City of Monash

Not to be confused with Division of Monash.

The City of Monash is a local government area in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne with an area of 81.5 square kilometres and a population of 200,077 people in 2016.^[1]

City of Monash
Local government area
Location of Monash within the Melbourne metropolitan area.
Interactive map of City of Monash
Country	Australia
State	Victoria
Region	Greater Melbourne
Established	1994
Council seat	Glen Waverley
Government
• Mayor	Paul Klisaris
• State electorates	Ashwood Glen Waverley Mulgrave Oakleigh
• Federal divisions	Bruce Chisholm Hotham
Area [1]
• Total	81.5 km2 (31.5 sq mi)
Population
• Total	190,397 (2021)[1] (29th)
• Density	2,336.2/km2 (6,051/sq mi)
Website	City of Monash
LGAs around City of Monash Boroondara Whitehorse Maroondah Stonnington City of Monash Knox Glen Eira Kingston Dandenong

History

Main article: History of the City of Monash

The City of Monash was once hunting grounds for two groups of First Nations peoples, the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung in the north and the Bunurong people in the south. The City of Monash, named after World War I commander Sir John Monash^[2] and the local Monash University (established 1958), was created on 15 December 1994 when the state government amalgamated local councils all over Victoria, merging a substantial portion of the former City of Oakleigh with the whole of the former City of Waverley.^[3]

Townships and localities

At the 2021 census, the city had a population of 190,397 up from 182,618 at the 2016 census.^[4]

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Ashwood	6,886	7,154
Burwood^	15,019	15,147
Chadstone	8,641	9,552
Clayton	19,358	18,988
Glen Waverley	40,327	42,642
Hughesdale	7,556	7,563
Huntingdale	1,862	1,949
Mount Waverley	33,611	35,340
Mulgrave	19,368	19,889
Notting Hill	3,050	2,895
Oakleigh	7,893	8,442
Oakleigh East	6,444	6,804
Oakleigh South^	9,261	9,851
Wheelers Hill	19,753	20,652

^ - Territory divided with another LGA

Council

Current composition

Party		Councillors
	Independent Labor	7
	Independent	4
Total		11

The current council, elected in October 2024, is:

Ward	Councillor		Party	Notes
Banksia		Cameron Little	Independent
Blackburn		Rebecca Paterson	Independent Labor[5]
Gallaghers		Geoff Lake	Independent Labor[6]
Gardiners Creek		Anjalee de Silva	Independent	Member of the Greens until 2024[7]
Jells		Elisha Lee	Independent Labor[5]
Mayfield		Brian Little	Independent Labor[6]	Deputy Mayor[8]
Scotchmans Creek		Nicky Luo	Independent Labor[9]
University		Josh Fergeus	Independent	Member of the Greens until 2024[7]
Warrigal		Stuart James	Independent Labor[9]
Waverley Park		Shane McCluskey	Independent
Wellington		Paul Klisaris	Independent Labor[9]	Mayor[8]

Mayors

Mayor	Term	#
Peter Vlahos	1997–1998	1
Gill Clare	1998–1999	2
Peter Holdsworth	1999–2000	3
Matthew Evans	2000–2001	4
Tom Morrissey	2001–2002	5
Geoff Lake	2002–2003	6
	2003–2004
Joy Banerji	2004[a]	7
Steve Dimopoulos	2004–2005	8
Joy Banerji	2005–2006
Tom Morrissey	2006–2007
Paul Klisaris	2007–2008	9
	2008–2009
Charlotte Baines	2009–2010	10
Greg Male	2010–2011	11
Stefanie Perri	2011–2012	12
Micaela Drieberg	2012–2013	13
Geoff Lake	2013–2014
Paul Klisaris	2014–2015
Stefanie Perri	2015–2016
Geoff Lake	2016[b]
Rebecca Paterson	2016–2017	14
Paul Klisaris	2017–2018
Shane McCluskey	2018–2019	15
Stuart James	2019–2020	16
Brian Little	2020–2021	17
Stuart James	2021–2022
Tina Samardzija	2022–2023	18
Nicky Luo	2023-2024	19
Paul Klisaris	2024-2025

