The Right Honourable the Lord Mayor of Sydney is the head of the Council of the City of Sydney, which is the local government area covering the central business district of Sydney in the State of New South Wales, Australia. The Lord Mayor has been directly elected since 1995, replacing the previous system of being internally elected annually by the Councillors, and serves a four-year term. The most recent election was held on 4 December 2021, at which the incumbent Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, was re-elected to a fifth term. The Lord Mayor is assisted in their work by a Deputy Lord Mayor, who is elected on an annual basis by the elected councillors. Office history The office of the Mayor of Sydney along with the City of Sydney was created on 20 July 1842 pursuant to the Sydney City Incorporation Act 1842 by Governor Sir George Gipps. Prior to the first municipal election, the governor nominated magistrate Charles Windeyer to serve as interim mayor. The first council, consisting of 24 aldermen elected across six wards, was declared elected on 3 November 1842 and first met in the George Street Market Building (now the site of the Queen Victoria Building) on 9 November and elected John Hosking as the first elected mayor of Sydney. The title of Mayor (in full: The Right Worshipful the Mayor) was elevated to "Lord Mayor" on 23 November 1902 by King Edward VII, and as part of this process received the honorific The Right Honourable, a title which attaches to the title of Lord Mayor and not to the individual holding the office. In December 1915, the Parliament of New South Wales passed the Sydney Corporation (Election of Mayor) Act, 1915 which amended the 1902 act to allow for the governor to appoint the lord mayor should the council be unable to elect a candidate on or before 30 December of any year. This occurred three times, in 1916, 1920 and 1934. The office of lord mayor, along with the City of Sydney, was governed by the Sydney Corporation Act, 1932 until the passing of the Local Government (Areas) Act 1948, which placed Sydney under the terms of the Local Government Act 1919, which governed all other local governments in the state. This meant that the election of lord mayor (until 1971 in December of each year, and then in September) marked the beginning of