On 23 November 1849, Dubbo was officially gazetted as a Village. After names such as Oxley; Dulhunty and Serisier had been involved in the very early days, this was the day that Dubbo officially came into existence. The next census listed the Dubbo population at 28 males and 19 females. Dubbo progressed and on 19 February 1872 the local government area was officially created when the Municipal District of Dubbo was approved by the Colonial Secretary. The population by this time was around 500. 82 of these residents voted in the first election when six aldermen were elected into office on 22 April 1872. James Samuels Jnr. was the first Mayor of Dubbo. Things kept moving quickly and on 20 March 1885, Dubbo was proclaimed a town.
It was some time before the next significant change occurred but on 12 September 1966, Dubbo was proclaimed a city by His Excellency, Sir Roden Cutler. The official population at the time was 15,364. With all the current talk of amalgamations, it is interesting to note that Dubbo has already experienced an amalgamation. On 1 April 1980 (it was no joke at the time) Dubbo was amalgamated with Talbragar Shire Council and the current Dubbo City Council Local Government Area (LGA) was born. To the current State Government please take note! The population at the time was approximately 29,000.
In 1999 Dubbo celebrated its sesquicentenary (on 23 November of course). As part of that celebration, the Dubbo Community Service Awards were created with Dubbo 150 Certificates awarded to people who had helped craft the wonderful community that had been created in Dubbo. The Council of the day thought that, rather than wait another 150 years to recognise the volunteers in our community, the awards should be given out on an annual basis.
On Monday this week, on Dubbo’s 166th anniversary, I had the pleasure of handing out 16 Dubbo Day Awards (as they are now known) and one Tony McGrane Award. The pleasure I derive from these awards is not just from seeing the excitement (and sometimes tears) on the faces of the recipients but it is also because I am lucky enough to sit on the judging committee for these awards. When I think I am busy and making a contribution to my community, I only need to remember some of the information on the nominations for Dubbo Day Award recipients and realise there are an incredible number of people doing a power of work for this community. They do it without any expectation of reward or acknowledgement and some are actually embarrassed to be receiving an award because they know of someone else supposedly doing more than they are doing.
On behalf of the City of Dubbo I congratulate all seventeen award winners and thank all of the volunteers in our community for their continued tireless work.
Councillor Mathew Dickerson
Mayor of the City of Dubbo