Municipality of Waterloo

Municipality of Waterloo New South Wales
Waterloo Town Hall on Elizabeth Street, c. 1916.
Established	16 May 1860
Abolished	31 December 1948
Area	3.4 km2 (1.3 sq mi)
Council seat	Waterloo Town Hall
Region	Inner West
LGAs around Municipality of Waterloo: Alexandria Redfern Sydney Alexandria Municipality of Waterloo Randwick Alexandria North Botany/Mascot Randwick

The Municipality of Waterloo was a local government area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The municipality was proclaimed on 16 May 1860 and, with an area of 3.4 square kilometres, included the modern suburbs of Waterloo, Zetland and Rosebery. The suburb of Alexandria was originally included as the Western Ward of the council but seceded as a separate municipality in 1868. After several attempts to amalgamate with various neighbours in the mid-1920s, the council was amalgamated with the City of Sydney, along with most of its neighbours, with the passing of the Local Government (Areas) Act 1948, although parts of the former council area were transferred in 1967 to the City of South Sydney.

The area that would constitute the municipality of Waterloo was first incorporated as the Waterloo Ward of the Municipality of Redfern in August 1859. Under the provisions of the Municipalities Act, 1858, 250 residents of the area signed a petition which was published in the Government Gazette on 17 January 1860, noting that "they have every reason for believing that their interests, as part of the said Municipality of Redfern, will be seriously injured by their incorporation with such Municipality, and are, therefore, desirous to be separated therefrom, and be and become a separate and distinct Municipality". The area was subsequently proclaimed as the Municipality of Waterloo on 16 May 1860 by Governor Sir William Denison.

The first councillors were declared elected and held their first meeting at the residence of William Brown, at the corner of what is now Buckland and Botany streets, on 1 July 1860: Edward John Hawksley (elected Chairman), John Geddes, Thomas Rostron, Edward Byrnes, William Austin, William Bryant, John Oates, George Kitson and Jules Felix Charet. Initially established as one at-large constituency, on 5 October 1863 the council was divided into three wards: Northern Ward (Waterloo), Eastern Ward (Rosebery and Zetland) and the Western Ward (Alexandria).