The area now covered by North Sydney Council originally comprised three municipalities: the Borough of East St Leonards from 1860 (Kirribilli, Cremorne Point, Milsons Point), the Borough of St Leonards from 1867 (Cammeray, Mosman, Waverton, Wollstonecraft) and the very small Borough of Victoria from 1871 (McMahons Point and parts of North Sydney and Lavender Bay). These boroughs lasted until 29 July 1890 when they merged to form the "
Borough of North Sydney", with the last mayor of St Leonards, Francis Punch, elected as the first mayor of North Sydney. Following a petition submitted by residents in 1892, on 11 April 1893 the Mossman Ward of North Sydney confirmed its separation as the
Borough of Mosman, being proclaimed by Lieutenant-Governor
Sir Frederick Darley. From 28 December 1906, following the passing of the
Local Government Act, 1906, the council was renamed as the "
Municipality of North Sydney". With the passing of the
Local Government Act, 1993, the Municipality of North Sydney became
North Sydney Council and aldermen were renamed councillors. A referendum passed at the 2017 election also altered the system of electing the mayor. Starting from 2021, the mayor was elected by the councillors for a two-year term. As the wording of this referendum did not specify a reduction in the number of elected positions in the council (such as from 10 councillors to 9), the
Office of Local Government required Council to specify a ward structure of equal numbers to each ward: two wards of five councillors or five wards of two councillors. At its extraordinary meeting held on 20 January 2020, the Council voted to adopt a two-ward model on a north–south boundary with the northern ward named "St Leonards Ward" and the southern ward named "Cammeraygal Ward" from the next election. Although the fixed term of the council is four years, due to delays caused by amalgamations and the
COVID-19 pandemic, the term from 9 September 2017 expired on 3 December 2021. ==Mayors==