Merging Big and Small: A cautionary Tale from Barraba

Structural reform through compulsory municipal mergers has been a recurring theme in the history of Australian local government. However, the results of numerous episodes of council amalgamation, especially in rural and remote Australian communities, have largely been ignored by both the architects of structural reform programs and the broader scholarly community. The present paper seeks to remedy this neglect by examining the consequences of compulsory council consolidation through the lens of the ‘lived experience’ of the small rural community of Barraba, which was forced to merge with much larger Tamworth in 2004.