City of Richmond

For the steamship City of Richmond, see PS Avalon.

For other uses, see Richmond (disambiguation).

The City of Richmond was a local government area about 2 kilometres (1 mi) east of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The city covered an area of 6.12 square kilometres (2.36 sq mi), and existed from 1855 until 1994.

City of Richmond Victoria
Location in Melbourne
Richmond Town Hall
Population	22,900 (1992)[1]
• Density	3,742/km2 (9,691/sq mi)
Established	1855
Area	6.12 km2 (2.4 sq mi)
Council seat	Richmond
Region	Inner Melbourne
County	Bourke
LGAs around City of Richmond: Collingwood Northcote Kew Melbourne City of Richmond Hawthorn Melbourne Prahran Malvern

History

Richmond was incorporated as a municipality on 24 April 1855, having split from the City of Melbourne on the same day as the neighbouring City of Collingwood. It became a town on 28 September 1872, and a city on 17 February 1882.^[2]

In 1920, it became the first municipal council in Australia to have a female councillor, when Mary Rogers of the Labor Party was elected.^[3][4]

The Richmond council was sacked in 1982 by the State Government following a report which revealed allegations of electoral malpractice and fraud. The council was replaced by a state-appointed commissioner, Alex Gillon, to administer the city in its stead until an elected council was restored in 1988.^[5]

On 22 June 1994, the City of Richmond was abolished, and along with the Cities of Collingwood and Fitzroy, and parts of Fairfield and Alphington from the City of Northcote, was merged into the newly created City of Yarra.^[6]

Richmond was at one stage divided into wards, but by 1994 the council was represented by nine councillors, each representing all electors in the city. Meetings were held at the Richmond Town Hall, on Bridge Road, Richmond.

Mayors

Main article: List of mayors of Richmond

Election results

1931

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1931 Victorian local elections § Richmond.[edit]

East

1931 Victorian local elections: East Ward^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Geoffrey O'Connell	599	82.17
	Communist	C. H. Frank	130	17.83
Total formal votes			729
	Labor hold		Swing

North

1931 Victorian local elections: North Ward^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	R. H. Lightfoot	879	61.00
	Independent	W. L. Podmore	562	39.00
Total formal votes			1,441
	Labor hold		Swing

Suburbs

• Burnley
• Cremorne
• Richmond*

* Council seat.

Population

Year	Population
1854	7,071
1881	23,405
1911	40,442
1954	35,213
1958	33,100*
1961	33,863
1966	32,521
1971	28,341
1976	26,179
1981	24,506
1986	23,285
1991	22,789

* Estimate in the 1958 Victorian Year Book.

References

1. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Victoria Office (1994). Victorian Year Book. p. 49. ISSN 0067-1223.
2. Victorian Municipal Directory. Brunswick: Arnall & Jackson. 1992. pp. 465–466. Accessed at State Library of Victoria, La Trobe Reading Room.
3. "AUSTRALIA'S FIRST WOMAN COUNCILLOR". The Mercury. Vol. CXIII, no. 15, 921. Tasmania, Australia. 10 November 1920. p. 4. Retrieved 20 January 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
4. "LABOR WOMAN'S DEATH". Daily Standard. No. 6156. Queensland, Australia. 8 October 1932. p. 5. Retrieved 20 January 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
5. Slattery, Luke (8 April 1988). "Democracy returns to Richmond". The Age. Melbourne. p. 11.
6. Australian Bureau of Statistics (1 August 1995). Victorian local government amalgamations 1994-1995: Changes to the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (PDF). Commonwealth of Australia. p. 12. ISBN 0-642-23117-6. Retrieved 16 December 2007.
7. "DEATH OF PIONEER LABOR MAN". Trove. Labor Call.
8. "Richmond Pre-Selection". Trove. The Age.

External links

• Victorian Places - Richmond

37.823°S 144.998°E / -37.823; 144.998