Population 59,307 (2015 est) State electorate(s) Vaucluse
Sydney Area 12 km² Region Sydney | Mayor Toni Zeltzer (Liberal) Woollahra Municipal Council Waverley Council seat Double Bay Federal division Division of Wentworth | |
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Website Woollahra Municipal Council | ||
Woollahra Municipal Council (or Woollahra Council) is a local government area in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Woollahra is bounded by Sydney Harbour in the north, Waverley Council in the east, Randwick City in the south and the City of Sydney in the west.
Contents
- Map of Woollahra NSW 2025 Australia
- History of Woollahra
- Proposed amalgamation
- Suburbs in the local government area
- Demographics
- Current composition and election method
- References
Map of Woollahra NSW 2025, Australia
The administrative centre of Woollahra Municipal Council is located in Double Bay. The Mayor of Woollahra Municipal Council is Cr. Toni Zeltzer, a member of the Liberal Party.
The community is culturally diverse, creative and well educated, featuring a skilled and varied business community. Woollahra is an area with extensive natural beauty and heritage appealing to residents, visitors and tourists who enjoy its parks, waterfront locations and historical buildings.
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.
Proposed amalgamation
A 2015 review of local government boundaries recommended that the Municipality of Woollahra merge with the Waverley and Randwick councils to form a new council with an area of 58 square kilometres (22 sq mi) and support a population of approximately 274,000. 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 report at the centre of merger proposals had been "misleading". The matter was heard before the NSW Court of Appeal 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.
Suburbs in the local government area
Suburbs in the area include:
Demographics
At the 2011 Census, there were 52,158 people in the Woollahra local government area, of these 47.1% were male and 52.9% were female. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people 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 2011 Census, the proportion of residents who stated a religious affiliation with Judaism was in excess of twenty–eight times the state and national averages.
Current composition and election method
Woollahra Municipal Council is composed of fifteen Councillors elected proportionally as five separate wards, each electing three Councillors. All Councillors are elected for a fixed four-year term of office. The Mayor is elected by the Councillors at the first meeting of the Council. The most recent election was held on 8 September 2012, and the makeup of the Council is as follows:
The current Council, elected in 2012, in order of election by ward, is: