City of Yarra

This article is about the inner city local government that contains the River. For the outer shire that contains the River and its Valley and is based in Lilydale, see Yarra Ranges Shire.

The City of Yarra is a local government area (LGA) in Victoria, Australia in the inner eastern and northern suburbs of Melbourne. It is the second smallest LGA in the state (after the Borough of Queenscliffe) with an area of 19.5 square kilometres (7.5 sq mi), and in June 2021 it had a population of 91,543,^[1] making it the second most densely populated LGA (after the City of Port Phillip), with around 4,695 people per square kilometre.^[1] The City of Yarra was formed in 1994 as a result of the amalgamation of the former Cities of Richmond, Collingwood, Fitzroy, and parts of Carlton North (previously part of the City of Melbourne) and parts of Alphington and Fairfield (previously part of the former City of Northcote).

City of Yarra Victoria
Population	91,543 (2021)[1]
• Density	4,695/km2 (12,159/sq mi)
Established	22 June 1994
Area	19.5 km2 (7.5 sq mi)[1]
Mayor	Stephen Jolly
Council seat	Richmond
Region	Greater Melbourne
State electorate(s)	Brunswick Northcote Richmond
Federal division(s)	Cooper Melbourne
Website	City of Yarra
LGAs around City of Yarra: Merri-bek Darebin Banyule Melbourne City of Yarra Boroondara Melbourne Stonnington Stonnington

The administrative centre of the City of Yarra is the old Richmond Town Hall in Bridge Road, Richmond. The Collingwood Town Hall in Hoddle Street, Abbotsford is also still used by the council as secondary offices and as a service centre, and the Fitzroy Town Hall in Napier Street, Fitzroy is used for the local library and for use as a community space. Some council committees also meet at the Fitzroy and Collingwood Town Halls.

The city is culturally and socially diverse. The 2016 Australian Census found that 38.8% of residents were born outside Australia, with the largest numbers being born in England, New Zealand, Vietnam, China and Greece.^[2]

The suburbs of the City of Yarra were established in the mid-to-late 19th century and retain a Victorian appearance. The majority of housing in the city is made up of Victorian cottages or terraces or apartments built from the 1960s.

The City of Yarra has some of Melbourne's best shopping streets. These include Bridge Road and Swan and Victoria streets in Richmond, Brunswick and Gertrude streets in Fitzroy and Smith Street in Collingwood. In 2021, Smith Street was named the coolest street in the world.^[3][4][5][6]

As of November 2024, the mayor is Stephen Jolly, and the deputy mayor is Labor councillor Sarah McKenzie.^[7] The CEO since June 2022 is Sue Wilkinson.^[8]

Council

Yarra City Council
Structure
Council political groups	Yarra For All (4)   Independents (2)   Greens (2)   Labor (1)

Five of the nine councillors in February 2025, from left to right: Kenneth Gomez, Stephen Jolly (mayor), Evangeline Aston, Sharon Harrison and Meca Ho

Yarra City Council is composed of nine single-member wards. Prior to the 2024 election, it was composed of three multi-member wards with three members each, but the electoral structure changed as a result of the Local Government Act 2020.

All councillors are elected for a fixed four-year term of office. The mayor is elected annually in November by a special meeting of the full council.^[9]

Current composition

Party		Councillors
	Yarra For All	4
	Independent	2
	Greens	2
	Labor	1
Total		9

The current council, elected in 2024, is:^[10]

Ward	Councillor		Party	Notes
Boulevard		Sharon Harrison	Yarra For All
Curtain		Edward Crossland	Greens
Hoddle		Sophie Wade	Greens
Langridge		Evangeline Aston	Yarra For All
Lennox		Andrew Davies	Independent
MacKillop		Stephen Jolly	Yarra For All	Mayor
Melba		Meca Ho	Independent
Nicholls		Kenneth Gomez	Yarra For All
Yarra Bend		Sarah McKenzie	Labor	Deputy Mayor

Mayors

Main article: List of mayors of Yarra

Past councillors

1996–2004 (five wards)

