Shire of Noosa


The Shire of Noosa is a local government area about north of Brisbane in the Sunshine Coast district of South East Queensland, Australia. The shire covers an area of. The shire existed as a local government entity from 1910 until 2008, when it was amalgamated
with the Shire of Maroochy and City of Caloundra to form the Sunshine Coast Region, and again from 1 January 2014, when it was re-established.

History

Ancient history

The Noosa area was originally home to several Aboriginal groups. These primarily include the Undumbi tribe to the south, the Dulingbara to the north, and the Kabi Kabi to the west.
Gubbi Gubbi is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken on Gubbi Gubbi country. The Gubbi Gubbi language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Sunshine Coast Region and Gympie Region, particularly the towns of Caloundra, Noosa Heads, Gympie and extending north towards Maryborough and south to Caboolture.
In 2003 the Australian Federal Court determined that the native title holders for the Noosa area are the Kabi Kabi First Nation.
Although much of the culture and presence of the traditional owners of the Noosa district has been lost during the short period of white settlement, there still exist many subtle reminders. These include:
It is widely accepted that the name Noosa comes from the local Aboriginal word for shadow or shady place. An 1870 map of Noosa shows the Noosa River written as Nusa River. This has led to an unfounded belief that the word Nusa is derived from the Indonesian word for island.
A Keeping Place of indigenous cultural and sacred objects is maintained at the Noosa Shire Museum, Pomona.

Early European settlement

Although reports of the area can be traced back to Captain Cook's voyages in May 1770, European settlement in the region did not proceed for almost a century. This early settlement was primarily driven firstly by timber logging and then secondly a gold rush in the Gympie area, north of Noosa. The difficulty of transport in the region, which persisted to the 1920s and beyond, was one major reason for this.
In 1871, the Government laid out a port at Tewantin, which was duly surveyed and by 1877 contained two hotels, a boarding house, school, police station and telegraph office. In 1872, the Noosa Heads and coastal region south to Peregian Beach was set aside as an Aboriginal Mission, however this was cancelled in 1878 and land was opened for selection on 15 January 1879. With the advent of the railway, Tewantin declined in importance.
Noosa is a region, not a town. It contains beaches and a beach national park, the cleanest river in South-East Queensland and an extensive trail network inland, linking a number of lifestyle villages, including Cooroy and Pomona. In the last 50 years Noosa has been transformed from an isolated fishing village to a tourist destination. Although this has had its costs the shire is known for its generally greener approach to development. Most development in Noosa has been restrained. Noosa has no high rise buildings, due both to local community pressure and to council planning action, and much remaining native forest. 34.8% of the Noosa district consists of National Parks, Conservation Parks, State Forests, and other generally protected land.
The popularity of Noosa Heads comes from the fact that is it one of Australia's few North facing beaches located on the East Coast, hence Noosa Beach is relatively protected from on-shore wind and storms.

Council history

The area was originally incorporated as part of the Widgee Divisional Board on 11 November 1879 under the Divisional Boards Act 1879. Noosa was created as a separate shire under the Local Authorities Act 1902 in 1910, with an initial population of 2,000. The first elections were held on 22 April 1910 and resulted in James Duke becoming the first shire chairman. The Noosa Shire Hall was constructed in Pomona in 1911.
On Saturday 8 September 1917, an Honour Roll was unveiled at the Noosa Shire Hall in Pomona. It was to honour and commemorate those from the district who had left Australia to serve in the armed forces during World War I.
In the early 1970s, development commenced in the area around Noosa Sound with Queensland Government backing. In December 1980, the Shire headquarters moved to Pelican Street, Tewantin. The former shire hall in Pomona became the Noosa Museum operated by the Cooroora Historical Society.
In 1982, the Noosa community elected a young and energetic pro-environment and pro-planning Council. The core Councillors who were most influential in this change were elected in a group called The Resident's Team. They laid the foundation for many of the planning and environmental protection concepts for which Noosa is now famous. The 1982-1985 Noosa Council was the first to introduce the idea of a development/population cap, the concept of strategic planning, a focus on community arts, the use of design and landscape controls in development applications and they introduced drafts of many of the first development control plans for each of the Noosa townships. The business lobby supported by several local media personalities were successful in seeing this Council being largely replaced by a pro-development Council in the 1985 election. That pro-development Council was, in turn, largely removed by the Noosa community in the subsequent 1988 election.

