PATRICIA Gould had barely warmed her seat on Albury Council when she found herself eye-balling Prime Minister Gough Whitlam over a meal at a Rutherglen winery.

The Labor leader was on another visit to Albury-Wodonga spruiking his National Growth Centre vision which would have resulted in the twin cities’ population exploding to 300,000 by the year 2000.

Mrs Gould had been elected to council in 1974 and had developed reservations about the grand plan.

Mr Whitlam invited her and late husband Noel to the nearby wineries to listen to her concerns, but ultimately try and convince to have a change of heart.

“There were some on council who thought it was a good, but the majority didn’t and I was one of those,” Cr Gould said.

“They had forgotten the people on the Wodonga side wanted the same thing and wanted to co-operate as we were.

“We were lucky when you think about it because look at how both cities have grown.”

Cr Gould celebrates 40 years on Albury Council next week and the One City push is one of the more controversial issues she has had to deal with in her time in local politics.

The most recent came in 2002 when she was mayor and her opposition had not altered since the Rutherglen date with Mr Whitlam.

She was first elected to council in 1974 when the city’s longest-serving councillor, the late Cleaver Bunton, was in the final stages of his record 45 years in civic life.

Cr Gould wasn’t the first woman elected to council in Albury with the honour going to Bobby Derkenne, but she has become the longest-serving woman councillor in Australian local government history.

She eclipsed the 35 years served by Margaret Stevenson on Orange Council two years ago.

Cr Gould had five boys - Anthony, Andrew, David, Jonathan and Simon - when she was elected to council and immediately pushed hard for more childcare options in the city.

“It was a time when the younger ones wanted to go back to work,” she said.

“It was a real changing time and people coming to Albury didn’t have a back up like I had with my mum and dad.”

But Cr Gould was left in no doubt who was in charge of the city.

“Cleaver called the tune,” she said.

“It was much more formal then compared to today.

“You would stand to speak and you couldn’t bring a cup of coffee into the chamber.

“You had to wait to go into a little room where Mrs Bunton had all best China laid out and food ready.”

Council meetings were still held in the old town hall building in Dean Street, which is being redeveloped into a $10.5 million art gallery due to open next year.

Cr Gould recalled the mayhem created by a flock of black birds which infiltrated a meeting.

“There were blood and feathers everywhere,” she said.

“It was the funniest thing I have ever seen in my life.”

Cr Gould was mayor when the replacement Kiewa Street headquarters opened.

Born in Yarrawonga on Christmas Day, 1935, Cr Gould was the only child of parents Stan and Dulcie Bromley.

Her father was a shearer before moving to Albury in 1938 to work on the construction of Lake Hume.

“He was in charge of looking after the explosives and he was a heavy smoker,” she said.

“My mother said ‘Stan, you will blow everything up one day’.”

Cr Gould attended Albury High School and the tradition continued when her five sons also went to the school.

She married local builder Noel Gould at St Matthew’s Church in 1956 when she was five days short of her 21st birthday and a private secretary at Dalgety’s stock and station agency.

They had been married for 55 years when he died in 2011.

Cr Gould has been awarded an OAM for her service to the community and Local Government and is also a recipient of a “Paul Harris Fellow” and the “Emeritus Award”, recognising her time mayor and contribution to local politics.

Cr Gould has spent six terms in the city’s top job and another as deputy and been to China twice representing the city.

Her latest time as mayor followed a resounding personal vote at the 2008 election.

But Albury politics are not for the faint-hearted with regular dust ups between elected representatives.

“It has had its moments,” she said.

“You get all types of people on council with different ideas.

“Sometimes it can become rather noisy.

“But democracy is about everyone having a say.”

Cr Gould has given the first hint this term will be her last.

“It has gone so quickly,” she said.

“It has been an interesting ride.

“I would like to do something else, but rest assured I won’t be sitting at home.

“It depends on what people want.

“Albury is made up of a lot of different age groups and you must consider all ages.”

Cr Gould is currently the chairperson of the aquatics advisory group which could help deliver one major farewell project _ an indoor heated pool.

She still rues the day the council didn’t take up an offer from a private developer to partner in building a pool near the sports stadium.

“It went down like a lead ballon and I was very disappointed,” she said.

Cr Gould’s 40 years on council will be celebrated on Tuesday with an afternoon tea at Murray Gardens retirement village.

Local Government Association of NSW president Cr Keith Rhoades will be in attendance.