Year	Carringbush				Docker				MacKillop				Merri		Nicholson
	Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor
1996		John Sawyer (Labor)		Li Hiam Lai (Labor)		Marion Macleod (Independent)		James Martakis (Independent)		Steve Watson (Labor)		Linda Hoskins (Labor)		Robyn Williams (Labor)		John Phillips (Labor)		Ray Thomas (Labor)
1999		Sue Corby (Labor)				Fiona Harman (Labor)		Kay Meadows (Labor)
2001																		Gurm Sekhon (Greens)
2002						Judy Morton (Ind. Labor)				Greg Barber (Greens)		Deborah Di Natale (Greens)		Jenny Farrar (Greens)		Jackie Fristacky (Independent)

2004–2024 (three wards)

Langridge Ward

Year	Councillor		Party	Councillor		Party	Councillor		Party
2004		Jenny Farrar	Greens		Annabel Barbara	Labor		Stephen Jolly	Socialist
2008					Geoff Barbour	Labor
2008		Amanda Stone	Greens
2012
2016									The Socialists
2016					Danae Bosler	Labor
2017									Independent Socialist
2018									Victorian Socialists
2019									Independent Socialist
2020		Anab Mohamud	Greens		Gabrielle de Vietri	Greens
2023					Michael Glynatsis	Independent
2024			Independent			Yarra For All			Yarra For All

Melba Ward

Year	Councillor		Party	Councillor		Party	Councillor		Party
2004		Kay Meadows	Labor		Gurm Sekhon	Greens		Judy Morton	Independent Labor
2008		Josh Funder	Labor		Allison Clarke	Greens		Dale Smedley	Independent
2012		Simon Huggins	Labor		Misha Coleman	Greens		Phillip Vlahogiannis	Independent
2016		Mi-Lin Chen Yi Mei	Labor		James Searle	Greens		Daniel Nguyen	Independent
2020		Herschel Landes	Independent		Edward Crossland	Greens		Claudia Nguyen	Independent

Nicholls Ward

Year	Councillor		Party	Councillor		Party	Councillor		Party
2004		Kathleen Maltzahn	Greens		Paul D'Agostino	Labor		Jackie Fristacky	Independent
2008		Sam Gaylard	Greens		Jane Garrett	Labor
2011					Anthony Main	Socialist
2012					Roberto Colanzi	Labor
2016		Mike McEvoy	Greens		Misha Coleman	Greens
2017						Independent
2019		Bridgid O'Brien	Independent Socialist[11]
2020					Sophie Wade	Greens		Amanda Stone	Greens
2023									Independent
2024			Yarra For All

2024 (nine wards)

See also: Local Government Act 2020

Year	Boulevard		Curtain		Hoddle		Langridge		Lennox		MacKillop		Melba		Nicholls		Yarra Bend
	Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor
2024		Sharon Harrison (YFA)		Edward Crossland (Greens)		Sophie Wade (Greens)		Evangeline Aston (YFA)		Andrew Davies (Ind)		Stephen Jolly (YFA)		Meca Ho (Ind)		Kenneth Gomez (YFA)		Sarah McKenzie (Labor)

Election results

2024

2024 Victorian local elections: Yarra^{[12][13][14][15][16]}

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Yarra For All		16,157	32.80	+15.85[a]	4	2[a]
	Greens		13,108	26.61	+0.07	2	3
	Independents		12,685	25.75	−3.03	2
	Victorian Socialists		3,814	7.74	+7.74	0
	Labor		3,491	7.08	−7.23	1	1
Formal votes			49,255	97.90	+3.09
Informal votes			1,058	2.10	−3.09
Total			50,313	100.0
Registered voters / turnout			68,723	73.21	+3.07

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

2020

2020 Victorian local elections: Yarra^[17][18]

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Independent		15,081	28.78		2
	Greens		13,909	26.54		5	1
	Labor		7,501	14.31		0	2
	Independent Socialist		7,380	14.08		2	2
	Reason		2,609	4.99	+4.99	0
	Independent Liberal		2,217	4.23	+4.23	0
	Richmond First		1,897	3.62	+3.62	0
	Liberal Democrats		1,282	2.45		0
	Animal Justice		524	1.00		0
Formal votes			52,400	94.81	+2.86
Informal votes			2,872	5.19	−2.86
Total			55,272	100.0		9
Registered voters / turnout			78,795	70.14	+18.99

