From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

City of Boroondara

Local government area in Victoria, Australia

Field	Value
type	lga
name	City of Boroondara
state	vic
image	MelbLGA-Boroondara.gif
caption	Map of Melbourne with the City of Boroondara highlighted in dark green
local_map	yes
zoom	10
pop	167231
pop_year	2021 census
pop_footnotes
poprank	31st
est	1994
area	60
area_footnotes
mayor	Cr Wes Gault
seat	Camberwell
region	Greater Melbourne
stategov	Ashwood
stategov2	Hawthorn
stategov3	Kew
fedgov	Menzies
fedgov2	Kooyong
fedgov3	Chisholm
logo	Boroondara city logo.png
url	http://www.boroondara.vic.gov.au
near-n	Banyule
near-ne	Manningham
near-e	Whitehorse
near-se	Monash
near-s	Stonnington
near-sw	Stonnington
near-w	Yarra
near-nw	Yarra

The City of Boroondara () 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.

It has an area of 60 km2. In the 2021 Census the city had a population of 167,903.

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.

History

This area was originally occupied by the Wurundjeri Indigenous Australians of the Kulin nation.

In 1837, John Gardiner (after whom Gardiners Creek was named) and his family were the first Europeans to settle in the area.

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 the Shire of Boroondara on 17 November 1871, which later became the City of Camberwell.

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". The three municipalities, including the whole of the City of Camberwell, were eventually amalgamated in June 1994 to create the City of Boroondara. The commissioners were in turn replaced by ten councillors following elections in 1996.

The City's predecessor LGAs (green) as they were in 1994

Council

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.

Current composition and election method

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.

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. 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.

All councillors are elected for a fixed four-year term of office, with the most recent election being held in October 2024. Councillors were sworn in at a Special Meeting of Council on Monday 11 November 2024. On the 17th of November 2025, Wes Gault was elected Mayor, and Shima Ibuki his Deputy, by the Council.

Party	Councillors
		Independent
		Ind. Liberal
		Greens
Total	11

publisher=Victorian Electoral Commission	Party	Name	Years as Councillor
Bellevue	Independent	Michael Nolan	2024-present
Cotham	Liberal	Felicity Sinfield	2012-present
Gardiner	Independent	Victor Franco	2020-present
Glenferrie	Greens	Wes Gault	2020-present
Junction	Independent	Mal Osborne-Smith	2024-present
Lynden	Independent	Lisa Hollingsworth	2016-present
Maling	Independent	Shima Ibuki	2024-present
Maranoa	Independent	Chris Pattas	1996-2004, 2024-present
Riversdale	Independent	Rob Baillieu	2024-present
Solway	Greens	John Friend-Pereira	2024-present
Studley	Independent	Sophie Torney	2024-present

Mayors

Party	Mayor	Term
		Liberal	Geoff Hayes
		Independent	Keith Walter
		Independent	Loreto Davey
		Independent	Chris Pattas
		Liberal	Meredith Butler
		Independent	Judith Voce
		Independent	Jack Wegman
		Liberal	Phillip Healey
		Independent	Coral Ross
		Independent	Jack Wegman
		Liberal	Nicholas Tragas
		Independent	Heinz Kreutz
		Independent	Jack Wegman
		Independent	Coral Ross
		Independent	Jim Parke
		Liberal	Phillip Healey
		Independent	Jim Parke
		Independent	Jane Addis
		Liberal	Cynthia Watson
		Independent	Garry Thompson
		Independent	Jane Addis
		Liberal	Felicity Sinfield
		Independent	Lisa Hollingsworth
		Independent	Sophie Torney
		Greens	Wes Gault

