Penrith City Council is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the area becoming a municipality.
After many petitions from local residents, on 12 May, 1871, the district of Penrith was proclaimed a municipality and announced in the NSW Government Gazette the following day. The population of Penrith township at the time was just 836.
Since then the area has grown into a significant city: in 1949, Penrith amalgamated with St Marys, Castlereagh and parts of the Nepean Shire. In 1963, Emu Plains and Emu Heights joined Penrith City, and the boundaries of our contemporary city were drawn.
Penrith Mayor, Karen McKeown said she was immensely proud to be part of a Council which had played such an important part in the development of the area and community.
“From its earliest beginnings, Penrith City Council has been innovative and dedicated to serving local people, a lineage that continues today,” Mayor McKeown said.
“In the 1890s, Council enacted bylaws to keep people safe from diseases like typhoid and diphtheria. In the 1920s, Council implemented a garbage removal system so that residents no longer had to burn or bury waste in their backyards.
“Penrith was the first town in the Sydney region to connect electricity for street lights and private homes in 1890, just as we were the first in Sydney to implement the Food Organics and Garden Organics system in 2009. There is a strong tradition of innovation in Penrith City Council, and that is something to celebrate.”
Between May and August of this year, Council will mark the occasion in several ways. Historical artefacts from the last century and a half will be on display in Penrith City Library, and a Civic Reception will be held to honour the anniversary among other achievements and local heroes.
Later in the year, a commemorative booklet will be released in a limited print run and will also be available digitally.
