alt=Map showing West Coast LGA in Tasmania|thumb|right|90px

West Coast Council is a local government body in Tasmania, covering much of the western region of the state. West Coast is classified as a rural local government area and has a population of 4,167.

History

Local government in Western Tasmania evolved from locality based councils created in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries:

: Gormanston Municipal Council (1907–1986) - became part of the Lyell Council

: Lyell Municipal Council (1986–1993)

: Queenstown Municipal Council (1907–1986) - became part of the Lyell Council

: Strahan Municipal Council (1907–1993)

: Zeehan Municipal Council (1907–1993)

On 2 April 1993, the municipalities of Lyell, Strahan and Zeehan were amalgamated to form the West Coast Council.

Historically the region was more oriented towards the North - due to the main transport being by either rail to Burnie up until the 1950s and 1960s, or by ship out of Strahan until the mid twentieth century. There were no land based transport routes to the south. Consequently, many residents who could afford shopping trips would go to Melbourne in Victoria, rather than Hobart in Tasmania.

Some of the small population is located in the small cluster of towns near Macquarie Harbour - Strahan and Queenstown, these were linked in their connection with the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company

While further north Zeehan and Rosebery are settlements that developed from early quite separate mining operations, but were linked by their reliance upon the Emu Bay Railway

There a number of ghost towns or abandoned mining communities in the West Coast, with some such as Crotty actually submerged under hydro-electric scheme dams.

Councillors

As of the 2022 Tasmanian Local Government elections, the council consists of the following members:

{| class="wikitable"

|+West Coast Council

!Name

!Position

!Party affiliation

|-

|Shane Pitt

|Mayor/Councillor

|Independent

|-

|Robert Butterfield

|Deputy Mayor/Councillor

|Independent

|-

|Kerry Graham

|Councillor

|Independent

|-

|Liz Hamer

|Councillor

|Independent

|-

|Vikki Iwanicki

|Councillor

|Independent

|-

|Dwayne Jordan

|Councillor

|Independent

|-

|Annie McKay

|Councillor

|Independent

|-

|Lindsay Newman

|Councillor

|Independent

|-

|Scott Stringer

|Councillor

|Independent

|}

Localities

{| class="wikitable"

|-

!Locality!!Census population August 2022!!Reason

|-

|Zeehan

|728

|

|-

|Rosebery

|922

|

|-

|Strahan

|800

|Includes Regatta Point

|-

|Queenstown

|1,975

|Includes South Queenstown

|-

|South Queenstown

|

|Incl. in Queenstown

|-

|Williamsford

|

|Incl. in Granville Harbour

|-

|Renison Bell

|

|Incl. in Granville Harbour

|-

|Stinger Creek

|

|Incl. in Granville Harbour

|-

|Tullah

|192

|

|-

|Trial Harbour

|24

|

|-

|Regatta Point

|

|Incl. in Strahan

|-

|Total

|4,678

|

|-

|

|0

|Variance

|-

|Local government total

|4,678

|Gazetted West Coast local government area

|-

|}

Not in above list

  • Corinna
  • Cradle Mountain
  • Granville Harbour
  • Lake St Clair
  • Macquarie Heads
  • Southwest
  • West Coast

See also

  • List of local government areas of Tasmania

References

  • West Coast Council official website
  • Local Government Association Tasmania
  • Tasmanian Electoral Commission - local government