It was created on 5 January 1888 as theDistrict Council of Davenport under the provisions of theDistrict Councils Act 1887,[1] but was renamed Woolundunga on 8 June 1893 to avoid confusion with the adjacentCorporate Town of Davenport, a separate municipality.[2][3] The principal township wasStirling North.[4] The council constructed purpose-built chambers atStirling North in 1894, and operated out of them for the remainder of their existence.[5][6]
At its creation, the council area was more than 1,000 km2 (400 sq mi), including all the formerly unincorporated parts of theCounty of Newcastle[1] west of theDutchmans Range and Middle Range ridge line (Kanyaka council west border) as well as theHundred of Winninowie and parts of the hundreds ofDavenport andWoolundunga remaining unincorporated in theCounty of Frome.[1] By 1923, the council controlled an area of approximately 212,000 acres in 1923, with 32 miles of main roads. It had an estimated 472 persons in 200 dwellings, with the capital value of ratable property in that year being £142,280. In the ten years prior, the area had transitioned "almost entirely" from wheat to sheep farming.[7] It was reported to have retained a similar population in 1936.[4] On 28 April 1932, part of Woolundunga, along with the Corporate Town of Davenport and theCorporate Town of Port Augusta West, merged into the existingCorporate Town of Port Augusta. Most of the remaining sections of the municipality merged with theDistrict Council of Hammond and part of theDistrict Council of Port Germein as the recreatedDistrict Council of Wilmington on 16 February 1933; a section of Woolundunga was also merged into theDistrict Council of Kanyaka as its Mundallio Ward.[2][8]
^abc"The District Councils Act (No 419 of 50 and 51 Vic, 1887)".Government of South Australia. 5 January 1888. p. 91. Retrieved23 January 2019 – viaAustLII.District of Davenport.—Comprising the Hundreds of Crozier and Winninowie; that portion of the Hundred of Davenport not included in the Corporate Towns of Port Augusta and Davenport; that portion of the Hundred of Woolundunga west of the District of Wilmington; those portions of the Hundreds of Pichi Richi, Yarrah, and Wyacca west of the District of Kanyaka; and that portion of the County of Newcastle not included in any hundred.
^"District Council of Woolundunga".Transcontinental. Port Augusta, SA. 19 August 1921. p. 1 Supplement: SUPPLEMENT TO THE TRANSCONTINENTAL. Retrieved12 November 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
