The Shire of Erina was a local government area covering the majority of the Central Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. The shire was proclaimed on 7 March 1906 as a result of the passing of the Local Government (Shires) Act 1905 and covered most of the Central Coast region with the exception of the Town of Gosford, which had been incorporated in 1886. The shire expanded on 23 January 1908, when the Municipality of Gosford merged into Erina Shire, but contracted on 1 August 1928 when D Riding separated to form Woy Woy Shire, and following a period of dysfunction in the mid-1930s, Gosford separated again from 24 October 1936. Erina Shire was abolished on 1 January 1947 with the reorganisation of local government in the Central Coast region following the end of the Second World War, with the council area split between Gosford Shire and Wyong Shire. Council history Early history The traditional Aboriginal inhabitants of the lands now known as the Brisbane Water were the Guringai people of the Eora nation. The Darkingung people occupied large areas inland west towards Rylstone, and north to Cessnock and Wollombi. In 1811, the Governor of New South Wales, Lachlan Macquarie, gave the first land grant in the region to William Nash, a former marine of the First Fleet. No further grants were made in the area until 1821. In 1839, Governor Sir George Gipps named the town of Gosford after his friend, The Earl of Gosford. In 1840, the Brisbane Water Police District was proclaimed covering the area from the Hawkesbury River to Lake Macquarie and which administered local government under the control of magistrates. In 1843, the Brisbane Water District Council was proclaimed on the same boundaries as the Police District, and replaced the appointed magistrates with an elected council as part of an early attempt to establish local government administration throughout the colony. This experiment in local government was not very successful, with much public opposition focused on the issue of increased taxation, and a lack of oversight and faulty administration led to the collapse of many of these District Councils. The Brisbane Water District Council had ceased to exist by 1855, and the NSW Parliament passed the Municipalities Act in 1858, which allowed for the creation of Municipalities and Boroughs if a petition of as few as 50 signatures was presented to the government. However, no