The council was proclaimed on 28 September 1872, comprising the whole of the cadastral
Hundred of Kooringa and the southern portion of the
Hundred of Kingston. It was divided into four wards at its inception: Kooringa Ward (two councillors), North Ward, Redruth Ward and South Ward (one councillor each). The proclamation appointed the first councillors: John Dunstan (North), Isaac Killicoat (Redruth), John Drew and Henry Dawson (Kooringa) and Alexander McCulloch (South).[2] The first meeting was held on 9 December in the office of S. Drew & Co, and from December 1873 until its abolition, the council met in offices at the Burra Institute.[3]
It had only been in existence for four years when the
Corporate Town of Burra was created in 1876, severing the main township from the council.[4] On 24 August 1876, the district and ward boundaries were realigned, with the council having three wards: Redruth and South Wards (two councillors) and Kooringa Ward (one councillor).[5] It underwent another alteration under the District Councils Act 1887, which added the Hundreds of
Baldina and
King from 5 January 1888.[6] It retained the 1888 wards, Kooringa Ward (three councillors), Baldina Ward (two councillors) and King Ward (two councillors), for the remainder of its existence.[7][8]
^"Advertising". Burra Record. Vol. IX, no. 756. South Australia. 8 June 1888. p. 2. Retrieved 5 November 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
^"DISTRICT COUNCIL OF BURRA". Burra Record. Vol. 55, no. 28. South Australia. 11 July 1934. p. 4. Retrieved 5 November 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
^"ALTERATION OF BOUNDARIES". The Chronicle. Vol. LXXVII, no. 40, 182. South Australia. 7 February 1935. p. 47. Retrieved 5 November 2016 – via National Library of Australia.