Municipality of Kiama

The Municipality of Kiama contains the following towns and localities:

The municipality of Kiama was created in 1859. There were three wards: Kiama, Gerringong and Jamberoo. The first council comprised James Colley, John Sharpe and Joseph Pike (representing the Kiama Ward); John Hukins, John Colley and John Hanrahan (representing the Jamberoo Ward); and Joseph Blow, Robert Miller and James Robinson (representing the Gerringong Ward). The first mayor of Kiama was James Colley.^{[citation needed]}

In 1871, Gerringong separated from the Kiama municipality and Jamberoo in 1892. In 1954, the Gerringong, Jamberoo and Kiama municipalities were amalgamated forming today's current municipal boundaries.^[3]

Kiama has had three female mayors: Ruth Devenney (1991 until 1992), Joyce Wheatley (1992 until 2000) and Sandra McCarthy (2000 until 2012).^{[citation needed]}

A 2015 review of local government boundaries recommended that the Municipality of Kiama merge with the City of Shoalhaven to form a new council with an area of 4,825 square kilometres (1,863 sq mi) and support a population of approximately 120,000.^[4] The Kiama community along with the Shoalhaven community actively campaigned against any forced council amalgamation between the two councils.^[5] Kiama council held a non-compulsory poll on 7 May 2016 to grasp community attitudes to the proposal.^[6] The results of the poll concluded that 95% of the community supported remaining an independent council, with a 49.9% turnout.^[7] On 12 May 2016, the NSW State Government determined not to amalgamate Kiama and Shoalhaven council areas.^[8]

At the 2021 census the total population of the Municipality was 23,074 people. The median age of the community was 48 years.^[9]

About 8.2% of the population was born outside of Australia, with the top countries of birth being England at 5.2%, New Zealand at 1.3%, Scotland at 0.6%, the United States of America at 0.6% and Germany at 0.5%. The Indigenous Australian population is 2.3% of the total community population.^[9]

English was spoken as a first language by 91.0% of the population. The top response for languages spoken at home other than English was Italian at 0.4%, followed by German at 0.3%, Spanish at 0.3%, Greek at 0.3% and French at 0.3%.^[9]

The council of the municipality of Kiama is composed of nine councillors elected proportionally as a single ward. All councillors are elected for a fixed four-year term of office. The mayor is elected by the councillors at the first meeting of the council. The most recent election was held on 4 December 2021 and the makeup of the council is as follows:^[10]

The current Council, elected in 2021, in order of election, is:^[10][11]

• Local government areas of New South Wales

• Kiama Municipal Council Website