Hay Shire is a local government area in the Riverina

Riverina

The Riverina is an agricultural region of south-western New South Wales , Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, warm to hot climate and an ample supply of water for irrigation. This combination has allowed the Riverina to develop...

 area of western 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 on the Sturt

Sturt Highway

The Sturt Highway is an Australian highway in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. It is part of the Auslink National network and is part of the main highway route between Sydney and Adelaide.-Route:...

, Mid-western

Mid-Western Highway

The Mid-Western Highway starts at Bathurst New South Wales, where it joins with the Great Western Highway over the Blue Mountains from Sydney.It proceeds via Blayney, Carcoar and Cowra. It then heads west through Grenfell to West Wyalong where it crosses the Newell Highway...

 and Cobb Highway

Cobb Highway

The Cobb Highway is a State highway in western New South Wales, Australia.  From north to south the Cobb Highway begins at its junction with the Barrier Highway near Wilcannia and runs south through the townships of Ivanhoe, Booligal, Hay and Deniliquin.  It ends at Moama where the...

s.

It includes the towns of Hay

Hay, New South Wales

Hay is a town in the western Riverina region of south western New South Wales , Australia.  It is the administrative centre of Hay Shire Local Government Area and the centre of a prosperous and productive agricultural district on the wide Hay Plains....

, Booligal

Booligal, New South Wales

Booligal is a village in the Riverina area of western New South Wales , Australia. It is located on the Cobb Highway, on the Lachlan River north of Hay...

 and Maude

Maude, New South Wales

Maude is a village on the north bank of the Murrumbidgee River in New South Wales, Australia. It is in between Hay and Balranald in Hay Shire. It is located 55 kilometres downstream from Hay and 25 kilometres upstream from the junction of the Lachlan River with the Murrumbidgee. At the 2006...

. Banjo Paterson

Banjo Paterson

Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, OBE was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the district around Binalong, New South Wales where he spent much of his childhood...

 (1864–1941) wrote a poem called Hay and Hell and Booligal

Hay and Hell and Booligal

Hay and Hell and Booligal is a poem by the Australian bush poet Banjo Paterson. Paterson wrote the poem while working as a solicitor with the firm of Street & Paterson in Sydney. It was first published in The Bulletin on 25 April 1896...

about the district.

Council

Hay Shire Council is composed of eight 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	8
	Total	8

The current council, elected in 2008, is:

Councillor		Party	Notes
	Peter Dwyer	Unaffiliated	Deputy Mayor
	Michael Rutledge	Unaffiliated	Mayor
	John Treloar	Unaffiliated
	Pat Fayle	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...
	David Low	Unaffiliated
	Sandra McRae	Unaffiliated
	Bill Sheaffe	Unaffiliated
	Lionel Garner	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...