City of Kingston

History

The City of Kingston area was originally governed by the Moorabbin Roads Board, which formed in 1862 and became a shire council in 1871, covering a large area of mixed agricultural and semi-urban land. After years of agitation in 1917 the seaside town of Sandringham became a borough with its own council, and this fuelled the desire of those living in towns further south to combine their efforts and demand self-representation. This finally occurred in May 1920 and the 'Borough of Mordialloc and Mentone' was formed. It became a town in 1923 and the City of Mordialloc in 1926.

The City of Moorabbin had a population of 109,588 by the time of the 1971 census.

In 1994, the state government amalgamated local councils all over Victoria, as part of its local government reform. The new City of Kingston was one result, and on 15 December 1994 the city was formally gazetted comprising all of the City of Chelsea, most of the City of Mordialloc, a substantial portion of the City of Moorabbin, and parts of the cities of Oakleigh and Springvale. The City of Kingston headquarters opened at 34 Brindisi Street, Mentone that remains a property portfolio asset.

An electoral structure for Kingston was introduced in November 2008 to include three wards – North Ward, Central Ward and South Ward, with three Councillors representing each ward. This made a total of nine Councillors instead of the previous structure of seven wards each represented by one Councillor. Further electoral structure changes led to in November 2020 there being a total of 11 wards each individually represented by a Councillor.

Kingston's headquarters since 2005 have been in Cheltenham at the former 7-storey office of Fujitsu Australia built in 1993.

Education

Primary education

• Aspendale Gardens Primary School
• Aspendale Primary School
• Bonbeach Primary School
• Carrum Primary School
• Chelsea Primary School
• Chelsea Heights Primary School
• Cheltenham East Primary School
• Clarinda Primary School
• Clayton South Primary School
• Dingley Primary School
• Edithvale Primary School
• Kingston Heath Primary School
• Kingswood Primary School
• Le Page Primary School
• Mentone Primary School
• Mentone Park Primary School
• Mordialloc Beach Primary School
• Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Primary School
• Parktone Primary School
• Parkdale Primary School
• Patterson Lakes Primary School
• Southmoor Primary School
• St Andrew's Catholic Primary School
• St Brigid's Catholic Primary School
• St Catherines Catholic Primary School
• St John Vianney's Catholic Primary School
• St Joseph's Catholic Primary School
• St Louis De Montforts Catholic Primary School
• St Mark's Primary School
• St Patrick's Catholic Primary School
• Westall Primary School}} Secondary education
• Cheltenham Secondary College
• Kilbreda College
• Mentone Girls' Secondary College
• Mordialloc Secondary College
• Parkdale Secondary College
• St Bede's Catholic College
• Westall Secondary College}} Primary and secondary education
• Mentone Girls' Grammar School
• Mentone Grammar School Technical and further education
• Holmesglen Institute of TAFE

Townships and localities

The city had a population of 158,129 at the 2021 census, up from 151,389 in the 2016 census.

^ - Territory divided with another LGA

Railway stations

• Aspendale
  • Aspendale railway station – April 1891
• Bonbeach
  • Bonbeach railway station – February 1927
• Carrum
  • Carrum railway station – August 1882
• Chelsea
  • Chelsea railway station – February 1907
• Cheltenham
  • Cheltenham railway station – December 1881
  • Southland railway station – November 2017
• Clayton South
  • Westall railway station – February 1951
• Edithvale
  • Edithvale railway station – September 1919
• Highett
  • Highett railway station – December 1881
• Mentone
  • Mentone railway station – December 1881
• Moorabbin
  • Moorabbin railway station – December 1881
• Mordialloc
  • Mordialloc railway station – December 1881
• Parkdale
  • Parkdale railway station – September 1919

Library services

The City of Kingston operates nine free council run libraries.

Major branches

• Chelsea
• Cheltenham
• Clarinda
• Parkdale
• Westall

Minor branches

• Dingley
• Highett
• Moorabbin
• Patterson Lakes

Sport and recreation

The City of Kingston will from 2026 operate two swimming and recreation centres at Mordialloc and Highett:

• The Waves Leisure Centre at Highett has a 50m swimming pool, spa, gym and separate wave pool.
• The Don Tatnell Leisure Centre had a 25m swimming pool, spa and a gym (that closed as of 2021 due to structural damage).
• Mordi Aquatics Centre, opening at Mordialloc in 2026 will feature a 50m lap pool, a learn to swim pool, a leisure pool and a warm water pool, along with a spa, sauna, steam room, gym and a café.
• The indoor-outdoor SurfnPlay Aqua Park by Pellicano featuring a surf park, will be the largest of its kind in the southern atmosphere when it opens in 2027 at Dingley Village.

The Kennedy Community Centre, the current training and administrative base of the Hawthorn Football Club is located in Dingley Village, while St Kilda Football Club has their facilities located at RSEA Park in Moorabbin.

The city has produced a number of AFL players including Luke Beveridge, Rex Hunt and Dylan Shiel amongst other athletes, such as international champion swimmers Nicole Livingstone and Toby Haenen. International cricketer, Scott Boland was born in Mordialloc.