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

2004

2004 Victorian local elections: Yarra^{[19][20][21][22]}

Party			Votes	%	Seats	Change
	Labor		9,486	31.91	3
	Greens		8,264	27.79	3	1
	Independent		4,839	16.27	1
	Independent Labor		4,104	13.81	1
	Campaign for a Better City		1,897	6.38	0
	Socialist Left-Wing Team		1,359	4.57	1	1
	Socialist Alliance		302	1.02	0
Total formal votes			29,729	92.06
Informal votes			2,563	7.94
Total			32,292	100.0	9
Registered voters / Turnout			61,407	52.59

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2004 Victorian local elections § Yarra.[edit]

Australia Day

In August 2017, the Yarra City Council voted unanimously at a town hall meeting to cancel annual Australia Day events, including citizenship ceremonies and instead hold a culturally sensitive event "marking the loss of Indigenous culture".^[23] The council also voted to begin lobbying the federal government to change the date of Australia's national day and to use council publications and media to campaign in favour of changing the date. Then Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, accused the council of "using a day that should unite Australians to divide Australians".^[23] The City of Darebin later followed suit.^[24]

Townships and localities

In the 2021 census, the city had a population of 90,114 up from 86,657 in the 2016 census.^[2]

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Abbotsford	8,184	9,088
Alphington^	5,080	5,702
Burnley	769	794
Carlton North^	6,300	6,177
Clifton Hill	6,341	6,606
Collingwood	8,513	9,179
Cremorne	2,018	2,158
Fairfield^	6,558	6,535
Fitzroy	10,445	10,431
Fitzroy North^	12,339	12,781
Princes Hill	2,126	2,005
Richmond	27,705	28,587

^ - Territory divided with another LGA

Economy

The City of Yarra has a high concentration of fashion, technology, and media businesses. Companies located in the City of Yarra include:

• Aesop has its global headquarters on Smith Street, Fitzroy.^[25]
• Carsales has its head office located on Punt Road, Richmond.^[26]
• Computershare, one of the largest stock exchange technology and registrar service businesses in the world is located on Johnston Street, Abbotsford.^[27][28]
• Country Road, an upscale Australia clothing and homewares manufacturer and retailer is headquartered on Church Street, Richmond^[29]
• Epworth the not-for-profit private health care group, employ 1,800 staff at their head office, and largest hospital, on Bridge Road.^[30]
• GSK operates offices of its pharmaceutical division on Johnston Street, Abbotsford.^[31]
• Just Group and its brands Just Jeans, Jay Jays, Jacqui E, Portmans, Dotti, Peter Alexander, and Smiggle are headquartered on Church Street, Richmond^[32]
• Madman Entertainment has its head office in the Richmond suburb and in the Melba Ward in Yarra.^[33][34]
• REA Group which includes realestate.com.au has its head office located on Church Street, Richmond.^[35]
• Schwartz Publishing publisher of The Monthly, Quarterly Essay and the book imprint Black Inc is located on Langridge Street, Collingwood.^[36][37][38]
• SitePoint, a global technology publisher and its website subsidiaries 99designs.com, Flippa.com, Learnable.com and Wave Digital are based on Cambridge Street and Wellingston Street, Collingwood.^[39][40][41]
• Star Entertainment Group, an ASX-listed radio broadcaster best known for SEN 1116, is based on Swan Street, Richmond.^[42]

References

1. Compared to the results of Stephen Jolly (Independent Socialist), Bridgid O'Brien (Independent Socialist) and Michael Glynatis (Independent) in 2020.

