Upper Hunter Shire

The towns of the Upper Hunter are Scone, Parkville, Aberdeen, Murrurundi, and Merriwa, as well as several villages, including Bunnan, Gundy, Moonan Flat, Ellerston, Wingen, Blandford and Cassilis. Of the towns, only Aberdeen on the Shire's southeastern border is situated on the Hunter River.

The Upper Hunter Shire has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

• Ardglen, Main Northern railway: Ardglen Tunnel{{cite NSW SHR|5045610|Ardglen Tunnel|hr=01021|access-date=18 May 2018}}
• Merriwa, Bow Street: Colonial Cottage Museum{{cite NSW SHR|5045354|Cottage Museum|hr=00259|fn=S90/05334 & HC 32903|access-date=18 May 2018}}
• Murrurundi, Main Northern railway: Murrurundi railway station{{cite NSW SHR|5012116|Murrurundi Railway Station group|hr=01205|access-date=18 May 2018}}
• Murrurundi, Mount Street: Rosedale Cottage{{cite NSW SHR|5045483|Rosedale Cottage|hr=00421|fn=S90/05447 & HC 32767|access-date=18 May 2018}}
• Scone, 144 Kelly Street: Scone Civic Theatre{{cite NSW SHR|5053894|Scone Civic Theatre|hr=01660|fn=H03/00013|access-date=18 May 2018}}Scone, New South Wales
• Scone, 41 Kingdon Road: Old Court Theatre{{cite NSW SHR|5045574|Old Court Theatre|hr=00340|fn=S90/05351 & HC 32885|access-date=18 May 2018}}
• Scone, Main Northern railway: Scone railway station{{cite NSW SHR|5045346|Scone Railway Station|hr=01242|access-date=18 May 2018}}
• Wingen, Raglan Street: Mountain House, Wingen{{cite NSW SHR|5045374|Mountain House|hr=00311|fn=S90/05971 & HC 32324|access-date=18 May 2018}}

At the {{CensusAU|2021}}, there were {{formatnum:14229}} people in the Upper Hunter Shire local government area, of these 50.0 percent were male and 50.0 percent were female. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 7.0 percent of the population, which was higher than the national and state averages of 3.4 and 3.2 percent respectively. The median age of people in the Upper Hunter Shire was 42 years, which was marginally higher than the national median of 38 years. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 18.6 percent of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 21.2 percent of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 47.3 per cent were married and 13.1 per cent were either divorced or separated.{{Census 2011 AUS|id=LGA17620|name=Upper Hunter Shire (A)|accessdate=13 October 2012|quick=on}}

Population growth in the Upper Hunter Shire between the {{CensusAU|2006}} and the {{CensusAU|2011}} was 6.00 percent. When compared with the total population growth of Australia for the same period, at 8.32 percent, population growth in the Upper Hunter Shire local government area was slightly lower than the national average. The median weekly income for residents within the Upper Hunter Shire was marginally lower than the national average.

At the {{CensusAU|2021}}, the proportion of residents in the Upper Hunter Shire local government area who stated their ancestry as Australian or English exceeded 85 percent of all residents (the national average was 62.9 percent). In excess of 29% of all residents in the Upper Hunter Shire nominated a religious affiliation with Anglican at the {{CensusAU|2021}}, which was considerably higher than the national average of 9.8 percent. Meanwhile, as at the {{CensusAU|2021}} date, compared to the national average, households in the Upper Hunter Shire local government area had a significantly lower than average proportion (5.3 percent) where two or more languages are spoken (the national average was 24.8 percent); and a significantly higher proportion 89.5 percent where only English was spoken at home (the national average was 72.0 percent).

Upper Hunter Shire Council is composed of nine councillors elected by Optional Preferential Voting as a single ward. All councillors are elected for a fixed four-year term of office. The mayor is elected by the councillors at the first meeting of the council. The most recent election was held on 4 December 2021 and the makeup of the council is as follows:{{cite news |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/nswlg/2021/upper-hunter |archive-date=2 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240302111529/https://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/nswlg/2021/upper-hunter |url-status=live |title=Upper Hunter Shire |work=NSW Electoral Commission |via=ABC News |access-date=28 January 2023 |first=Antony |last=Green |author-link=Antony Green}}

{{excerpt|Results of the 2024 New South Wales local elections in Hunter|section=Upper Hunter results}}

The Upper Hunter is the largest horse-rearing region in Australia.

The Burning Mountain Nature Reserve, near Wingen, is the site of a subterranean coal seam fire that has been burning for several thousand years.{{cite magazine|last=Krajick|first=Kevin|title=Fire in the hole|magazine=Smithsonian|pages=54ff|date=May 2005|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/issues/2005/may/firehole.php|access-date=13 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240302120305/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.smithsonianmag.com%2Fscience-nature%2Ffire-in-the-hole-77895126%2F |archive-date=2 March 2024 |url-status=live}}

The council also owns several FM rebroadcasters of Radio National and SBS Radio, under the self-help schemes run by those broadcasters.

{{Reflist}}

{{Suburbs of Upper Hunter Shire}}

{{Local Government Areas of New South Wales}}

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