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District Road Boards (Colony of Victoria)

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A Central Road Board and District Road Boards were established in the colony of Victoria, Australia, pursuant to the Roads Act given Royal Assent in February 1853. From this date many District Road Boards were created. District Road Boards were abolished in 1869.[1]

Governance structure

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Under rules established in NSW in 1839 it became possible for a town in the Colony (which then included the Port Phillip District later Victoria) to establish a Market Commission. Elected Commissioners had the power to set the rules for the market and levy tolls to fund the system. A Market Commission was set up in the Port Phillip District with Commissioners elected from four wards. The first meeting was 8 November 1841. This governance structure, including the four wards, was transmuted into the Town of Melbourne Council in 1842.

The same approach was then applied to roads. In 1840 an Act allowed for a road Trust to be established. The Trust would have the right to levy tolls on the road and rates on the landowners within 5 km of the road. In 1841 the Heidelberg Road Trust was established.

In 1842 the Colonial Parliament in NSW used the same principles to establish District Councils. It was under this legislation that the Towns of Melbourne and Geelong were established. This mechanism did not work as well as had been hoped and a review in 1847 recommended the establishment of local road trusts (rather than District Councils) with responsibility for local or parish bridges and roads.[1]

Application for a Road District

Road districts

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This approach was picked up by Victoria following Separation from NSW, and an Act was passed in 1853 to establish Road Districts.

The 1853 Roads Act authorised 'not less than five landholders and five householders in any road district in the colony' to begin the process.[2]

Road Districts were established after public meetings to discuss issues such as boundaries and following a petition to the Lieutenant Governor. Upon the proclamation of a district a public meeting was held to elect officers of the District Road Board.

Once established, the elected District Road Board had the power to 'form, improve, contract, manage, and maintain new or existing parish or cross road, and any bridge theron (subject to the control of the Central Board)'.[2] The District Board could 'describe the line' of a parish road.[3] Control of main (not parish) roads was held by the Central Board. A further clause gave the Road District Board the power to 'fix rates of assessment to be chargeable upon owners and occupiers of land within the said district'.[2]

These elected District Road Boards with powers to levy taxes and borrow money[4] were an early form of local government in Victoria. Many areas that became Shires arose from areas originally established as Road Districts. The Shire of Yackandandah is an example.

Other pathways

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Alongside the District Road Boards, the Legislative Council opened other pathways to the governance model of election to a body that could levy rates and tolls. The Municipal Institutions Act 1854[5] allowed local government structures in urban areas. Through this Act, Richmond and East Collingwood for example, became municipalities in 1855.

The Road District and Shires Act 1863 permitted the same structure in rural areas. This Act provide a pathway for Road Boards to achieve municipal status by taking on additional responsibilities related to pounds, slaughtering licences, thistles, dogs, licensed publicans, brewer's and spirit merchants' licences and commons. Many Road Districts became Shires in 1864 (see table below).

The Local Government Act of 1874 applied the same rules to urban and rural municipalities.[6] In 1877 local governments lost the power to levy tolls.[1]

Consequences

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The organic or bottom-up approach allowed for in the Road District legislation enabled well-organised communities to quickly establish a mechanism for designing, improving and maintaining roads. It also enabled the central government to avoid the establishment of a central authority with the responsibility of determining suitable parish boundaries.

There were however negative consequences.

The boundaries that emerged were in some cases sub-optimal. In 1862, Hamilton was in the District of Dundas. Rather than being in the centre of Dundas, the town abutted the western boundary of the Road District and the neighbouring District of Portland. This meant that some of the westernmost residents of Hamilton were paying rates to Portland, 80 km to the west. A Hamilton newspaper said 'These distant ratepayers are entirely unrepresented. They live too far away to attend at the election meetings, and they have literally no voice in spending their own money, and the only thing which reminds them of the existence of the Board is the extreme regularity with which they are looked up for their rates.'[7]

