The City of Boroondara () is a

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

in Victoria, Australia. It is located in the eastern suburbs of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

. It was formed in June 1994 from the amalgamation of the Cities of Kew,

Camberwell Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This ...

and

Hawthorn Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to: Plants * '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae * ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...

. It has an area of . In June 2018 the City had a population of 181,289. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. Boroondara was rated ninth of 590 Australian local government areas in the BankWest Quality of Life Index 2008, and first in a 2013 Victoria-wide community satisfaction survey.

History

This area was originally occupied by the

Wurundjeri The Wurundjeri people are an Australian Aboriginal people of the Woiwurrung language group, in the Kulin nation. They are the Traditional Owners of the Birrarung (Yarra River) Valley, covering much of the present location of Narrm ( Melbo ...

Indigenous Australians 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 ...

of the

Kulin nation The Kulin nation is an alliance of five Aboriginal nations in south central Victoria, Australia. Their collective territory extends around Port Phillip and Western Port, up into the Great Dividing Range and the Loddon and Goulburn River va ...

. In 1837, John Gardiner (after whom Gardiners Creek was named) and his family were the first Europeans to settle in the area. 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

), meaning "where the ground is thickly shaded". 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 The City of Hawthorn was a local government area about east of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia, on the southeast bank of the Yarra River. The city covered an area of , and existed from 1860 until 1994. History Hawthorn w ...

, City of Kew and

City of Camberwell The City of Camberwell was a local government area about east of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The city covered an area of , and existed from 1914 until 1994. History Camberwell was first incorporated as the Boroon ...

. 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. Accessed at

State Library of Victoria State Library Victoria (SLV) is the state library of Victoria, Australia. Located in Melbourne, it was established in 1854 as the Melbourne Public Library, making it Australia's oldest public library and one of the first free libraries in th ...

, La Trobe Reading Room. The three municipalities were amalgamated in June 1994 to create the City of Boroondara. Existing councillors from the three municipalities were replaced initially by three commissioners - David Glanville (chair), David Thomas and Marion Macleod. The commissioners were in turn replaced by ten councillors following elections in 1996.

Local government

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 Rate or rates may refer to: Finance * Rates (tax), a type of taxation system in the United Kingdom used to fund local government * Exchange rate, rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another Mathematics and science * Rate (mathema ...

and charges.

Current composition and election method

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. 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. 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. All councillors are elected for a fixed four-year term of office, with the most recent election being held in December 2022. Councillors-elect were sworn-in at a Special Meeting of Council on Thursday 8 December 2022. The current mayor is Cr Felicity Sinfield.

Past councillors

Single member wards, 1996-2019 Liberal

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

''1.'' Gina Goldsmith ''2.'' Phil Meggs ''3.'' Dennis Whelan ''4.'' Mary Halikias-Byrnes

Boroondara mayors

* List of mayors of Boroondara

Infrastructure

The Council is responsible for the management of stormwater collection and removal. The water supply authority is

Yarra Valley Water Yarra Valley Water is the largest of three Victorian Government owned retail water corporations that provides drinking water and sewerage services to over two million people and over 58,000 businesses in the northern and eastern suburbs of Melb ...

Libraries

The City of Boroondara has five libraries at

, Ashburton, Balwyn, Kew and

, and in 2018 opened a 'library lounge' at the Greythorn Community Hub in Balwyn North.

Local area

Suburbs

* Ashburton * Balwyn * Balwyn North (Shared with the City of Whitehorse) *

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of t ...

* Deepdene * Glen Iris (Shared with the

City of Stonnington The City of Stonnington is a local government area located within the metropolitan area of Melbourne, Australia. It comprises the inner south-eastern suburbs, between , from the Melbourne CBD. The city covers an area of . Within twenty years o ...

) *

* Hawthorn East * Kew * Kew East * Mont Albert (Shared with the City of Whitehorse) * Surrey Hills (Shared with the City of Whitehorse)

Schools

Boroondara has one of the highest concentrations of students in Australia and contains many private schools, including Xavier College, Methodist Ladies' College (MLC), Strathcona Baptist Girls' Grammar School,

Camberwell Grammar School , motto_translation = By our deeds may we be known , established = , type = Independent, single sex, Anglican primary and secondary day school , denomination = Anglican , slogan ...

, Trinity Grammar School,

Ruyton Girls' School , motto_translation = Upright and Faithful , established = 1878 , type = Independent, single-sex, day school , denomination = Non-denominational , key_people = , chairman ...

, Rossbourne School,

Carey Baptist Grammar School (With Courage and Faith) , city = Kew & Donvale , state = Victoria , country = Australia , coordinates = , type = Independent, co-educational, Chris ...

, Scotch College,

Fintona Girls' School Fintona Girls' School is a small, independent, non-denominational, day school for girls, located in Balwyn, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Established in 1896, Fintona is a non-selective school and currently caters for approximately 600 stud ...

, 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 Kew High School is a co-educational school in suburban Melbourne for students in years 7–12. The school has an enrolment of approximately 1146 students from the suburbs of Kew, Balwyn North, Hawthorn, Ivanhoe, Kew East and Richmond. School ...

, Auburn High School and

Camberwell High School (Learning to be considerate of others) , city = Canterbury , state = Victoria , country = Australia , coordinates = , type = Public , established ...

References

External links

Official websiteLink to Land Victoria interactive maps
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boroondara, City of Local government areas in Melbourne City of Boroondara