Municipality of Camperdown

The municipality was proclaimed in 1862 and, with an area of 1.6 square kilometres, covered the entire suburb of Camperdown, as well as small parts of Annandale, Newtown and Stanmore.

That the number of ratepayers in Camperdown is only 138, whilst the rates are barely more than sufficient to defray the working expenses, the improvements having to be effected almost solely by the Government endowment.

These institutions also inevitably displaced land that could include the numbers of rate-payers that allowed neighbouring councils to survive and invest in projects that Camperdown could barely afford.

[9] In late 1901 the Camperdown Town Hall on Parramatta Road provided the source of the culmination of decades of financial trouble when the Australian Joint Stock Bank took legal action against the municipality for unpaid debts, which ended in their favour.

[11] As a consequence, the Town Hall was put up for sale and a receiver was appointed to direct the aldermen on the use and disposal of council monies and assets, which proved a source of great contention.

[15] Newtown's proposal was consequent on a significant raising of rates and the establishment of a sinking fund to deal with Camperdown's maintenance backlog and debts.

"[9] This resolution set off negotiations with the Sydney City Council which lasted for several years, but, with the council owing around £27,000 (worth roughly $3.8 million AUD in 2015 values) by July 1905, it was clear that the proposal was an inevitable solution, which was made clear in a meeting of ratepayers by the serving mayor and Lord Mayor of Sydney, Allen Taylor.

[20] A month later, the Sydney Evening News, in reflection of the history of Camperdown council, opined that: "From any standpoint the new order of things must be welcomed as satisfactory.

Under the old regime Camperdown was hopelessly insolvent, many, indeed most, of its streets were almost impassable, and absolutely dangerous to traffic, and there was an ever-growing dissatisfied feeling among the ratepayers that they were getting but a poor return for their municipal taxation.

'"[74] The council had approved the hall's ornate Victorian Italianate design by architect William Martin, with E. E. Ayles being the main contractor.

"[73] The Town Hall was completed by November 1887, and it was noted that it "presents a very handsome appearance from the street" but that the final cost came at over £5000, a substantial sum for a relatively poor and small municipality.