Another unintended consequence was fragmentation. When the Colonial Government announced road funding subsidies for communities that established Road Districts, there emerged 'quite an exciting race with the different districts who should be first in the field, so as to secure a share'. The Ovens & Murray Advertiser reported that following an application for District status from Yackandandah, the communities of Buckland, Rutherglen, Stanley and Indigo followed suit. Nonetheless, this left 'a very considerable territory still unappropriated'. This unclaimed area was divided between Stanley and Indigo. An effort then arose to split the Stanley district. This inspired succession movements in Reid's Creek, Woolshed Creek, El Dorado, Bowman's Forest, Tarrawingee, and a portion of Rutherglen. The newspaper made the point that the administration costs of each smaller District would be higher than in a more consolidated zone. They said that this constraint would mean that the salaries and competence of the officers would be lower. They noted that the central Government subsidy could not be applied to administrative costs. The newspaper marvelled at this 'parcelling out of the colony into districts of such lilliputian proportions' [8]

The criticism of fragmentation was already being made a Government level. The 1863 Stuart Commission found that Victoria had too many local councils (54) with rate bases that were too small to enable them to fulfil their obligations. Similar reviews in 1873 and 1902-6 came to similar conclusions. Consolidation on a statewide basis occurred in 1994[9]

Road Districts included:

NameDate proclaimedNotesSucceeded by (original LGAs)Date
Barrabool1853Shire of Barrabool1865
Portarlington1853Shire of Bellarine1865
Belfast (Port Fairy)1854Shire of Belfast1863
Boroondara (Hawthorn, Camberwell, Kew)1854Shire of Boroondara1871
Epping1854Shire of Darebin1870
HawthorneProclaimed 16 January 1854Revoked 11 May 1854. Subsumed in Boroondara Road DistrictHawthorn municipal district1860
Warrnambool1854Shire of Warrnambool1863
Alberton1855Shire of Alberton1864
Lower Leigh1855
Bacchus Marsh1856Bacchus Marsh and Maddingley Road District1862
Connewarre1856Amalgamated with South Barwon BoroughShire of South Barwon1874
Gardiner1856Shire of Gardiner1871
Portland1856Shire of Portland1863
Templestowe1856Shire of Bulleen1875
Upper Yarra1856
Ballarat1857Shire of Ballarat1863
Broadmeadows1857Shire of Broadmeadows1871
Caulfield1857Shire of Caulfield1871
Dandenong1857Shire of Dandenong1873
Dundas1857Shire of Dundas1863
Eltham1857Shire of Eltham1871
Great Brighton1858
Hampden and Heytesbury1857named from the countiesShire of Hampden1863
Nunawading1857Shire of Nunawading1872
South Barwon1857Borough of South Barwon1863
Willowmavin1857
Buninyong1858Shire of Buninyong1864
Colac1859Shire of Colac1864
Creswick1858Shire of Creswick1863
Flinders1868Shire of Flinders & Kangerong1874
Oakleigh and Mulgrave1858Shire of Oakleigh1871
Woodstock1858Shire of Darebin1870
Greensborough1859United with...Shire of Heidelberg1875
Pentridge1859Coburg Road District1869
Upper Plenty1859
Amherst and Clunes1860Shire of Talbot1865
Braybrook1860Shire of Braybrook1871
Campaspe1860Shire of Huntly1866
Cranbourne1860Shire of Cranbourne1868
Fryers1860Mount Alexander United Shire1871
Gisborne1860Shire of Gisborne1871
Glenlyon1860Shire of Glenlyon1865
Heidelberg1860Shire of Heidelberg1871
Lexton1860Shire of Lexton1864
Metcalfe1860Shire of Metcalfe1865
Mortlake1860Shire of Mortlake1864
Mount Eliza1860Shire of Mornington1871
Mount Rouse1860Shire of Mount Rouse1864
Newstead1860Shire of Newstead1865
Tullaroop1860Shire of Tullaroop1865
Winchelsea1860Shire of Winchelsea1864
Yandoit and Franklin1860Shire of Mount Franklin1871
Carngham1861Carngham and Beaufort Road District1863
Strathfieldsaye1861Shire of Strathfieldsaye1866
Marong1861Shire of Marong1864
Corio1861
Ararat1861Shire of Ararat1864
Avoca1861Shire of Avoca1864
Bet Bet1861Shire of Bet Bet1864
Grenville1861Shire of Grenville1864
Leigh1861Shire of Leigh1864
Ripon1861Shire of Ripon1863
Shelford1861
Stawell1861Shire of Stawell1864
St Arnaud1861Shire of St Arnaud1864
Woady Yallock1861
Woodend, Newham
and Rochford		1861Shire of Newham1871
Bacchus Marsh and Maddingley1862
Ballan1862Shire of Ballan1864
Bannockburn1862Shire of Bannockburn1864
Berwick1862Shire of Berwick1868
Bulla1862Shire of Bulla1866
Campbell's Creek1862Mount Alexander United Shire1871
Chiltern1862Shire of Chiltern1874
Horsham1862
Kangerong1862Shire of Flinders & Kangerong1874
Kingower and Wedderburne1862
Korong1862Shire of Korong1864
Kowree1862Shire of Kowree1872
Melton1862Shire of Melton1871
Moorabbin1862Shire of Moorabbin1871
Oxley1862Shire of Oxley1865
Romsey1862Shire of Romsey1871
Rutherglen1862Shire of Rutherglen1871
Swan Hill1862Shire of Swan Hill1871
Whittlesea1862Shire of Whittlesea1874
Wyndham1862Shire of Wyndham1864
Yackandandah1862Shire of Yackandandah1864
Baringhup1863Shire of Maldon
Bungaree1863Shire of Bungaree1871
Carngham and Beaufort1863previously Carngham
Donnybrook, Wallan Wallan
and Bylands		1863Shire of Merriang
Glenelg1863Shire of Glenelg1864
Keilor1863Shire of Keilor1871
Maldon1863Shire of Maldon1864
Malvern1863Shire of Malvern1878
McIvor1863Shire of McIvor1864
North Ovens1863Shire of North Ovens1867
Pyalong1863Shire of Pyalong1871
Seymour1863Shire of Seymour1871
Waranga1863Shire of Waranga1865
Avon1864Shire of Avon1865
East Loddon1864Shire of East Loddon1871
Echuca1864Shire of Echuca1871
Kyneton1864Amalgamation of Kyneton Borough and Lauriston & Edgecombe,
Tylden & Trentham and Carlsruhe RDs		Shire of Kyneton1865
Bairnsdale1867Shire of Bairnsdale1868
Alexandra1868Shire of Alexandra1869
Benalla1868Shire of Benalla1869
Goulburn1868Shire of Goulburn1871
Broadford1869Shire of Broadford1875
Coburg1869renaming of PentridgeShire of Coburg1875
Howqua1869Shire of Howqua1875
Rosedale1869Shire of Rosedale1871
Towong1869Shire of Towong1874
Yea1869Shire of Yea1873
Phillip Island1871Shire of Phillip Island
and Woolamai		1874
MorangShire of Darebin1870
Lauriston and EdgecombeKyneton Road District1864
Tylden and TrenthamKyneton Road District1864
CarlsruheKyneton Road District1864
Bylands and Glenburnie
Carisbrook
Heathcote
Indented Heads
Indigo
Lancefield
Meredith
North Harrow
Wooragee

