shire is somewhat deficient in bus transport, its residents rely heavily on cars. Being the northern gateway of Sydney means that thousands of heavy trucks pass through Hornsby Shire every day and night. The main roads within the Shire are the Sydney–Newcastle Freeway (F3) running from Pacific Highway in Wahroonga northward to Hexham in Newcastle's northwestern suburbs; Pacific Highway, which joins Sydney with the Central Coast; Pennant Hills Road (part of Cumberland Highway), running from Wahroonga to Parramatta; and part of the M2 tollway.

Education

Hornsby Shire contains a number of schools, both government and private. Government schools can either be selective or comprehensive; private schools are typically run by Catholic, Anglican, or non-denominational Christian groups. Single-sex schools are somewhat more common in Hornsby Shire than in other parts of Sydney. Regardless of the type of school, however, their academic results are generally above that of the state average.

The Northern Sydney Institute of TAFE has a college in Hornsby.

Hospitals

Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Hospital at the town of Hornsby is the main public hospital for the Upper North Shore. There are a number of private hospitals in the nearby area including the Sydney Adventist Hospital which is a major hospital serving the North Shore Region, which is actually located in the adjacent Municipality of Ku-ring-gai.

Other facilities

Hornsby Shire has five public libraries (at Hornsby, Pennant Hills, Epping, Berowra and Galston, three public swimming pools ("Aquatic Centres"), and a range of other sporting and community facilities.

Council

Hornsby Shire Council is composed of nine councillors elected proportionally, in addition to the mayor, who is directly elected. The current mayor Nick Berman was first elected to Hornsby Shire Council as a B Ward Councillor in 1999. He became the first directly elected Mayor in 2004. The shire is divided into three wards, each electing three councillors. The current makeup of the council, including the mayor, is as follows:

Party		Councillors
	Independents and Unaffiliated	7
	The Greens	2
	Australian Labor Party	1
	Total	10

The current council, elected in 2008, is:

Ward	Councillor		Party	Notes
Mayor		Nick Berman	Independent
A Ward		Steve Russell	Independent
		Wendy McMurdo	Greens
		Mick Smart	Independent
B Ward		Steve Evans	Independent	Elected on Nick Berman's ticket
		Dilip Chopra	Independent	Elected on Nick Berman's ticket
		Bruce Mills	Labor
C Ward		Michael Hutchence	Unaffiliated
		Andrew Martin	Greens
		Robert Browne	Independent