City of Boroondara

The City of Boroondara (/bɒrənˈdɑːrə/) is a local government area in Victoria, Australia. It is located in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. It was formed in June 1994 from the amalgamation of the Cities of Kew, Camberwell and Hawthorn.[3]

City of Boroondara
Victoria
Map of Melbourne with the City of Boroondara highlighted in dark green
Population167,900 (LGA 2021)[1]
Established1994
Area60 km2 (23.2 sq mi)[2]
MayorCr Felicity Sinfield
Council seatCamberwell
RegionGreater Melbourne
State electorate(s)
Federal division(s)
WebsiteCity of Boroondara
LGAs around City of Boroondara:
Yarra Banyule Manningham
Yarra City of Boroondara Whitehorse
Stonnington Stonnington Monash

It has an area of 60 square kilometres (23 sq mi). In June 2018 the City had a population of 181,289.[2]

City of Boroondara participates in the Victorian Government’s state-wide, Local Government Community Satisfaction Survey. This is conducted annually by an independent research company, JWS Research. In 2022 City of Boroondara achieved an index score of 71 on ‘Overall Performance’. This is significantly higher than the average ratings for metropolitan councils (index score of 65) and the state-wide average (index score of 59) and places Boroondara in the top-performing councils metro and state-wide.[4]

History

This area was originally occupied by the Wurundjeri Indigenous Australians of the Kulin nation.[5][6]

In 1837, John Gardiner (after whom Gardiners Creek was named) and his family were the first Europeans to settle in the area.[6] Robert Hoddle surveyed the area in 1837 and declared it the "Parish of Boroondara". The area was densely wooded, so he took a word from the Woiwurrung language (as spoken by the Wurundjeri), meaning "where the ground is thickly shaded".[7]

The first Local Government body was the Boroondara District Road Board, formed on 11 July 1854 and incorporating the areas which were to become the City of Hawthorn, City of Kew and City of Camberwell. Hawthorn and Kew were created as separate municipalities in 1860 and the remaining area of the Road Board became Shire of Boroondara on 17 November 1871, which later became the City of Camberwell.[8]

In the 1990s, the City of Hawthorn, the City of Kew and the western part of the City of Camberwell were originally planned to be amalgamated to form the "City of Riversdale".[9] The three municipalities, including the whole of the City of Camberwell, were eventually amalgamated in June 1994 to create the City of Boroondara.[3] Existing councillors from the three municipalities were replaced initially by three commissioners - David Glanville (chair), David Thomas and Marion Macleod.[10] The commissioners were in turn replaced by ten councillors following elections in 1996.[11]

Local government

Boroondara City Council is the third tier of government and deals with services such as waste and recycling collection, leisure centres, building and planning permits and approvals, roads, drainage, health services, youth services, children's services, food safety, parks and gardens, library services, pets, street parking permits and the collection of rates and charges.[12]

Current composition and election method
The Camberwell Town Hall.

Boroondara City Council is composed of eleven councillors, each representing one of eleven wards. On Thursday 9 July 2020, the Minister for Local Government formally announced a change to Boroondara’s electoral structure. This change follows a review by the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC), which was completed in June 2019. This change included an increase in ward and councillor numbers from 10 to 11. The new 11th ward is named Riversdale Ward, and is located to the south-west where it shares a boundary with Glenferrie, Junction and Gardiner Wards. This addition resulted in a number of boundary changes across the municipality.[13]

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic threatened to disrupt the local elections, with some arguing that the inability to campaign in-person would benefit incumbents with name-recognition, or resource rich candidates who could invest in letter box campaigns with leaflets.[14] A decision was made, on public health grounds, that it was safe to proceed with the elections and voters were only able to return their ballots via postal voting.[15][16]

All councillors are elected for a fixed four-year term of office, with the most recent election being held in December 2022.[17][18] Councillors-elect were sworn-in at a Special Meeting of Council on Thursday 8 December 2022. The current mayor is Cr Felicity Sinfield.[19]

