The District Councils Act 1887 was an act of the Parliament of South Australia. It received assent on 9 December 1887, and its provisions came into effect when proclaimed by Governor William C. F. Robinson on 5 January 1888.
The legislation introduced local government to many areas of South Australia in which it had not previously existed, especially in the north and west of the state, and involved substantial change to many existing municipalities. In total, it involved the creation of 21 new councils, the expansion of 37 existing councils into lands previously without local government, and the amalgamation of 17 pre-existing councils into eight larger councils. The remaining existing councils were left unchanged, as were individual incorporated towns. The legislation fixed both a minimum number of five councillors and a maximum of ten councillors for District Councils across the state. The Governor appointed councillors for all of the new councils, to hold office for six months until elections could be held in July: these councillors were required to determine their own wards, assess rateable property and prepare rolls of ratepayers.
The financial impact of the legislation had been a source of controversy both before and after its passage by parliament, and several northern councils protested to the government in 1888 about the arrangements for subsidies and license fees, arguing that they were inadequate to meet the cost of establishing the municipalities. There was lingering dissent around the authority of councils, in particular over the control of dams, wells and reservoirs, which the legislation had maintained as a state government responsibility. The individual councillors chosen by the Governor also met with staunch opposition in some districts, while the administrative impact of changes to councils already in office was the subject of debate at a local level.
Three of the councils created by the act remain today: Elliston, Franklin Harbour and Streaky Bay.
Amalgamations
The District Council of Green's Plains was not combined with any existing council, but was merged with a larger area previously outside local government to form the District Council of Kadina. It was not reported as having been a renaming of the existing council, and was the subject of considerable local debate as to the merits of being included in the proposed new district.