References

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  1. 1 2 3 Country Roads and Bridges. W McCormack and F Fricke in One Hundred Years of Engineering.
  2. 1 2 3 "ROADS OF THE COLONY". Geelong Advertiser And Intelligencer. Vol. 13, no. 1997. Victoria, Australia. 24 January 1853. p. 2 (DAILY.). Retrieved 8 June 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ↑ "LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 1797. Victoria, Australia. 28 January 1853. p. 5. Retrieved 8 June 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ↑ The progress of Victoria: A statistical essay (Intercolonial Exhibition essays, 1866-67) by William Henry Archer. ASIN: B0008BRIUG
  5. ↑ "THE MUNICIPALITIES ACT". Mount Alexander Mail. No. 34. Victoria, Australia. 22 December 1854. p. 3. Retrieved 15 June 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ↑ Municipal wards in Victoria, 1982-1999, J O'Toole, N Burdess, 2003
  7. ↑ "No title". Hamilton Spectator And Grange District Advertiser. No. [?]. Victoria, Australia. 4 January 1862. p. 2. Retrieved 14 June 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ↑ "The Obens and Murray Advertiser". Ovens And Murray Advertiser. No. 1575. Victoria, Australia. 12 May 1863. p. 2. Retrieved 17 June 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ↑ Local Government Act Review. Imagining Local Government in the 21st Century Yehudi Blacher 2015
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