The Delatite Shire was a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the north-east part of the state. It covered an area of and, at the , had a population of 21,553. In submissions to the Board, the City of Benalla and the Shire of Benalla presented almost identical preferences for amalgamation, proposing to merge with each other and the shires of Euroa and Violet Town. As their secondary option, both the City and Shire proposed adding the Shire of Mansfield to the four-council merger. Meanwhile, the Shire of Mansfield primarily favoured standing alone, offering forward three alternate possibilities – a merger with a number of surrounding alpine districts, a merger with the City and Shire of Benalla, and a merger with parts of Benalla and Oxley shires.

In their September 1994 report, the Local Government Board proposed the creation of the Municipality of Delatite, a merger of the City of Benalla, Shire of Benalla, and Shire of Mansfield, excluding the Shire of Benalla's Glenrowan district. Peter Chen of the University of Melbourne states that the name Delatite comes from the Delatite River, and was connected with the southern Mansfield end of the proposed municipality.

In its reasonings for proposing the creation of Delatite, the Board cited business, educational, and governmental links between Benalla and Mansfield, as well as the municipality having a roughly equal mix of urban and rural populations, which made up 53 and 47 per cent of Delatite's population respectively. It described Delatite as combining "distinct yet complementary" types of industry — urban services in the City of Benalla, tourism in Mansfield, and agriculture in rural areas. The Board noted that the length of Delatite from north to south — — was a considerable one, but much of the municipality was uninhabited Crown land, and remote villages in the existing Shire of Mansfield, such as Jamieson, would likely continue to access municipal services from the town of Mansfield. The Shire of Benalla believed the need for maintaining local government presence in Mansfield would likely limit the municipality of Delatite's financial efficiency. While the Board considered alternatives to Delatite, such as merging the shires of Alexandra, Mansfield, and Yea, the options of including Euroa and Violet Town shires, as preferred by the two Benallas, were not deeply considered in the Board's proposal for Delatite.

thumb|Delatite Shire's predecessor LGAs (green) as they were in 1994. The administrative centres of the previous LGAs are marked by green dots.<br>🞲 The [[Mount Buller Alpine Resort|Mount Buller and Mount Stirling Alpine Resorts were excised in 1997]]

On 18 November 1994, the City of Benalla, Shire of Benalla, and Shire of Mansfield all officially ceased to exist, being amalgamated into the new Delatite Shire.

De-amalgamation

Following the 1999 Victorian state election, in which the Kennett government was defeated, dissatisfied residents of Mansfield began actively campaigning for the dissolution of the Delatite Shire. The Mansfield District Residents' and Ratepayers' Association (MDRRA) was formed on 5 January 2000 at a public meeting in Mansfield in which 750 attended, aiming to run candidates in the 2000 council elections on a platform of de-amalgamation. David Parsons, a Mansfield solicitor, was MDRRA's inaugural president.

MDRRA meetings were held in four out of Delatite's eight ridings to select candidates for council — the Mansfield-based Alpine, Lakeland, and Mansfield Central ridings, and the Swanpool riding, which straddled the border of the former Benalla and Mansfield shires. The group endorsed Jessica Graves for Alpine, Steve Junghenn for Lakeland, Will Twycross for Mansfield Central, and Don Cummins for Swanpool.

The 2000 election resulted in all four MDRRA endorsed candidates winning their races, creating a council evenly split between MDRRA councillors and Benalla-based representatives. At a meeting of council on 23 March 2000, Ken Whan was elected as mayor of Delatite Shire. Whan was nominated by Jessica Graves, who initially planned to nominate for mayor. As a condition of being elected mayor, Whan promised not to use his tiebreaker vote in a way that would cause division. On 6 April, Delatite Shire revealed the existence of an agreement signed by seven of the eight councillors, with conditions for when the casting vote of the mayor was to be used, an agreement to elect a mayor from Mansfield after the conclusion of Whan's term, and a decision to seek a review of the Delatite Shire. The agreement was titled the "Commitment of Understanding", and referred to by Peter Chen of the University of Melbourne as the Swanpool agreement. It was published by the Benalla Ensign in full on 3 May 2000, and the terms of it are as follows: Brewer stated that he was opposed to being bound to elect a councillor from Mansfield as mayor, wanting instead to select the best candidate on merit. Brewer also disagreed with the terms limiting the mayor's casting vote, arguing that the mayor should be free to use his second vote when it would create better outcomes for Delatite Shire. Feelings were inflamed in the shire to the point that, per The Age, some Mansfield residents deliberately avoided Benalla for shopping, instead driving to the more distant town of Shepparton. Delatite Shire was announced to be de-amalgamated on 22 July 2002 by Premier Steve Bracks, with elections scheduled for the new Benalla and Mansfield shires in March 2003. The Delatite Shire was officially split into the Benalla Rural City and Mansfield Shire on 28 October 2002.

Administration

The Delatite Shire was headquartered in Benalla, where its civic centre was located. A services centre was located in Mansfield.

Sister city

Delatite Shire had one sister city relationship, established in 1997:

  • Vail, Colorado, United States of America

Notes

References

Cited works

  • Australian Places - Delatite