What it does: Government Administration
Mission: Celebrate the historic value of the Showground. Support the emerging community through a diverse range of activities. Establish the Showground precinct as a vibrant regional destination. Become a main point of interest along the Northwest Metro Line. Create an economically viable precinct through day and night time offering. Leverage the regional parkland setting and in particular Cattai Creek
Size and presence: Around 600 in 15 locations.
Best known for: The Hills Shire Council obtained title to the significant heritage sites
The good bits: Great and friendly staff. The work life balance is second to none. The areas which you work are amazing. It really is a nice area to work in.
The not so good bits: Lack of career development opportunities.
It is believed that the first white visitors to the Hills area were members of an expedition led by Governor Phillip from Parramatta in April 1791. The group was in search of a new area for settlement and farming to support what was then a struggling colony in Sydney. The Castle Hill area had been selected as a Government Farm settlement for convicts. In 1794, William Joyce, a pardoned convict, was granted the first parcel of land in Baulkham Hills and others began to follow, stocking their land with cattle and sheep and clearing bushland to plant crops of wheat and maize. The Hills District began to thrive with more settlers moving to the area and establishing viable farms. The Government Farm at Castle Hill began operation in 1801. Convicts were housed at the farm and sent to work on crops to support the growing colony. The farm was about 14,000 hectares and extended northwards towards the areas of Dural and Glenorie. When George Suttor arrived in Baulkham Hills, he brought with him citrus trees. These proved a more worthwhile crop than wheat or maize. Fruit orchards began to spring up around the District and by 1887, land from Parramatta to Castle Hill was being used to grow oranges, apples, plums, peaches and apricots. Throughout the 1800s, residents established schools and businesses. The first police constables were stationed at Baulkham Hills in the 1920s. Transport to Sydney was initially by horse and wagon. Discussions about a railway service began in 1881, but it was not until 1902 that a tramway service from Parramatta to Baulkham Hills opened. The line was extended to the Post Office in 1910. In 1923 the tramway was replaced by a train service, but due to the increased use of cars and a decrease in the citrus export market, the railway was closed in 1928. Electricity came to the District in 1925 with a new electric lighting service from Northmead to Castle Hill.
The Baulkham Hills area was proclaimed a Shire on 6 March 1906. A temporary Council was put in place before the first Council elections later that year. The temporary Council had their first meeting on 16 June 1906 at Matthew Pearce’s property on New Windsor Road, Baulkham Hills. The first elected Council took office on 8 December 1906 and Councillor Bruce Purser was elected as the first President of the Shire of Baulkham Hills. Over the years, Council moved its Council Chamber three times to cater for increases in population and the need for more services and infrastructure. Council moved into Showground Road, Castle Hill in 1982 and into its present location in Columbia Court, Norwest in 2013. On 1 July 1993, the State Government passed a new Local Government Act, an Act of the State Parliament, which set out many of the rules about how Councils must operate. The Act deleted the word “Shire” from Council’s identity. Council was to be known as Baulkham Hills Council. However, because the majority of land within the Council boundaries was rural, an application was made to the State Government to have “Shire” reinstated in Council’s official name. On 22 October 2008, the NSW Governor approved Council’s application to change its name from Baulkham Hills Shire Council to The Hills Shire Council. On 12 May 2016 suburbs south of the M2 were incorporated as part of The City of Parramatta Council. Following a constitutional referendum held in 2012, the 2017 Council elections changed the way the Mayor is selected. For the first time, instead of their fellow Councillors electing them, the Mayor was voted in for the full term of office by the people. In 2019 Australia’s biggest public transport project, the Sydney Metro Northwest, officially opened to customers.
All vacant position are listed on our careers portal. To apply, you must submit your online application as we will not accept hard copy resumes. Applying is very simple – just answer the few questions after clicking ‘apply now’, attach your resume and you’re done! Unless specifically asked for, you don’t need to provide certificates or supporting documentation.
If we have successfully received your online application, you should receive an automated response – there is no need to call and check!
Unfortunately no – to be fair to all applicants, applications will not be accepted past the closing time.
Once the position is closed, the hiring manager will review all the applications. Please note – due to large numbers of applications received for most our positions, this process often takes some time.
Once applications have been reviewed, hiring Managers will request that candidates who are long-listed complete a Work Preferences Questionnaire. From there, they will shortlist a maximum of 5 candidates and call for interviews.
Pre-employment checks will be conducted on the preferred candidates, which include medical screening, referee checks and other checks (depending on the role). A successful candidate will be picked and offered the position.
All applicants will be notified via email once the position is filled. No news is good news!
Unfortunately we do not accept unsolicited job applications. Due to the amount of applications for our positions, we are unable to maintain talent pools or waiting lists. We recommend you regularly check our Careers page for positions.
At The Hills Shire Council, we hire based on merit. This means, you have to be the most qualified and experienced person to be picked for the job!
The average The Hills Shire Council salary ranges from approximately $56,994 per year for Assistant to $145,304 per year for Principal. Average The Hills Shire Council hourly pay ranges from approximately $32.40 per hour for Administration Assistant to $43.73 per hour for Education Officer.
Council at its meeting on 10 December 2019 resolved to place on Public Exhibition the Draft Master Plan for Castle Hill Showground. Following the recent community engagement during September and October, comments from nearly 1,000 were considered and used to inform the Master Plan. The Master Plan has been prepared from this community engagement to represent a 30 year vision for Castle Hill Showground. The site will become a primary civic space for a new precinct of 20,000 residents.
The NSW government has introduced the Biodiversity Banking and Offsets Scheme (or 'BioBanking') to help address the loss of biodiversity values, including threatened species. Biobanking provides a means for developers to offset the unavoidable impact of development on native vegetation and habitat by contributing to the cost of preserving natural habitat in a BioBank site. Biodiversity offsets work by protecting and managing biodiversity values in one area in exchange for impacts on biodiversity values in another. For example, if a development requires an area of native woodland to be cleared, another area of similar woodland can be protected. The gain in biodiversity achieved by improving a similar area of woodland balances the loss to biodiversity due to the clearing. Landowners can create a BioBank site on their property by committing to maintain and manage the site to ensure the protection of native animals, plants and ecosystems on that site. The preservation and protection of this land will generate “biodiversity credits” which will become available for purchase on the open market.
In 2020, the Hills Shire Council, whose local government area covers Darug land, caused controversy by rejecting requests to include an Acknowledgment of Country at its meetings. The Hills Shire Council is the only Sydney local council that does not include an Acknowledgment of Country at its meetings