ward, is: Past mayors and shire presidents History Hornsby Shire is the traditional lands occupied by the Darug and Kuringgai peoples of indigenous Australians. While the northern part of the Shire via the Hawkesbury River was visited by the first European settlers in late 1788, due to the Shire's rugged landscape permanent European settlement did not begin until almost half a century later. Hornsby Shire got its name from the town of Hornsby at the eastern end of the Shire, is derived from convict-turned-Constable Samuel Horne, who earned distinction by capturing bushrangers Dalton and MacNamara on 22 June 1830. In return he was granted land in the locality known as "Hornsby Place". Hornsby Shire has remained largely rural for many decades. The construction of the Main North railway line in the 1880s opened up the Shire to the rest of Sydney and also to Newcastle, but it was not until motor vehicles became commonplace in the 1950s that the southern part of the Shire truly became part of Sydney's suburbia. The Shire was incorporated as a local government authority on 6 March 1906. A 2015 review of local government boundaries by the NSW Government Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal recommended that Hornsby Shire merge with adjoining councils. The government considered two proposals. The first proposed a merger of part of Hornsby with the Ku-ring-gai Council to form a new council with an area of and support a population of approximately 270,000. The second proposed a merger of parts of Parramatta, Auburn, The Hills, Hornsby, and Holroyd to form a new council with an area of and support a population of approximately 215,725. The outcome of the review was that the suburbs of Hornsby Shire Council south of the M2 joined an expanded Parramatta City Council. The NSW Government also gave in principle support for the Hornsby Shire suburbs north of the M2 to amalgamate with Ku-ring-gai Council. In July 2017, the Berejiklian government decided to abandon the forced merger of the Hornsby and Ku-ring-gai local government areas, along with several other proposed forced mergers. This failed merger resulted in the council losing lucrative area south of the M2 including Epping and Carlingford. Heritage listings The Hornsby Shire has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: Brooklyn, Main Northern railway: Hawkesbury River railway station Cheltenham, 67 Cobran Road: Ahimsa, Cheltenham Galston, 161 Main Road: Tunks Creek Bridge Galston, 11 School Road: Galston