Past councillors

Single-member wards (1997−2005)

Year	Central		Damper		Huntingdale		Jell		Napier		University		Warrigal		Wellington
	Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor
1997		Matthew Evans (Independent)		Tom Morrissey (Independent)		Nick Gregory (Independent)		Gill Clare (Independent)		Peter Holdsworth (Independent)		Peter Vlahos (Liberal)		Jack Davis (Independent)		Kathy Magee (Independent)
2000						Felicity Smith (Independent)		Peter Holdsworth (Independent)		Geoff Lake (Labor)				Paul Klisaris (Labor)
2003		Ross Smith (Independent)		Joy Banerji (Labor)		Steve Dimopoulos (Labor)		Peter McCall (Independent)				Brian Little (Labor)		Vicki Bouziotis (Independent)		Jeanne Solity (Independent)

Multi-member wards (2005−2024)

Glen Waverley Ward

Year	Councillor		Party	Councillor		Party
2005		Geoff Lake	Labor		Dane Manzie	Independent
2008					Greg Male	Independent
2012					Katrina Nolan	Independent
2016					Lynette Saloumi	Independent
2018						Sustainable Australia
2020					Nicky Luo	Labor

Mount Waverley Ward

Year	Councillor		Party	Councillor		Party	Councillor		Party
2005		Joy Banerji	Labor		Tom Morrissey	Independent		Ryan Brown	Independent
2008								Jieh-Yung Lo	Independent
2012		Brian Little	Labor
2013					Rebecca Paterson	Independent
2016								MT Pang Tsoi	Liberal
2020								Anjalee de Silva	Greens
									Independent

Mulgrave Ward

Year	Councillor		Party	Councillor		Party	Councillor		Party
2005		Paul Klisaris	Labor		Charlotte Baines	Independent		Craig Shiell	Independent
2008								Micaela Drieberg	Independent
2012					Robert Davies	Liberal
2016		John Sharkey	Independent
2016		Paul Klisaris	Labor					Shane McCluskey	Independent
2020					Tina Samardzija	Labor

Oakleigh Ward

Year	Councillor		Party	Councillor		Party	Councillor		Party
2005		Steve Dimopoulos	Labor		Denise McGill	Liberal		Gerry Kottek	Independent
2008								Stefanie Perri	Labor
2012					Theo Zographos	Liberal		Bill Pontikis	Independent
2014		Stefanie Perri	Labor
2016		Nga Hosking	Labor
2016		Stuart James	Labor					Josh Fergeus	Greens
2020
									Independent

Election results

2024

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

2024 Victorian local elections: Monash^[10]

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Independent Labor		35,917	42.08		7
	Independents		30,303	35.51		4	3
	Independent Liberal		9,569	11.21		0	1
	Greens		6,102	7.15		0	2
	Libertarian		1,808	2.12	+2.12	0
	Victorian Socialists		1,646	1.93	+1.93	0
Formal votes			85,345	97.39
Informal votes			2,290	2.61
Total			87,635	100.00		11
Registered voters / turnout			114,010

2020

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

2020 Victorian local elections: Monash

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Independent Labor		44,343	45.71		6
	Burwood Liberals		20,167	20.79		1
	Independent		14,907	15.37		2
	Greens		11,314	11.66		2
	Independent Liberal		4,154	4.28		0
	Sustainable Australia		2,122	2.19		0
Formal votes			97,007	95.02
Informal votes			5,080	4.98
Total			102,087	100.00		11
Registered voters / turnout			120,823	84.49

Demographics

Monash has a diverse population, with 45.1% of its residents born overseas (compared to 29.0% across Melbourne),^[11] coming from more than 30 countries,^[12] with significant Chinese, UK, Greek, Indian, Malaysian and Sri Lankan populations.^[11] 42.4% of residents own their own home outright, compared to 33.1% in Melbourne,^[13] and 37.3% across Australia.^[14] The city is well educated, with 25.1% having a bachelor or higher degree (compared to 19.6% across Melbourne).^[15]

