The Municipality of Leichhardt, situated in the inner-west region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, was approximately 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) west of the Sydney central business district. On 12 May 2016, it merged with Marrickville Council and the Municipality of Ashfield to form the Inner West Council. The final mayor of the Leichhardt Municipal Council was Cr. Darcy Byrne, a member of the Labor Party.
The area operated over land historically belonging to the Gadigal and Wangal people of the Eora nation, boasting a rich cultural heritage from its Sydney Harbour location and old suburb origins.
Leichhardt derived its name from the Prussian explorer Ludwig Leichhardt, renowned for his extensive 4,800-kilometre (3,000 mi) expedition in the 1840s in search of an overland route from southern Queensland to Port Essington.
Proclaimed a municipality on 29 December 1871, Leichhardt’s boundaries underwent several alterations over the years. Notably, in 1893, the East Ward separated to become the Borough of Annandale, which merged with Annandale and Balmain municipalities in 1949. In 1967, the municipal boundary was expanded to include Glebe and parts of Camperdown.
Since the mid-20th century, Leichhardt has been a focal point for Sydney’s Italian community. It’s also home to Australia’s first non-government women’s health centre, the Leichhardt Women’s Community Health Centre, established in 1974 as a result of grassroots lobbying from women in the community and Sydney’s Women’s Liberation Movement. Initially funded by the Federal Government, the centre now receives funding primarily from NSW Health, providing multidisciplinary healthcare clinics and health education across Sydney’s inner west.
Source Url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality_of_Leichhardt
