Gilgandra Shire is a local government area in the Orana

Orana, New South Wales

Orana is a region in central northern New South Wales, Australia. It has a population of 120,000 people, and is the largest region in New South Wales with an area of 199,078 square kilometres, approximately 25% of the state...

 region of New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. It is located on the junction of the Newell Highway

Newell Highway

The Newell Highway is the longest highway in New South Wales, Australia. It runs parallel to the eastern coast about 400 kilometres inland, and is the main inland direct road link from Victoria to Queensland, bypassing the more congested coastal areas of New South Wales...

, Oxley Highway

Oxley Highway

The Oxley Highway is a rural highway in New South Wales, Australia. It starts at Nevertire where it joins the Mitchell Highway. It links Warren, Gilgandra, Coonabarabran, Gunnedah, Carroll, Tamworth, Bendemeer, Walcha, Yarrowitch, Ellenborough, Long Flat, Wauchope and ends at Port Macquarie on the...

 and Castlereagh Highway

Castlereagh Highway

The Castlereagh Highway is a state highway in New South Wales, Australia, also extending some kilometres into Queensland. It has been given the route number 55. The highway was recently extended past Gilgandra to include state route 86...

 and can be reached in about six hours by car from Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

. It lies on the Castlereagh River and includes part of the Warrumbungles National Park (the rest is in Warrumbungle Shire). The shire was constituted in 1906.

Gilgandra Shire includes Gilgandra

Gilgandra, New South Wales

Gilgandra, is a town and Local Government Area in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the junction of the Newell Highway, Oxley Highway and Castlereagh Highway. It can be reached in about six hours by car from Sydney. Like Coonabarabran, Gilgandra can be...

, Balladoran and Curban.

The geography of Gilgandra is very flat. The soil is composed mostly of sand, making it very porous and difficult to grow certain plants. The weather is hot and dry, reaching 40°C for consecutive days during summer.

Council

Gilgandra Shire Council is composed of nine councillors elected proportionally. The mayor is not directly elected. The current makeup of the council is as follows:

Party		Councillors
	Independents Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...  and Unaffiliated	9
	Total	9

The current council, elected in 2008, is:

Councillor		Party	Notes
	Gina Johnson	Unaffiliated
	Doug Lummis	Unaffiliated
	John Collison	Unaffiliated
	Chris Chapman	Unaffiliated
	Ken Gordon Mayor
	Pamela Holland	Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
	Merryn Spencer	Unaffiliated
	John Wright	Unaffiliated