Woollahra Municipal Council (or Woollahra Council) is a local government area in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, in the state of

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, Australia. Woollahra is bounded by Sydney Harbour in the north,

Waverley Council Waverley Council is a Local government area in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. First incorporated on 16 June 1859 as the Municipality of Waverley, it is one of the oldest-surviving local government ...

in the east,

Randwick City The City of Randwick is a local government area in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1859, Randwick is the second-oldest local government area in New South Wales, after the City of Sydney The City ...

in the south and the

City of Sydney The City of Sydney is the local government area covering the Sydney central business district and surrounding inner city suburbs of the greater metropolitan area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established by Act of Parliament in 1842, th ...

in the west. The administrative centre of Woollahra Municipal Council is located in Double Bay. The

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

of Woollahra Municipal Council is Cr. Susan Wynne.

Suburbs in the local government area

Suburbs in the area include:

Demographics

At the 2011 Census, there were people in the Woollahra local government area, of these 47.1% were male and 52.9% were female.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

made up 0.2% of the population. The median age of people in the Municipality of Woollahra was 38 years. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 15.4% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 16.3% of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 43.1% were married and 10.3% were either divorced or separated. Population growth in the Municipality of Woollahra between the 2001 Census and the 2006 Census was 0.70%; and in the subsequent five years to the 2011 Census, population growth was 3.98%. When compared with total population growth of Australia for the same periods, being 5.78% and 8.32% respectively, population growth in Woollahra local government area was significantly lower than the national average. The median weekly income for residents within the Municipality of Woollahra was double the national average. At the 2016 Census, the proportion of residents who stated a

religious Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatur ...

affiliation with

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...

was in excess of thirtytwo times the state and national averages.

Woollahra Municipal Council

Current composition and election method

Woollahra Municipal Council is composed of fifteen

Councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

s elected proportionally as five separate wards, each electing three Councillors. Councillors are usually elected for a fixed four-year term of office. The Mayor is elected by the Councillors at the first meeting of the council. The Council election of 4 December 2021 resulted in the following makeup: Australia Woollahra Council 2017

The council as elected in 2021, in order of election by ward, was:

History of Woollahra

The name 'Woollahra' is thought to be derived from an Aboriginal word meaning 'camp' or 'meeting ground'. A petition was submitted in 1859 with 144 signatures of local residents from Darling Point, Paddington and Watsons Bay for the formation of the Municipality. With no petition against formation of the Municipality, Woollahra was proclaimed to be named so on 17 April 1860, and gazetted on 20 April 1860. At the first meeting, The Hon. George Thornton was elected as the first Chairman of Woollahra. In 1947, after previously acquiring 'Iron House' on Ocean Street, in the 1860s, Council transferred to the current site at Redleaf. Woollahra largely developed as a residential locality. A few small local industries were established in Woollahra, Double Bay and Paddington; but with the residential gentrification of Paddington and Woollahra in the 1960s, most of these cottage industries had vanished by the end of the 20th century. Woollahra's cultural heritage has been enriched by the influx of people from many different cultural backgrounds. Some of the influential immigrants to Woollahra have been the Chinese market gardeners, who began leasing land in Double Bay gully and Rose Bay in the 1880s; the Portuguese whalers who settled at Watsons Bay in the 19th century, building a church and becoming a part of the village life, and the many Europeans who migrated after World War II and helped change the face of commercial centres such as Double Bay. A 2015 review of local government boundaries recommended that the Municipality of Woollahra merge with the

Waverley Waverley may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Waverley'' (novel), by Sir Walter Scott ** ''Waverley'' Overture, a work by Hector Berlioz inspired by Scott's novel * Waverley Harrison, a character in the New Zealand soap opera ''Shortland Stree ...

and Randwick councils to form a new council with an area of and support a population of approximately . Following an independent review, in May 2016 the NSW Government sought to dismiss the council and force its amalgamation with Waverley and Randwick councils. Woollahra Council instigated legal action claiming that there was procedural unfairness and that a

KPMG KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations. Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...

report at the centre of merger proposals had been "misleading". The matter was heard before the

NSW Court of Appeal The New South Wales Court of Appeal, part of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, is the highest court for civil matters and has appellate jurisdiction in the Australian state of New South Wales. Jurisdiction The Court of Appeal operates pursu ...

who, in December 2016, unanimously dismissed the council's appeal, finding no merit in its arguments that the proposed merger with its neighbouring councils was invalid. In July 2017, the Berejiklian government decided to abandon the forced merger of the Woollahra, Waverley and Randwick local government areas, along with several other proposed forced mergers.

Heritage listings

The Municipality of Woollahra has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * Bellevue Hill, 24 Victoria Road: ''Leura'' * Darling Point, 1a Carthona Avenue: ''Lindesay'' * Darling Point, 68 Darling Point Road: ''

The Swifts ''Swifts'' (also known as ''The Swifts'') is a heritage-listed late-Victorian architecture, Victorian Battlement, castellated Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic Revival mansion located in the suburb of Darling Point, New South Wales, Darling Po ...

'' * Darling Point, 103 Darling Point Road:

Babworth House Babworth House is a heritage-listed former residence and school and now staff accommodation at 103 Darling Point Road, Darling Point in the Municipality of Woollahra local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was designed in variou ...

* Darling Point, 11-21 Greenoaks Avenue: ''Bishopscourt'' * Double Bay, Cross Street: Double Bay Compressed Air Ejector Station * Double Bay, 11 Gladswood Gardens: Gladswood House * Double Bay, 337-347 New South Head Road: ''Overthorpe'' * Double Bay, 560 New South Head Road: ''Fairwater'' * Double Bay, 4 and 6 Wiston Gardens: Houses * Edgecliff, 8 Albert Street: ''Fenton'' and surrounds * Paddington, 1 Ormond Street: Juniper Hall, Paddington * Paddington, 56a Ormond Street: '' Engehurst'' * Paddington, 246 Oxford Street: Paddington Post Office * Paddington, 1 Young Street:

Paddington Substation Paddington Substation is a Heritage register, heritage-listed electrical substation built in 1926 and located at 1 Young Street, Paddington, New South Wales, Paddington in the Municipality of Woollahra local government area of New South Wales, ...

* Point Piper, 10 Dunara Gardens: '' Dunara'' * Rose Bay, 3-4 Fernleigh Gardens: Site of ''Ficus superba var. henneana'' tree * Rose Bay, 1-7 Salisbury Road: Salisbury Court (Rose Bay) * Vaucluse, 32b Fitzwilliam Road: Wentworth Memorial Church * Vaucluse, Chapel Road: Wentworth Mausoleum * Vaucluse, Greycliffe Avenue:

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* Vaucluse, Old South Head Road: Macquarie Lighthouse * Vaucluse, 52 Vaucluse Road:

Strickland House, Vaucluse Strickland House is a Heritage register, heritage-listed former residence and convalescent home and now functions, film studio, urban park and visitor attraction located at 52 Vaucluse Road, Vaucluse, New South Wales, Vaucluse in the Municipalit ...

* Vaucluse, 69a Wentworth Road: Vaucluse House * Watsons Bay, ''Dunbar'' (ship) * Watsons Bay, Old South Head Road: Hornby Lighthouse * Woollahra, 14 Rosemont Avenue: ''Rosemont'' * Woollahra, Waimea Avenue: Waimea House

References

External links

Woollahra Municipal Council website
{{Local Government Areas of New South Wales

Woollahra Woollahra is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Woollahra is located 5 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Woolla ...

1860 establishments in Australia