1844 to 1863: Town Council structural changes
In 1842 the Council comprised 12 people: an alderman and two councillors for each ward, with the Mayor and the aldermen being elected from within this membership of 12.
However, on 19 December 1844, Act 8 Victoria No.12 to amend the original incorporating Act was passed and section 10 of that Act provided that if a councillor was elected to be an alderman, then his seat as an elected councillor became vacant. This increased the composition of the Council to 16 members. In 1853, an Act to regulate the tenure of office by the Aldermen of additional wards of the City of Melbourne (Act 17 Victoria No. 3) was passed.
That Act was then repealed in 1863 by Act 27 Victoria No.178, which provided in Sections 28 and 29 for aldermen to hold office for periods of four years each and to retire on the ninth day of November (but to be eligible for re-election if still qualified). Section 31 of the Act provided that: '... nothing therein contained shall be held to deprive any alderman of the right to continue as a member of the Council for one year after the expiry of his term of office as alderman’.
1863: Mayoral election changes
Act 27 Victoria No.178 also resulted in a change to the date for the election of the mayor, to be on 9 October every year. On this day, a special meeting of the Council was to be held, with the successful candidate assuming office soon after noon on the 9 November next, once he had taken the oath of allegiance and subscribed the declaration of office.
The Act also provided that: ’nothing herein contained shall prevent the council from electing the mayor as Mayor elect and in the event of any member of the council whose term of office in such council would expire by effluxion of time on or before the ninth day of November being elected as Mayor elect he shall continue to be a member of the said council until the expiry of the period of one year after the termination of his office as Mayor.’
The method of electing the Mayor (and the Lord Mayor) continued in force until the election held on 10 October 1938 (a Monday, 9 October having been a Sunday). Councillor AW Coles was then elected Lord Mayor for the ensuing municipal year and, as Lord Mayor elect, subscribed a declaration of his intention to accept the office of Lord Mayor. He assumed office on 9 November 1938. Mayors and Lord Mayors, until 1996, were elected for one year and the option existed for a previous occupant of the position to be re-elected for up to three consecutive terms.
1902: Mayor becomes Lord Mayor
From 1842 to 1902, the office of Mayor of Melbourne was held by 42 members. The office was held on seven separate occasions, not in succession, by John Thomas Smith between 1851 and 1863. This is the greatest number of terms of Mayor held by any member of the Council.
By Royal warrant dated 18 December 1902, His Majesty King Edward VII graciously conferred the title ‘Lord Mayor’ on the Mayor of the City of Melbourne. This warrant is now displayed on the east wall of the Lord Mayor’s Room at the Town Hall. The first recipient of the honour was Sir Samuel Gillot, who was then in his third term as Mayor of the City, having been Mayor of Melbourne in 1900–1901 and 1901–1902.
1939: Alderman office abolished
In the absence of a mayor (or the Lord Mayor after 1902) at any meeting of the Council, an alderman was chosen as chairman (Section 93 of Act 6 Victoria No. 7). In 1939, the office of alderman was abolished with the coming into operation of the Melbourne and Geelong Corporations Act 1938.
The last alderman elected to the Council was the Honourable A A Calwell, who was elected as alderman for Hopetoun Ward on 12 April 1939. He is believed to have been the only person elected an alderman without having been previously elected as a councillor.
1981 to 1993: Appointment of Commissioners at the City of Melbourne
Under the provision of the Local Government (City of Melbourne) Act 1981 (No. 9525), the lord mayor and councillors went out of office on 6 May 1981. Three commissioners were appointed: Peter Thorley (Chairman), Neil Smith and Richard Allston.
These commissioners were replaced by elected councillors in 1982. In a reflection of the turbulent times afflicting local government in Victoria during the 1990s, the City of Melbourne once again came under the reign of Commissioner under the provisions of the City of Melbourne Act (1993).
The four commissioners were appointed in November 1993 as part of Victorian Government reforms to local government in Victoria. The appointed commissioners were: Kevan Gosper AO (Chief Commissioner); Professor John Rose (Deputy Chief Commissioner); Catherine Walter, and Kevin Courtney.
1996: New electoral arrangements for local government
The Victorian Government’s reforms to local government resulted in some new electoral arrangements.
In March 1996, the four commissioners were replaced by elected councillors. The new council comprised nine elected councillors and the lord mayor. Four councillors were elected from the four wards and the other five were elected from the entire City of Melbourne. Ivan Deveson AO became the first lord mayor to be elected for three years.
2001: Direct election of lord mayor
In 2000 the Victorian Government began a review of the electoral structure of the City of Melbourne.
A new electoral structure was introduced in 2001 which included direct elections for the lord mayor and deputy mayor (rather than being elected by council), and changes to the way councillors are elected. The changes and also brought forward the council elections from their scheduled date of March 2002 to 20 July 2001.
John So became the city’s first directly elected mayor.
Lord Mayor's Chain of Office
According to an extract from Jewitt & Hope’s Corporation Insignia 1895, it was tradition amongst many important social figures to wear a chain. While the wearing of chains in the eighteenth century ceased to be socially fashionable, the practice continued amongst certain high ranking officials and community leaders, including many mayors.
The Lord Mayor’s Chain is also referred to as the collar and is worn by the Lord Mayor at official functions when official regalia is required. The chain is made up of 72 oval medallions, six connecting spaces joined with plain oval links all 18 carat gold, with an approximate total weight of 3500 grams.
Each medallion bears the coat of arms of the City of Melbourne and is engraved with the name and the date of one of the mayors or lord mayors.
The detachable Fitz-Gibbon oval pendant medallion is also 18 carat yellow gold and bears the Coat of Arms of the City of Melbourne in polychrome enamels on a white ground. The following inscription appears on the pendant medallion: ‘Presented 9 October, 1884, by Edmund Gerald Fitz-Gibbon, Barrister at Law, Clerk of Committees from 6/3/1854 to 30/6/1856, Thenceforth the Town Clerk.’
No new medallions have been added to the chain since 1982.