The District Council of Strathalbyn was a local government area in South Australia centred on the town of Strathalbyn from 1854 until 1997. From 1868 the township itself was locally governed by the Corporation of Strathalbyn but that entity was amalgamated back into the district council in 1976.
History
The District Council of Strathalbyn was proclaimed on 7 May 1854[2][3][1] with the council area including most of the Hundred of Strathalbyn, the township being at the district's south-westernern extremity. Strathalbyn founder and parliamentarian John Rankine was named as one of the inaugural councillors along with Edward Sterling, Frederick William Bassett, William Colman and Archibald McLean (son of Strathalbyn pioneer Donald McLean).
On 23 May 1861 a significant northeastern portion of the council area was excised and joined to parts of neighbouring councils to form the new District Council of Onaunga seated at Woodchester.
In 1868 the Corporation of Strathalbyn seceded from the district council to locally govern the township as a separated entity.[4]
^"DISTRICT OF STRATHALBYN"(PDF). South Australian Government Gazette. 1854 (19 ed.). Government of South Australia: 352. 7 May 1854. Retrieved 30 January 2019. [...] I do hereby define the boundaries of such district to be as follows, that is to say-Such district commencing at the point of intersection of the Hundreds of Kondoparinga, Strathalbyn, and Macclesfield; thence north-westerly by the boundary of the District of Kondoparinga to its intersection with the District of Macclesfield at its south-west corner; thence north-east and north by the said boundary; thence north and east by that of Mount Barker to the Mount Barker Creek; thence by the Mount Barker Creek and the River Bremer, to the road crossing the said River between sections 3551, 3555, 3550, and 3556; thence by the said road to its continuation westerly through Strathalbyn to the point of commencement: And I do hereby appoint Messrs. John Rankine, Edward Sterling, Frederick William Bassett, William Colman, and Archibald McLean to be the first District Councillors for the said District [...]