Natural environment and parkland

The city has a dozens of sports grounds, aside from the 13 km of Port Phillip coastline, 2,070 hectares of Green Wedge parkland and high prevalence of golf courses, which complements the state parks managed by Parks Victoria including Braeside Park, Karkarook Park and Patterson River; with the latter popular with fishing charter operators as the home of the state's busiest boat launching facility.

Culture and arts

The City of Kingston has art and theatre facilities in Parkdale and Moorabbin respectively at the Shirley Burke Theatre and Kingston City Hall, with seating for up to 800 occupants. Each year the city hosts the Mordi Fest with live music, the Spring Fair and Carols by Kingston as its key events. Popular rock bands British India and Jet respectively were from Mentone and Dingley Village.

The Heidelberg School was an art movement of the late 19th century with ties to Australian impressionism, which featured scenes of Mentone by respective artists Tom Roberts, Charles Conder and Frederick McCubbin. An international-standard sculpture trail is proceeding at Patterson River, bordering the suburbs of Carrum, Patterson Lakes and Bonbeach.

Mordialloc's Main Street in particular features a diverse restaurant scene with iconic culinary experiences that have become a beacon of pride for the city.

Media and entertainment

The filming at Kath Day-Knight and Kel Knight's 'townhouse' (in the fictional suburb of Fountain Lakes) for the Australian comedy television series Kath & Kim was shot in Patterson Lakes at Lagoon Place. Kath & Kimderella was also filmed at the same location as the original Day-Knight house of the TV series.

The Australian TV series Underbelly Files was filmed in Cheltenham and Rush included an episode filmed in Moorabbin.

Australian television and radio personality, Rex Hunt was born in Mentone.

Economy

The City of Kingston's Gross Regional Product is estimated at $14.23 billion, which represents 2.44% of the state's GSP (Gross State Product), where manufacturing is the largest employer generating 16,882 local jobs.

With the industrial sector being one of the largest and most concentrated in Victoria, the city is one of the state's major employment centres.

The Moorabbin Airport, DFO Moorabbin and Westfield Southland are significant economic landmarks for the City of Kingston. This is Kingston is the city's tourism and economic marketing arm.

Council services

The council has an operational expenditure budget of $296.1 million, with works involving areas such as road maintenance and construction, community, cultural and youth activities, town planning and development, waste management and recycling, maintenance of parks and public areas, public health and animal control, library services, and business and tourism support.

Current councillors

Prior to 2020, the City of Kingston had three multi-member wards, however this changed to 11 single-member wards from the 2020 council election.

Councillors and Mayors 1997 - 2024

• Greg Alabaster 1997 – 2000 / 2005 - 2008
• Ron Brownlees OAM 1997 – 2000 / 2000 – 2003 / 2008 – 2012 / 2012 – 2016 / 2016 – 2020 (Mayor: 1998-99, 2010-11 & 2012-13)
• Di Comtesse 1997 - 2000
• Lesley McGurgan 1997 – 2000 (Mayor: 1999-2000)
• Bill Nixon OAM 1997 – 2000 / 2003 – 2005 / 2005 – 2008 (Mayor: 1997-98 & 2007-08)
• John Ronke 1997 – 2000 / 2000 – 2003 / 2005 – 2008 / 2008 – 2012 / 2012 – 2016 (Mayor: 2011-12)
• Dalene Salisbury 1997 – 2000
• Arthur Athanasopoulos 2000 – 2003 / 2003 – 2005 / 2005 – 2008 / 2008 – 2012 (Mayor: 2000-01, 2003–04, March – December 2004, 2008–09)
• Elizabeth Larking 2000 – 2003 / 2003 – 2005 (Mayor: 2001-02)
• David Normington 2000-2001
• Topsy Petchey OAM 2000 – 2003 / 2003 – 2005 / 2005 – 2008 (Mayor: 2002-03, 2004–05, 2005-06 & 2006-07)
• Joanna van Klaveren 2000 - 2005
• Trevor Shewan 2001 - 2003 / 2008 – 2012
• Andrew Adams 2003 - 2005
• Rosemary West OAM 2003 – 2005 / 2005 – 2008 / 2008 – 2012 / 2012 – 2016 / 2016 – 2020
• Justin McKeegan 2005 – 2008
• Donna Bauer 2008 – 2010
• Lew Dundas 2008 – 2012
• Paul Peulich 2008 – 2012 / 2012 – 2016 (Mayor: 2013-14)
• Steve Staikos 2008 – 2012 / 2012 – 2016 / 2016 – 2020 / 2020 – 2024 (Mayor 2009-10, 2017–18, 2020-21 & 2021-22)
• Dan Maloney 2011 – 2012
• Tamara Barth 2012 – 2016 / 2016 – 2020
• Geoff Gledhill 2012 – 2016 / 2016 – 2020 (Mayor: 2014-15)
• Tamsin Bearsley 2012 – 2016 / 2016 – 2020 / 2020 – 2024 (Mayor: 2015-16)
• David Eden 2012 – 2016 / 2016 – 2020 / 2020 – 2024 (Mayor: 2016-17)
• George Hua 2016 – 2020 / 2020 – 2024
• Georgina Oxley 2016 – 2020 / 2020 – 2024 (Mayor: 2018-19 & 2019-20)
• Tim Cochrane 2020 – 2024
• Jenna Davey Burns 2020 – 2024 (Mayor: 2023-24)
• Tracey Davies 2020 – 2024
• Chris Hill 2020 – 2024
• Cameron Howe 2020 – 2024
• Hadi Saab 2020 – 2024 (Mayor: 2022-23)