Following the election of Noosa's first green mayor, Noel Playford who was an original member of the 1982-1985 Residents Team, in 1988, Noosa's first formal strategic plan was gazetted, and in 1990 development was limited to four storeys. In 1993, a major Council and community complex covering opened at Wallace Park, Noosaville.
In 1995, the mayor Noel Playford controversially formally announced a "population cap" of 56,500 people for Noosa Shire based on the initial concepts developed during the 1982-1985 Council term. The population cap was the expected population under the planning scheme if all available land was developed in accordance with the planning scheme. Noosa had performed the calculations for all land in the shire and provided the results in the strategic planning documents. Noosa was the first Council in Australia to do so.
On 15 March 2008, under the Local Government Act 2007 passed by the Parliament of Queensland on 10 August 2007, the Shire of Noosa merged with the Shire of Maroochy and the City of Caloundra to form the Sunshine Coast Region. Noosa's mayor, Bob Abbot, won the mayoralty of the new Council over Maroochy's Joe Natoli with 70% of the combined vote. The amalgamation occurred despite the 2007 referendum in Noosa Shire by the Australian Electoral Commission where 95% of voters rejected amalgamation.
In 2012, following a change of state government, a proposal was made to de-amalgamate the Shire of Noosa from the Sunshine Coast Region. On 9 March 2013, 81% of Noosa residents voted to de-amalgamate Noosa from the Sunshine Coast Region. On 18 March 2013, the Sunshine Coast Regional Council decided its new planning scheme should not apply to those areas that were part of the former Noosa Shire. The Shire of Noosa was re-established on 1 January 2014.
On 2 January 2014 the new councillors and mayor were sworn in with the oath of office; in attendance were Warren Truss, Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and member for Wide Bay as well as David Gibson, Member for Gympie. The ceremony was followed by the first meeting of the council held at the Cooroy Memorial Hall, Cooroy.

Structure

The elected council consists of a mayor and six councillors. Noosa Shire does not have divisional electoral boundaries.

Current council members

Towns and localities

The Shire of Noosa includes the following settlements:
Greater Noosa:
Coastal Region:
Hinterland:
1 - includes part of Great Sandy National Park
2 - shared with Sunshine Coast Region

Population

Chairmen and mayors of Noosa Shire

Directly elected:
Elected by fellow councillors:

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Culture

The Noosa Film Festival was held in Noosa between 2 and 8 September in 1999. A number of festivals are also held in Noosa including the Noosa Festival of Surfing.
Noosa Arts Theatre is a flourishing and widely reputed centre for performing arts in the area. As well as various other food and cultural festivals, each year Noosa boasts the Noosa Long Weekend Festival, a 10-day multi-arts genre cultural festival. Theatre, dance, music, food, film, supper clubs, workshops and more are featured as part of the free and ticketed event program. The event attracts over 10,000 people each year.
The recently developed The J Centre in Noosa Heads has become another centre for live theatre and musical performances, as well as a secondary campus for the University of the Sunshine Coast.
The Noosa Country Show is the yearly event established 1909 to showcase the shire's best cattle, horsemen etc. The show is held on the 2nd weekend of every September at the Pomona Showgrounds.
Pomona is also home to the Noosa Shire Museum, where European and indigenous history are displayed side by side, and The Majestic Theatre, a performing arts center for the Noosa Northern Hinterland. An art gallery has been established in the old Pomona Railway Station.

Services

The Shire of Noosa operates libraries in Noosaville and Cooroy. A mobile library service visits the following districts on a weekly schedule: Noosa Heads, Sunrise Beach, Cooran, Federal, Kin Kin, Boreen Point, Peregian Beach and Pomona.