The Municipality of Ashfield was a local government area in the Inner West of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) west of the Sydney central business district. The municipality was proclaimed on 28 December 1871 as the "Borough of Ashfield", which changed to the "Municipality of Ashfield" in 1906. On 12 May 2016, Ashfield merged with Marrickville Council and the Municipality of Leichhardt to form the Inner West Council.

The last mayor of the municipality was councillor Lucille McKenna, a member of the Australian Labor Party.^[2]

In December 2021, a majority of voters in Inner West Council voted in favour of reversing the 2016 merger and separating the three pre-existing councils of Ashfield, Leichhardt and Marrickville.^[3]

The municipality comprised the following suburbs and localities:

• Ashfield
• Dobroyd Point
• Haberfield
• Summer Hill

It also included parts of:

• Ashbury (shared with City of Canterbury)
• Croydon (shared with Municipality of Burwood)
• Hurlstone Park (shared with City of Canterbury)
• Croydon Park (shared with City of Canterbury and the Municipality of Burwood)

The "Borough of Ashfield" was proclaimed in the New South Wales Government Gazette on 28 December 1871 and was originally divided into two wards, North Ward and South Ward.^[4]

Local issues in the area, before the forced merge into Inner West Council, included the redevelopment of Ashfield Mall and concerns about overdevelopment in general;^[5] construction of the M4 East tunnel because it might lead to increased traffic and pollution;^[6] and the general state of the commercial area, which one councillor labelled 'Trashfield'.^[7] Also contentious was Ashfield Council itself. In 2003, it was described by the Daily Telegraph as one of the worst councils in Sydney after one councillor took out a restraining order against another.^{[citation needed]} By 2008, another councillor was sacked for not being a bona fide resident of the municipality while other councillors had made outspoken comments on issues such as the Iraq War, bird flu,^[8] the Monarchy and 30 km/h speed limits within residential areas.^[9] In 2009, Councillor Nick Adams was given a six-month suspension from the Liberal Party of Australia for conduct deemed likely to "embarrass or cause damage to" the Party during an altercation with a journalist.

A 2015 review of local government boundaries recommended that the Municipality of Ashfield merge with the Municipality of Leichhardt and the Marrickville Council to form a new council with an area of 35 square kilometres (14 sq mi) and support a population of approximately 186,000.^[10] On 12 May 2016, Ashfield merged with Marrickville Council and the Municipality of Leichhardt to form the Inner West Council.^[11]

At the 2011 Census, there were 41,214 people in the Ashfield local government area, of these 48.6% were male and 51.4% were female. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 0.6% of the population. The median age of people in the Municipality of Ashfield was 37 years. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 15.1% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 14.4% of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 45.1% were married and 10.0% were either divorced or separated.^[1]

Population growth in The Municipality of Ashfield between the 2001 Census and the 2006 Census was 1.76%; while in the subsequent five years to the 2011 Census, population growth was 3.90%. When compared with total population growth of Australia for the same periods, being 5.78% and 8.32% respectively, population growth in Ashfield local government area was significantly less than the national average.^[12][13] The median weekly income for residents within the Municipality of Ashfield of was generally on par with the national average.^[1]

At the 2011 Census, the proportion of residents in Ashfield local government area who stated their ancestry as Chinese was in excess of four times the state and national averages; and the proportion of households where an Asian language was spoken at home was about six times higher than the national average.^[1]

More information Historical census data for Ashfield local government area, Population ...

Historical census data for Ashfield local government area
Population			2001[12]	2006[13]	2011[1]
Population		Estimated residents on Census night	38,981	39,667	41,214
		LGA rank in terms of size within New South Wales		54
		% of New South Wales population		0.6%	0.60%
		% of Australian population	0.21%	0.20%	0.19%
Cultural and language diversity
Ancestry, top responses		English			14.9%
		Australian			14.8%
		Chinese			13.3%
		Italian			8.5%
		Irish			6.9%
Language, top responses (other than English)		Mandarin	6.1%	8.8%	9.1%
		Italian	9.2%	7.7%	6.8%
		Cantonese	4.9%	4.9%	4.5%
		Nepali	n/c	n/c	2.7%
		Greek	2.6%	2.4%	2.3%
Religious affiliation
Religious affiliation, top responses		Catholic	36.6%	33.7%	30.6%
		No religion	16.9%	20.9%	25.8%
		Anglican	10.5%	8.8%	7.8%
		Hinduism	n/c	n/c	5.8%
		Buddhism	4.2%	4.7%	5.3%
Median weekly incomes
Personal income		Median weekly personal income		A$514	A$628
		% of Australian median income			108.8%
Family income		Median weekly family income		A$1,101	A$1,689
		% of Australian median income		107.2%	114.0%
Household income		Median weekly household income		A$1,304	A$1,413
		% of Australian median income		111.4%	114.5%

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