Past Councillors

1996−present

Year	Bellevue	Gardiner	Glenferrie	Lynden	Maling	Riversdale
1996	Independent}}	Eric Risstrom
(Ind.)	Liberal}}	Geoff Hayes (Liberal)	Independent}}	Will Charlton
(Ind.)	Independent}}	Nigel Kirby
(Ind.)	Independent}}	Lilian Weinberg
(Ind.)	Independent}}	Ian Wallace
(Ind.)	Independent}}	Loreto Davey
(Ind.)	Independent}}	Chris Pattas
(Ind.)	Independent}}	Keith Walter
(Ind.)	Liberal}}	Paula Davey (Liberal)
1999	Liberal}}	Meredith Butler (Liberal)	Independent}}	Martina Hayes
(Ind.)	Independent}}	Judith Voce
(Ind.)
2002	Independent}}	Coral Ross
(Ind.)	Independent}}	Jack Wegman
(Ind.)	Independent}}	Heinz Kreutz
(Ind.)	Independent}}	Dennis Whelan
(Ind.)
2003	Independent}}	Gina Goldsmith
(Ind.)
2004	Liberal}}	Gina Goldsmith (Liberal)	Liberal}}	Lachlan Williams (Liberal)	Independent}}	Dick Menting
(Ind.)	Liberal}}	Nicholas Tragas (Liberal)	Labor}}	Mary Halikias-Byrnes (Labor)	Liberal}}	Phillip Healey (Liberal)
2007	Independent}}	Phil Meggs
(Ind.)
2008	Independent}}	Brad Miles
(Ind.)	Liberal}}	David Bloom (Liberal)	Independent}}	Phil Meggs
(Ind.)	Labor}}	Kevin Chow (Labor)
2012	Independent}}	Jim Parke
(Ind.)	Liberal}}	Felicity Sinfield (Liberal)	Labor}}	Steve Hurd (Ind. Labor)	Independent}}	Jane Addis
(Ind.)	Independent}}	Philip Mallis
(Ind.)
2016	Liberal}}	Lisa Hollingsworth
(Liberal/Ind.)	Liberal}}	Cynthia Watson (Liberal)	liberal}}	Garry Thompson
(Liberal/Ind.)
2020	Independent}}	Victor Franco
(Ind.)	Greens}}	Wes Gault (Greens)	Independent}}	Di Gillies
(Ind.)	Independent}}	Susan Biggar
(Ind.)	Liberal}}	Nick Stavrou (Liberal)
2021	Independent}}	Independent}}
2024	Independent}}	Michael Nolan
(Ind.)	Independent}}	Mal Osborne-Smith
(Ind.)	Independent}}	Shima Ibuki
(Ind.)	Independent}}	Chris Pattas
(Ind.)	Independent}}	Rob Baillieu
(Ind.)	Greens}}	John Friend-Pereira (Greens)	Independent}}	Sophie Torney
(Ind.)

Election results

2024

Townships and localities

At the 2021 census, the city had a population of 167,900,

Population	Locality	2016
	7,751	7,952
	13,312	13,495
^	20,406	21,302
	22,081	21,965
	8,056	7,800
	2,035	2,101
^	25,268	26,131
	23,511	22,322
	14,321	14,834
	24,605	24,499
	6,635	6,620
^	4,840	4,948
^	13,605	13,655

^ - 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.

Local area

Schools

Boroondara has one of the highest concentrations of students in Australia 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.

Heritage controversy

In 2023, Boroondara implemented a "community heritage nomination process", allowing residents to lodge nominations for properties to be heritage listed, limiting the ability for the owners of those properties to renovate or demolish their property. The community nominated eight properties to heritage list, seven of which were listed without the consent of the owner. This was a highly controversial change, and some residents were concerned that the process would be weaponised by community members to heritage list properties owned by people in ethnic minorities. The council rejected a proposal to pause the process until the next council election.

Notes

References

{{Census 2021 AUS
(27 May 2025). "Population estimates and components by LGA, 2023 to 2024".
"History and heritage". City of Boroondara.
"Victorian Local Government Community Satisfaction Survey".
"Ancestors & Past".
(23 January 2017). "History of Gardiners Creek".
"Local History and Heritage". City of Boroondara.
(1992). "Victorian Municipal Directory". Arnall & Jackson.
(9 April 1994). "Municipal shake-up". The Age.
(22 June 1994). "170 councillors sacked as 17 local councils cease to exist, Seven super-cities from today". [[The Canberra Times.
"First Council of City of Boroondara".
"City of Boroondara".
(11 January 2017). "Council elections".
(13 August 2020). "Victorian council elections likely to be postponed amid COVID-19 risks". [[The Age]].
(19 August 2020). "Council elections to go ahead despite COVID-19 campaigning curbs".
(8 October 2020). "Local Government Elections 2020 COVIDSafe Election Plan". [[Victorian Electoral Commission]].
(11 January 2017). "Council elections".
(11 January 2017). "Past Councillors".
Boroondara, City of. (2025-11-17). "Council Meeting (Councillor Assignments) - 17 November 2025".
"Boroondara City Council results". Victorian Electoral Commission.
"Wes Gault".
(11 January 2017). "Mayor, councillors and wards".
"John Friend-Pereira, Councillor for Boroondara City Council - Solway Ward".
(11 January 2017). "Past Councillors".
down from 167,231 in the 2016 census.{{Census 2016 AUS
"Libraries". City of Boroondara.
(2018-09-18). "A visit to Greythorn Library Lounge".
"Headspace Hawthorn doors open". headspace National Youth Mental Health Foundation.
Boroondara, City of. (2023-06-22). "Nominate a heritage place".
Cowie, Tom. (2024-08-06). "'Racism, vigilantes': Backlash over letting the public nominate homes for heritage protection". [[The Age]].

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

local-government-areas-in-melbourne city-of-boroondara

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about City of Boroondara — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report