Selected historical census data for City of Monash Council local government area
Census Year		2006	2011[16]	2016[17]
Population	Estimated residents on census night		169,280	182,618
	% of Victoria population			3.08%
	% of Australian population			0.8%
Cultural and language diversity
Ancestry, top responses	Chinese			19.6%
	English			14.7%
	Australian			12.7%
	Greek			5.7%
	Indian			5.5%
Language, top responses (other than English)	Mandarin			14.7%
	Greek			5.7%
	Cantonese			4.8%
	Sinhalese			2.5%
	Italian			2.1%
Religious affiliation
Religious affiliation, top responses	No religion, so described			31.4%
	Catholic			18.9%
	Not stated			8.2%
	Eastern Orthodox			7.3%
	Buddhism			6.8%
Median weekly incomes
Personal income	Median weekly personal income			A$569
	% of Australian median income			85.95%
Family income	Median weekly family income			A$1,809
	% of Australian median income			104.33%
Household income	Median weekly household income			A$1,512
	% of Australian median income			105.15%

Schools

State

There are 27 primary and 9 secondary state-based schools in the city of Monash.^[18]

• Ashwood High School
• Brentwood Secondary College
• Glen Waverley Secondary College
• Highvale Secondary College
• John Monash Science School
• Monash Tech School
• Mount Waverley Secondary College
• South Oakleigh Secondary College
• Wellington Secondary College
• Wheelers Hill Secondary College

Private

• Avila College
• Caulfield Grammar School (Wheelers Hill Campus)
• Huntingtower School
• Mazenod College
• Oakleigh Grammar
• Sacred Heart Girls' College
• Salesian College
• Wesley College (Glen Waverley Campus)

Museum of Australian Photography (MAPh)

The Museum of Australian Photography (MAPh) collection has over 3,800 photographs reflecting the history and development of Australian photographic practice from the 19th century to today. The collection is diverse and includes many iconic images and the work of photographers recognised as nationally significant.^[19]

The museum began as the Waverley City Gallery in the late 1970s, housed in a residential home in Mount Waverley.^[20] In 1990 the gallery, designed by Harry Seidler, was opened on the current site. When the councils of the City of Oakleigh and the City of Waverley were amalgamated to form the City of Monash in 1994 the gallery was renamed the Monash Gallery of Art,^[21][22] and renamed in 2023 as the Museum of Australian Photography (MAPh).

Speak the Wind, an exhibition of photographs by Hoda Afshar, took place from 29 April to 22 May 2022, as one of a series of official exhibitions of PHOTO 2022: International Festival of Photography, taking place in Melbourne and regional Victoria.^[23] Afshar published a book of the same name in 2021, which includes an essay by Michael Taussig^[24] and documents the landscapes and people of the islands of Hormuz, Qeshm, and Hengam, in the Persian Gulf off the south coast of Iran.^[25][26][27]

Sporting Teams

Soccer

• Oakleigh Cannons
• Monash City FC
• Mount Waverley Soccer Club
• Eastern Lions SC
• Brandon Park SC
• Glen Waverley SC

Australian Rules

• Oakleigh Chargers
• Chadstone Football Club
• Monash University Football Club
• Waverley Blues
• Waverley Park Hawks JFC
• Ajax Football Club

Netball

• Waverley Netball

Public libraries

• Monash Public Library Service provides library service through six branch libraries: Clayton, Glen Waverley, Mount Waverley, Mulgrave, Oakleigh and Wheelers Hill, as well as a Home Library Service.^{[citation needed]}

Notes

1. From 1996 until 2004, the annual election of the mayor for the following 12 months occurred in March. New legislation effective from 2004 onwards changed the date of the election of the mayor to November or December. There was a truncated transitional term of office from March to November 2004.
2. Lake served as mayor from April until October in 2016 to take over from Stefanie Perri, who resigned to contest Chisholm at the 2016 federal election.