Gloucester Shire is a Local Government Area (LGA) in 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...

 on the Mid North Coast

Mid North Coast, New South Wales

The Mid North Coast is a country region in the north east of the state of New South Wales, Australia. The region covers the mid to north coast of NSW, beginning at Seal Rocks, 275 km north of Sydney, and extending as far north as Woolgoolga, 562 km north of Sydney, a distance of roughly...

. It is on the Bucketts Way

Bucketts Way

Bucketts Way is a country road linking Gloucester to Taree and Raymond Terrace, in New South Wales, Australia. It was named after the Bucketts, a prominent range near Gloucester...

 and the North Coast railway line

North Coast railway line, New South Wales

The North Coast Line is the primary rail route in the Mid North Coast and Northern Rivers regions of New South Wales, and forms a major part of the Sydney-Brisbane rail corridor....

.

Incomes

According to the Australian Bureau Statistics during 2003-04, there:

- were 1,416 wage and salary earners (ranked 128th in New South Wales and 418th in Australia, less than 0.1% of both New South Wales's 2,558,415 and Australia's 7,831,856)

- was a total income of $46,344,880 (around $46 million) (ranked 128th in New South Wales and 420th in Australia, less than 0.1% of both New South Wales's $107,179,688,262 (around $107 billion) and Australia's $304,034,755,876 (around $304 billion))

- was an estimated average

Average

In mathematics, an average, or central tendency of a data set is a measure of the "middle" value of the data set. Average is one form of central tendency. Not all central tendencies should be considered definitions of average....

income per wage and salary earner of $32,729 (ranked 101st in New South Wales and 341st in Australia, 79% of New South Wales's $41,407 and 84% of Australia's $38,820)

- was an estimated median

Median

In probability theory and statistics, a median is described as the numerical value separating the higher half of a sample, a population, or a probability distribution, from the lower half. The median of a finite list of numbers can be found by arranging all the observations from lowest value to...

income per wage and salary earner of $28,699 (ranked 130th in New South Wales and 439th in Australia, 81% of New South Wales's $35,479 and 84% of Australia's $34,149).

Main towns and villages

It includes the towns of Gloucester

Gloucester, New South Wales

Gloucester is a town in the dairy and beef cattle country of the Manning district on the Mid North Coast of the state of New South Wales, Australia in the Gloucester Shire....

, Stratford

Stratford, New South Wales

Stratford is a rural locality in the Gloucester Shire Local Government Area in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. The largest population centre in the area is the town of Stratford, which is approximately south of Gloucester and north of Newcastle...

, Craven, Barrington

Barrington, New South Wales

Barrington is a small village on the Barrington River, north-west of Gloucester, New South Wales, Australia on Thunderbolts Way....

 and Copeland.

Council

Gloucester 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
	Julie Lyford	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...	Mayor
	James Henderson	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...
	Richard Webb	Unaffiliated
	Noreen Germon	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...
	Ian Shaw	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...
	John Rosenbaum	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...
	Geoffrey Slack	Unaffiliated	Deputy Mayor
	Katheryn Smith	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...
	Tony Tersteeg	Unaffiliated