References

References

1. (2025). "Council demographics". Kingston City Council.
2. (27 March 2019). "3218.0 – Regional Population Growth, Australia, 2017–18: Population Estimates by Local Government Area (ASGS 2018), 2017 to 2018". [[Australian Bureau of Statistics]].
3. (20 November 2024). "New mayor wins third term". Bayside News.
4. (24 January 2007). "Kingston City Council – Local Government Victoria – Department for Victorian Communities". Department for Victorian Communities.
5. (2025). "Beaches in Kingston". Kingston City Council.
6. (2 June 2024). "Huge water park with surf waves, water slide rides approved for Dingley Village in Melbourne". Herald Sun.
7. (2 June 2024). "Kingston Heath to host the 2028 Presidents Cupe". Kingston Heath Golf Club.
8. (2025). "Our Green Wedge". Kingston City Council.
9. (16 July 2022). "Boat ramp upgrade for growing fishing community". Herald Sun.
10. (1973). "Victorian year book 1973". Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics, Victorian Office.
11. "Kingston City Council, Melbourne, Australia - Kingston Council to Purchase 1230 Nepean Hwy, Cheltenham".
12. (11 January 2023). "Census {{!}} Australian Bureau of Statistics".
13. "Kingston City Council, Melbourne, Australia - Opening Hours and Addresses".
14. "Kingston City Council, Melbourne, Australia - Leisure Centres".
15. [https://www.kingston.vic.gov.au/About-Us/Media/Don-Tatnell-Leisure-Centre-will-close-due-to-major-structural-issues Don Tatnell Leisure Centre will close due to major structural issues – Kingston City Council]
16. (6 July 2023). "Concept designs for new pool revealed". Bayside News.
17. (4 June 2024). "Southern Hemisphere's Largest Aquatic Park Greenlit". The Urban Developer.
18. (2025). "Scott Boland". Cricket Australia.
19. (2025). "Our Green Wedge". Kingston City Council.
20. (16 July 2022). "Boat ramp upgrade for growing fishing community". Herald Sun.
21. (18 August 2007). "British India". The Age.
22. (26 September 2011). "Is this gonna be your house? Jet founder lists Hollywood home". First Chance Group Pty Ltd.
23. "Introduction to Australian Impressionism". National Gallery of Victoria.
24. (13 July 2021). "Sculpture trail to rival iconic Melbourne artwork". Herald Sun.
25. (5 November 2024). "Discover All Kingston's Thriving Dining Scene Has to Offer During Cup Carnival". Australian Good Food Guide.
26. Scholte, Hannah. (12 July 2016). "Noice, different, unusual Kath and Kim home sells for more than $1.4 million". news.com.au.
27. (2025). "Underbelly Files: Tell Them Lucifer Was Here". IMDB.
28. (2025). "Rush (TV Series 2008-2011)". IMDB.
29. (2025). "Rex Hunt Biography". IMDB.
30. (2025). "City of Kingston economic profile". Informed Decisions.
31. (2016). "Prosperous Kingston". Kingston City Council.
32. (2025). "Council plan and budget". Kingston City Council.
33. (6 May 2020). "Electoral structure changes for 2020".
34. Libertarian Party (Australia). (2021-11-29). "Victorian Senate candidates announced! (David Limbrick, Krystle Mitchell & Caroline White)".
35. "Council candidate Jane Agirtan under fire for sharing racist memes about Indigenous Australians".
36. Sakkal, Paul. (2020-10-04). "Council candidate owns mattress shop caught up in corruption probe".
37. (7 July 2025). "Suspended Kingston councillor returns to role".
38. (9 April 2025). "Cr Jane Agirtan stood down". Kingston City Council.
39. (9 April 2025). "Councillor Agirtan stood down".
40. "Tracking Victorian Crs who are members of a political party".
41. Hatch, Patrick. (2024-11-08). "Victorian council election results 2024 LIVE updates: Liberals lose control in Boroondara, fewer women at City of Melbourne".
42. (11 November 2024). "Huge shake-up at Kingston Council".
43. (19 November 2024). "'A shadowy affair': Push for probe to overhaul council elections".
44. (26 November 2022). "Carrum - VIC Electorate, Candidates, Results".
45. (21 May 2022). "Isaacs - Federal Electorate, Candidates, Results".