The City of Rockingham in Perth, Western Australia, was gazetted on 4 February 1897 as the Rockingham Road Board with a chairman and councillors under the Roads Boards Act 1871. With the passage of the Local Government Act 1960, all road boards became Shires with a shire president and councillors effective 1 July 1961, the Rockingham Road Board thereby becoming Shire of Rockingham. Rockingham attained city status on 12 November 1988, at which point the president became a mayor.[1][2][3][4]
Rockingham's current mayor, Deb Hamblin was elected on 16 October 2021 and thereby became the first female to hold this office.[5] Her predecessor, Barry Sammels, at the time of the announcement of his retirement in August 2021 had been the longest-serving active mayor in Western Australia, having first been elected mayor of Rockingham in 2003.[6][7]
Previous to the 2021 elections, the mayor of Rockingham had historically been elected by the councillors. After an eight year debate, the council voted in September 2020 to change to a publicly-elected mayor.[8]
The chairman of the Rockingham Road Board:[2]
Chairman | Term |
---|---|
C. Parkin | 1897–1902 |
E. Thorpe | 1903–1908 |
C. G. Meade | 1909–1912 |
S. Dvoretsky | 1913–1916 |
D. Mitchinson | 1917–1919 |
S. Dvoretsky | 1920–1928 |
G. E. Grigg | 1925–1938 |
S. Dvoretsky | 1931–1932 |
T. H. Purdy | 1939 |
F. W. Churcher | 1940–1943 |
G. E. Grigg | 1940–1947 |
H. E. France | 1944 |
H. M. Growden | 1947 |
W. L. Hughes | 1948–1949 |
F. W. Churcher | 1950 |
C. G. Lynch | 1951–1953 |
N. H. France | 1954–1956 |
Alf Powell | 1957–1961 |
The shire presidents of the Shire of Rockingham:[3]
President | Term |
---|---|
Alf Powell | 1962–1981 |
W. D. A. Mays | 1982–1986 |
Laurie E. Smith | 1986–1988[9] |
Richard R. Smith | 1988 |
The mayors of the City of Rockingham:[4]
Mayor | Term |
---|---|
Richard R. Smith | 1988–1991[10] |
Laurie E. Smith | 1991–1994[9] |
F. W. Gardiner | 1994–1997 |
Chris S. Elliott | 1997–2003[11] |
Barry William Sammels | 2003–2021[12] |
Deb A. Hamblin | 2021–present[5][13] |
The election results since switching to a publicly-elected mayor:
Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Deb Hamblin | 6,386 | 25.79 | |
Lornan Buchan | 5,489 | 22.17 | |
Mark Jones | 4,411 | 17.81 | |
Craig Buchanan | 4,203 | 16.97 | |
Cullum Ashton | 2,573 | 10.39 | |
Jack Pleiter | 1,699 | 6.86 | |
Total formal votes | 5,519 | 93.32 | |
Informal votes | 395 | 6.68 | |
Turnout | 5,914 | 6.72 |