1. "Estimated resident population, Local Government Areas (ASGS2021), Australia, 2001 to 2021". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Australian Bureau of Statistics. 26 July 2022. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
2. "Census | Australian Bureau of Statistics". www.abs.gov.au. 11 January 2023.
3. Kelly, Cait (11 June 2021). "Melbourne beats out Sydney, with this street named the coolest in the world". The New Daily. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
4. Street, Francesca. "The world's 'coolest' street revealed by Time Out". CNN. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
5. McMah, Lauren (10 June 2021). "Melbourne's Smith Street named coolest street in the world". News.com.au. News Corp. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
6. Russo, Rebecca. "Smith Street has been named the coolest street in the world". Timeout. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
7. "Councillors". Yarra City Council. 29 November 2023. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
8. Moore, Ian (15 March 2022). "Former Darebin CEO to take over at Yarra City". Inner East Review. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
9. "Yarra City Council election results 2020". Victorian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
10. Dexter, Rachael (27 November 2024). "Park scrapped, dog poo audit launched as new-look Yarra council adopts mega manifesto". The Age. Archived from the original on 27 November 2024. Retrieved 27 November 2024. Four Yarra For All councillors were elected, as well as two other independents not funded by the group but who voted for Jolly, who has been on the council for 20 years and was formerly a member of the Victorian Socialists, as mayor.
11. "Why I joined the Socialist Party". The Socialist. 4 February 2013. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
12. Raue, Ben. "Yarra council election, 2024". The Tally Room. Archived from the original on 8 November 2024. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
13. "Yarra". Victorian Greens. Archived from the original on 18 September 2024. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
14. Victorian Electoral Commission. "Yarra City Council results". www.vec.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
15. Royall, Ian; Placella, Laura (7 November 2024). "Greens improve chances of retaining places on Yarra City Council after voting surge". Herald Sun. Archived from the original on 7 November 2024. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
16. "Victorian council election results 2024 LIVE updates: Glen Eira veteran out; big Cardinia reshuffle". Sydney Morning Herald. 30 October 2024. Archived from the original on 9 November 2024. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
17. "Yarra City Council election results 2020". Victorian Electoral Commission. 8 April 2021. Archived from the original on 25 October 2024. Retrieved 12 November 2024.
18. Streader, Kate (15 October 2020). "Meet the candidates: Yarra City Council". Beat Magazine. Archived from the original on 20 January 2022. Retrieved 12 November 2024.
19. "Results for Yarra City Council Elections 2004". Victorian Electoral Commission.
20. "Yarra Council Elections 2004 – Candidate Questionnaire" (PDF). Yarra Bicycle Users Group. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 February 2024.
21. "VEC Council election data, and other issues regarding the conduct and practices of the VEC" (PDF). Save Our Suburbs. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 August 2023.
22. "Fighting Record Puts Socialist on the Council". International Socialist Alternative. Archived from the original on 7 February 2024.
23. "City of Yarra council's 'attack on Australia Day' angers Malcolm Turnbull". ABC News. 15 August 2017. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
24. Clure, Elias (21 August 2017). "Melbourne's City of Darebin council decides to dump Australia Day ceremonies". ABC News. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
25. About Us – Aesop." Aesop (skin care). Retrieved 14 April 2013.
26. "Help Centre – carsales.com.au Carsales Retrieved 14 April 2013.
27. "Corporate Directory – ComputerShare Australia Archived 21 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine." Computershare. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
28. "About Us – ComputerShare Australia Archived 22 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine" Computershare. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
29. "Information – Country Road Archived 10 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine." Country Road. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
30. "Epworth Richmond." Epworth Hospital. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
31. "Our Facilities". GlaxoSmithKline.
32. "Contact – Just Group Archived 17 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine." Just Group. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
33. "Contact Information." Madman Entertainment. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
34. "Map of the Ward Boundaries Archived 2 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine." City of Yarra. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
35. "Open State: REA Group HQ". Universe. 21 March 2018. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
36. "Contact – The Monthly." The Monthly. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
37. "About Us – Quarterly Essay Archived 27 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine." Quarterly Essay. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
38. "Contact – Black Inc Books." Black Inc. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
39. "About Us – SitePoint Pty Ltd." SitePoint. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
40. "Contact Us – SitePoint Pty Ltd." SitePoint. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
41. "About Us – 99designs." 99designs.com. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
42. "Contact Us – Pacific Star Network Limited Archived 21 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine." Pacific Star Network Limited. Retrieved 14 April 2013.

External links

• Official website
• Public Transport Victoria local public transport map
• Link to Land Victoria interactive maps Archived 24 March 2022 at the Wayback Machine

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