PartyCouncillors
  Independent 6
  Liberal 4
  Greens 1
Total 11
Ward[20]PartyCouncillor[21]Elected
Bellevue   Liberal Jim Parke[22] 2012
Cotham   Liberal Felicity Sinfield[22] 2016
Gardiner   Independent Victor Franco 2020
Glenferrie   Greens Wes Gault[23] 2020
Junction   Independent Di Gillies 2020
Lynden   Independent Lisa Hollingsworth 2016
Maling   Independent Jane Addis 2012
Maranoa   Liberal Cynthia Watson[22] 2016
Riversdale   Independent Susan Biggar 2020
Solway   Independent Garry Thompson 2016
Studley   Liberal Nick Stavrou[24] 2020

Previous councillors

Single-member wards (1996–)

Sources:[25][26]

Bellevue
CouncillorPartyTerm
  Eric Risstrom Independent 1996–2003
  Gina Goldsmith Independent 2003–2004
  Luke Tobin Liberal 2004–2008
  Brad Miles Independent 2008–2012
  Jim Parke Independent 2012–

Cotham
CouncillorPartyTerm
  Geoff Hayes Liberal 1996–2004
  Lachlan Williams Liberal 2004–2007
  Phil Meggs Independent 2007–2008
  David Bloom Liberal 2008–2012
  Felicity Sinfield Liberal 2016–

Gardiner
CouncillorPartyTerm
  Will Charlton Independent 1996–2002
  Coral Ross Independent 2002–2020
  Victor Franco Independent 2020–

Glenferrie
CouncillorPartyTerm
  Nigel Kirby Independent 1996–1999
  Meredith Butler Liberal 1999–2008
  Phil Meggs Independent 2008–2012
  Steve Hurd Labor 2012–2020
  Wes Gault Greens 2020–

Junction
CouncillorPartyTerm
  Lilian Weinberg Independent 1996–1999
  Martina Hayes Independent 1999–2002
  Jack Wegman Independent 2002–2020
  Di Gillies Independent 2020–

Lynden
CouncillorPartyTerm
  Ian Wallace Independent 1996–2002
  Heinz Kreutz Independent 2002–2016
  Lisa Hollingsworth Independent 2016–

Maling
CouncillorPartyTerm
  Loreto Davey Independent 1996–2002
  Dennis Whelan Independent 2002–2004
  Dick Menting Independent 2004–2012
  Jane Addis Independent 2012–

Maranoa
CouncillorPartyTerm
  Chris Pattas Independent 1996–2004
  Nicholas Tragas Liberal 2004–2012
  Philip Mallis Independent 2012–2016
  Cynthia Watson Liberal 2016–

Riversdale
CouncillorPartyTerm
  Susan Biggar Independent 2020–

Solway
CouncillorPartyTerm
  Keith Walter Independent 1996–2004
  Mary Halikias-Byrnes Labor 2004–2008
  Kevin Chow Labor 2008–2016
  Garry Thompson Independent 2016–

Studley
CouncillorPartyTerm
  Paula Davey Liberal 1996–1999
  Judith Voce Independent 1999–2004
  Phillip Healey Liberal 2004–2020
  Nick Stavrou Liberal 2020–

Boroondara mayors

Election results
2020 Boroondara local election: Party totals
Party Votes  % Swing Seats Change
  Independent 60,052 57.36 6 Increase 1
  Burwood Liberals 31,700 30.28 4 Steady
  Greens 5,999 5.43 1 Increase 1
  Independent Liberal 2,745 2.32 0 Steady
  Animal Justice 2,122 2.03 0 Steady
  Independent Labor 1,929 1.68 0 Decrease 1
  Independent Greens 990 0.90 0 Steady
 Formal votes 104,695 97.85
 Informal votes 2,295 2.15
 Total 106,990 100.00 11

Townships and localities

The 2021 census, the city had a population of 167,900 up from 167,231 in the 2016 census[27]

Population
Locality20162021
Ashburton7,7517,952
Balwyn13,31213,495
Balwyn North^20,40621,302
Camberwell22,08121,965
Canterbury8,0567,800
Deepdene2,0352,101
Glen Iris^25,26826,131
Hawthorn23,51122,322
Hawthorn East14,32114,834
Kew24,60524,499
Kew East6,6356,620
Mont Albert^4,8404,948
Surrey Hills^13,60513,655

^ - Territory divided with another LGA

Infrastructure

The Council is responsible for the management of stormwater collection and removal. The water supply authority is Yarra Valley Water.

