| Type: | lga |
| City of Whitehorse | |
| State: | vic |
| Pop: | 171167 |
| Pop Year: | 2021 |
| Pop Footnotes: | [1] |
| Density: | 2662.8 |
| Est: | 15 December 1994 |
| Area: | 64.3 |
| Mayor: | Cr Denise Massoud |
| Seat: | Nunawading |
| Region: | Greater Melbourne |
| Stategov: | Ashwood |
| Stategov2: | Box Hill |
| Stategov3: | Glen Waverley |
| Stategov4: | Ringwood |
| Fedgov: | Chisholm |
| Fedgov2: | Deakin |
| Fedgov3: | Kooyong |
| Fedgov4: | Menzies |
| Url: | http://www.whitehorse.vic.gov.au/ |
| Near-N: | Manningham |
| Near-Ne: | Maroondah |
| Near-E: | Maroondah |
| Near-Se: | Knox |
| Near-S: | Monash |
| Near-Sw: | Boroondara |
| Near-W: | Boroondara |
| Near-Nw: | Manningham |
The City of Whitehorse is a local government area in Victoria, Australia in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. It has an area of 64.3km² and an estimated residential population of 171,167 as of June 2021.[1]
The City of Whitehorse was created in December 1994 following the amalgamation of the former cities of Box Hill and Nunawading.[2] The municipality derives its name and logo from The White Horse Hotel, a popular coaching inn located on the corner of Elgar Road and Whitehorse Road.[3] After its demolition in 1933, the Council acquired the horse and porch from the hotel, and they were erected on Whitehorse Road. In 1986, the monument was relocated to Box Hill Town Hall and a replica was erected in its place.
The City of Whitehorse was originally planned to be formed from the merger of the City of Box Hill and the eastern part of the City of Camberwell.[4]
The City of Whitehorse is divided into eleven wards: Cootamundra, Eley, Elgar, Kingsley, Lake, Mahoneys, Simpson, Sparks, Terrara, Walker and Wattle.[5] One Councillor is elected to represent each ward, every four years.[6] Council elections are conducted by postal voting and votes are counted using instant-runoff voting. Voting is compulsory for residents who are on the electoral roll for state elections, but voters aged 70 years or over are not obliged to vote at local council elections. The Mayor and Deputy Mayor are elected by the Councillors to serve as the principal ambassador for the city for a twelve-month term.
The current council was elected in November 2020, and its composition is:[7]
| Party | Councillors | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal[8] | align=right | 6 | ||
| Independent | align=right | 5 | ||
| Total | align=right | 11 | ||
| Cootamundra | Liberal | Andrew Munroe | ||||
| Eley | Independent | Trudy Skilbeck | ||||
| Elgar | Liberal | Blair Barker | ||||
| Kingsley | Liberal | Amanda McNeill | ||||
| Lake | Liberal | Denise Massoud | ||||
| Mahoneys | Liberal | Mark Lane | ||||
| Simpson | Independent | Prue Cutts | ||||
| Sparks | Independent | Tina Liu | ||||
| Terrara | Independent | Raylene Carr | ||||
| Walker | Independent | Ben Stennett | ||||
| Wattle | Liberal | Andrew Davenport |
Whitehorse comprised five two-member wards until 2020, when they were replaced by single-member wards.[9] [10]
| Year | Central | Elgar | Morack | Riversdale | Springfield | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Councillor | Councillor | Councillor | Councillor | Councillor | Councillor | Councillor | Councillor | Councillor | Councillor | |||||||||||
| 2000 | Jessie McCallum (Ind) | Peter Allan (Ind) | Bernie Millane (Ind) | Robert Chong (Ind) | Bill Bowie (Ind) | Noel Spurr (Ind) | Helen Buckingham (Ind) | Richard Anderson (Ind) | Chris Aubrey (Ind) | Kaele Way (Ind) | ||||||||||
| 2003 | George Droutsas (Ind) | Sharon Ellis (Ind) | John Koutras (Ind) | Sharon Patridge (Ind) | ||||||||||||||||
| 2004 | Haley Weller (Ind) | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2005 | Helen Harris (Ind) | Pauline Richards (Labor) | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2006 | Ben Stennett (Ind) | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2008 | Andrew Munroe (Liberal) | Bill Pemberton (Ind) | Mark Lane (Liberal) | Raylene Carr (Ind) | Phillip Daw (Ind) | |||||||||||||||
| 2012 | Denise Massoud (Liberal) | Bill Bennett (Ind) | Andrew Davenport (Liberal) | |||||||||||||||||
| 2016 | Tanya Tescher (Liberal) | Tina Liu (Ind) | Prue Cutts (Ind) | |||||||||||||||||
| 2017 | Blair Barker (Liberal) | |||||||||||||||||||
The 2021 Census counted 169,346 residents in the City of Whitehorse, up from 162,078 in 2016.[11] [12]
| Population | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Locality | 2016 | 2021 | |
| ^ | 20,406 | 21,302 | |
| 13,940 | 14,478 | ||
| 7,436 | 7,627 | ||
| 10,793 | 10,939 | ||
| 11,395 | 14,353 | ||
| 11,874 | 12,337 | ||
| 8,434 | 8,491 | ||
| ^ | 15,019 | 15,147 | |
| 10,273 | 10,675 | ||
| 10,626 | 10,780 | ||
| 16,148 | 16,795 | ||
| ^ | 4,840 | 4,948 | |
| 5,503 | 5,609 | ||
| ^ | 11,876 | 12,413 | |
| ^ | 13,605 | 13,655 | |
| ^ | 10,442 | 10,993 | |
| 11,678 | 11,954 | ||
^ - Territory divided with another LGA
Neighbours is filmed in Vermont South; Pin Oak Court is the real cul-de-sac that has doubled for Ramsay Street since 1985.[13] [14] All of the houses featured in the show are real and the residents allow Neighbours to shoot external scenes in their front and back yards and on occasions, in their garages.[15] Owing to its association with the show, Pin Oak Court has become popular with tourists; Tours to the cul-de-sac run throughout the year.[16] The interior scenes are filmed at the Global Television studios in the adjacent suburb of Forest Hill.[17] [18]
Box Hill has variously supported an eponymous brass band since 1889.
On 12 May 1971, the City of Box Hill established a sister city relationship with Matsudo, in Chiba, Japan.[19] In December 1994, when Box Hill amalgamated with Nunawading, the City of Whitehorse re-affirmed its relationship with Matsudo.[19]
In April 2005, the City of Whitehorse signed a Memorandum of Friendship and Understanding with Shaoxing, in Zhejiang, China. The Memorandum of Friendship and Understanding aims to foster international liaisons and links and facilitate the exchange of information and personal visits, as well as to strengthen economic, tourism and educational connections between the two cities through sharing knowledge and cultural understanding.[20]
All libraries in the City of Whitehorse are operated by the Whitehorse Manningham Regional Library Corporation, which also has 4 branches in the City of Manningham