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
Population	167,231 (2021 census)[1] (31st)
• Density	2,790/km2 (7,200/sq mi)
Established	1994
Area	60 km2 (23.2 sq mi)[2]
Mayor	Cr Sophie Torney
Council seat	Camberwell
Region	Greater Melbourne
State electorate(s)	Ashwood Hawthorn Kew
Federal division(s)	Menzies Kooyong Chisholm
Website	City 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]

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.^[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 October 2024.^[17][18] Councillors were sworn in at a Special Meeting of Council on Monday 11 November 2024. The Mayor was decided in a council meeting on the 18th of November.

Party		Councillors
	Independent	8
	Ind. Liberal	1
	Greens	2
Total		11

Ward[19]		Party	Name	Elected	Notes
Bellevue		Independent	Michael Nolan	2024
Cotham		Liberal	Felicity Sinfield	2012
Gardiner		Independent	Victor Franco	2020	Deputy Mayor
Glenferrie		Greens	Wes Gault[20]	2020
Junction		Independent	Mal Osborne-Smith	2024
Lynden		Independent	Lisa Hollingsworth	2016
Maling		Independent	Shima Ibuki	2024
Maranoa		Independent	Chris Pattas	1996-2004, 2024
Riversdale		Independent	Rob Baillieu	2024
Solway		Greens	John Friend-Pereira[21]	2024
Studley		Independent	Sophie Torney	2024	Mayor[22]

Mayors

Main article: List of mayors of Boroondara

Past councillors

1996−present

Year	Bellevue		Cotham		Gardiner		Glenferrie		Junction		Lynden		Maling		Maranoa		Riversdale		Solway		Studley
	Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor
1996		Eric Risstrom (Ind.)		Geoff Hayes (Liberal)		Will Charlton (Ind.)		Nigel Kirby (Ind.)		Lilian Weinberg (Ind.)		Ian Wallace (Ind.)		Loreto Davey (Ind.)		Chris Pattas (Ind.)	10 wards (1996−2020)		Keith Walter (Ind.)		Paula Davey (Liberal)
1999								Meredith Butler (Liberal)		Martina Hayes (Ind.)											Judith Voce (Ind.)
2002						Coral Ross (Ind.)				Jack Wegman (Ind.)		Heinz Kreutz (Ind.)		Dennis Whelan (Ind.)
2003		Gina Goldsmith (Ind.)
2004		Gina Goldsmith (Liberal)		Lachlan Williams (Liberal)										Dick Menting (Ind.)		Nicholas Tragas (Liberal)			Mary Halikias-Byrnes (Labor)		Phillip Healey (Liberal)
2007				Phil Meggs (Ind.)
2008		Brad Miles (Ind.)		David Bloom (Liberal)				Phil Meggs (Ind.)											Kevin Chow (Labor)
2012		Jim Parke (Ind.)		Felicity Sinfield (Liberal)				Steve Hurd (Ind. Labor)						Jane Addis (Ind.)		Philip Mallis (Ind.)
2016												Lisa Hollingsworth (Liberal/Ind.)				Cynthia Watson (Liberal)			Garry Thompson (Liberal/Ind.)
2020						Victor Franco (Ind.)		Wes Gault (Greens)		Di Gillies (Ind.)										Susan Biggar (Ind.)		Nick Stavrou (Liberal)
2021
2024		Michael Nolan (Ind.)								Mal Osborne-Smith (Ind.)				Shima Ibuki (Ind.)		Chris Pattas (Ind.)		Rob Baillieu (Ind.)		John Friend-Pereira (Greens)		Sophie Torney (Ind.)

Election results

2024

2024 Victorian local elections: Boroondara^{[23][24][25][26]}

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Independents		55,852	57.70	+0.34	8	3
	Independent Liberal		27,946	28.87	–3.73[a]	1	4
	Greens		8,155	8.42	+2.99	2	1
	Independent Labor		3,323	3.43	+1.75	0
	Victorian Socialists		1,523	1.57	+1.57	0
Formal votes			96,799	98.01	+0.16
Informal votes			1,962	1.99	–0.16
Total			98,761	100.00		11
Registered voters / turnout			117,377	84.14

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2024 Victorian local elections in Eastern Melbourne § Boroondara results.[edit]

2020

2020 Victorian local elections: Boroondara^[27][28]

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Independent		60,052	57.36		5
	Burwood Liberals		31,700	30.28		5
	Greens		5,999	5.43		1	1
	Independent Liberal		2,745	2.32		0
	Animal Justice		2,122	2.03		0
	Independent Labor		1,929	1.68		0	1
	Independent Greens		990	0.90		0
Formal votes			104,695	97.85
Informal votes			2,295	2.15
Total			106,990	100.00		11	1

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2020 Victorian local elections in Eastern Melbourne § Boroondara results.[edit]

Townships and localities

The 2021 census, the city had a population of 167,900 up from 167,231 in the 2016 census^[29]

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Ashburton	7,751	7,952
Balwyn	13,312	13,495
Balwyn North^	20,406	21,302
Camberwell	22,081	21,965
Canterbury	8,056	7,800
Deepdene	2,035	2,101
Glen Iris^	25,268	26,131
Hawthorn	23,511	22,322
Hawthorn East	14,321	14,834
Kew	24,605	24,499
Kew East	6,635	6,620
Mont Albert^	4,840	4,948
Surrey Hills^	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.^[30][31]

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^[32] 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",^[33] 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.^[34] 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.

See also

• List of Melbourne suburbs

Notes

1. Compared to the combined Independent Liberal and Burwood Liberals result at the 2020 election.