Libraries

The City of Boroondara has five libraries at Camberwell, Ashburton, Balwyn, Kew and Hawthorn, and in 2018 opened a 'library lounge' at the Greythorn Community Hub in Balwyn North.[28][29]

Local area

Schools
Camberwell High School, one of the City of Boroondara's secondary schools

Boroondara has one of the highest concentrations of students in Australia[30] and contains many private schools, including Xavier College, Methodist Ladies' College (MLC), Strathcona Baptist Girls' Grammar School, Camberwell Grammar School, Trinity Grammar School, Ruyton Girls' School, Rossbourne School, Carey Baptist Grammar School, Scotch College, Fintona Girls' School, Genazzano FCJ College, Preshil, and Alia College. It contains Catholic schools such as St Michael's Parish School (Ashburton) Our Lady of Good Counsel (Deepdene) and St Bede's School (Balwyn North) and a number of public schools, including Canterbury Girls' Secondary College, Balwyn High School, Kew High School, Auburn High School and Camberwell High School.

See also

References
  1. Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Boroondara (Local Government Area)". Australian Census 2021 QuickStats. Retrieved 28 June 2022. 
  2. "3218.0 – Regional Population Growth, Australia, 2017-18: Population Estimates by Local Government Area (ASGS 2018), 2017 to 2018". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Australian Bureau of Statistics. 27 March 2019. Retrieved 25 October 2019. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018.
  3. "History and heritage". City of Boroondara. Archived from the original on 10 April 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
  4. "Victorian Local Government Community Satisfaction Survey". JWS Research. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  5. "Ancestors & Past". Wurundjeri. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  6. "History of Gardiners Creek". City of Boroondara. 23 January 2017. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  7. "Local History and Heritage". City of Boroondara. Archived from the original on 3 May 2007. Retrieved 22 September 2007.
  8. Victorian Municipal Directory. Brunswick: Arnall & Jackson. 1992. pp. 327–328, 393, 406. Accessed at State Library of Victoria, La Trobe Reading Room.
  9. "Municipal shake-up". The Age. 9 April 1994. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  10. "170 councillors sacked as 17 local councils cease to exist, Seven super-cities from today". Canberra Times. 22 June 1994. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
  11. "First Council of City of Boroondara". Monument Australia. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
  12. "City of Boroondara". City of Boroondara. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  13. "Council elections". City of Boroondara. 11 January 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  14. "Victorian council elections likely to be postponed amid COVID-19 risks". 13 August 2020.
  15. "Council elections to go ahead despite COVID-19 campaigning curbs". 13 August 2020.
  16. "Providing safe elections".
  17. "Council elections". City of Boroondara. 11 January 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  18. "Past Councillors". City of Boroondara. 11 January 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  19. "Cr Garry Thompson elected Mayor of City of Boroondara". City of Boroondara. 24 November 2020. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  20. "Councillors and wards". City of Boroondara. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
  21. "Results for Boroondara City Council Elections 2012". Australian Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
  22. "Tracking Victorian Crs who are members of a political party". The Mayne Report. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  23. "Wes Gault". Australian Greens Victoria. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  24. "Boroondara City Council – BURWOOD LIBERALS". Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  25. "Past and present councillors". City of Boroondara. Archived from the original on 4 February 2013. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
  26. "VEC: Boroondara City Council Election Results". 5 September 2006. Archived from the original on 5 September 2006. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  27. "Census | Australian Bureau of Statistics". www.abs.gov.au. 11 January 2023.
  28. "Libraries". City of Boroondara. Retrieved 19 April 2012.
  29. Boroondara, City of (18 September 2018). "A visit to Greythorn Library Lounge". City of Boroondara. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  30. "Headspace Hawthorn doors open". headspace National Youth Mental Health Foundation. Archived from the original on 16 March 2014. Retrieved 16 March 2014.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Boroondara.

Boroondara travel guide from Wikivoyage

37°49′S 145°04′E

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