City of Whitehorse

The City of Whitehorse is a local government area in Victoria, Australia in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. It has an area of 64 km2 (25 sq mi) and in June 2018, Whitehorse had a population of 176,196.[1]

This article is about the LGA in Victoria, Australia. For other cities of the name, see White horse (disambiguation). For the Canadian city, see Whitehorse, Yukon.

City of Whitehorse
Victoria
Map of Melbourne showing City of Whitehorse
Population176,196 (2018)[1] (34th)
 • Density2,753/km2 (7,130/sq mi)
EstablishedDecember 1994
Area64 km2 (24.7 sq mi)[1]
MayorCr Sharon Ellis
Council seatNunawading
State electorate(s)
Federal Division(s)
WebsiteCity of Whitehorse
LGAs around City of Whitehorse:
Manningham Manningham Maroondah
Boroondara City of Whitehorse Maroondah
Boroondara Monash Knox
Box Hill Town Hall.

Whitehorse was formed in December 1994 by the amalgamation of the former cities of Box Hill and Nunawading.[2] The name Whitehorse came from the White Horse Inn, a tavern originally located in the area in the late 19th century. This name was applied to the major thoroughfare, Whitehorse Road, which runs through the municipality today.

In the original proposals for council amalgamations in Melbourne, Whitehorse was a suggested name for an area comprising the City of Box Hill, with the addition of residents east of Union Road (part of the old City of Camberwell). The affected residents were unhappy, believing an alignment with Box Hill would lower the value of their properties. A second proposal featured the current boundaries of Whitehorse. The City of Nunawading proposed the name "City of Koornung", claiming it was more appropriate, as both cities shared the Koonung Creek, but they failed to note they had spelled Koonung incorrectly in their proposal. Another suggestion was "City of Deakin", as the region of Whitehorse contains both the Federal electorate of Deakin, and the Melbourne campus of Deakin University, in Burwood.

Councillors and wards

Whitehorse currently has five two-councillor wards – Central, Elgar, Morack, Riversdale and Springfield.[3] Councillors are elected every four years to represent their ward.[3] Council elections are conducted by postal voting and votes are counted using proportional representation. 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 is elected by the councillors at the first meeting of the council for a term of either one or two years, at the end of which a council meeting is held to elect the mayor for another fixed term.

Effective from the 2020 local council elections, Whitehorse will switch from five two-member wards to eleven single-member wards.[4][5] The names of the eleven single-member wards are: Cootamundra, Eley, Elgar, Kingsley, Lake, Mahoneys, Simpson, Sparks, Terrara, Walker and Wattle.[6]

The current councillors, elected at the 2020 election, are as follows:[7]

PartyCouncillors
  Liberal[8] 6
  Independent 5
Total 11
Ward Party Councillor Notes
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

Past councillors
Previous councillors (grey shading indicates election year) [9][10][11][12][13][14]
Ward 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
Central Jessie McCallum Haley WellerBYE[15] Andrew Munroe
Peter Allan Bill Pemberton Denise Massoud
Elgar Bernie Millane Helen Harris 6. Blair BarkerCB[16]
Robert Chong Tina Liu
Morack Bill Bowie Mark Lane Bill Bennett
1. George Droutsas Raylene Carr
Riversdale 2. Sharon Ellis
3. John Koutras Andrew Davenport
Springfield Chris Aubrey Phillip Daw Prue Cutts
Kaele Way 4. 5. Ben StennettCB[17]

BYE denotes councillor elected at a by-election. CB denotes councillor elected via count back.

1. Noel Richard Spurr 2. Helen Buckingham 3. Richard Anderson 4. Sharon Patridge 5. Pauline Richards 6. Tanya Tescher

Suburbs

Major thoroughfares
Aerial panorama of Box Hill, taken from Surrey Park. Taken April 2018
Picture of Nunawading railway station exterior, taken from across Springvale Road in May 2014.
  • Blackburn Road (State Route 13)
  • Boronia Road (State Route 36)
  • Burwood Highway (State Route 26)
  • Canterbury Road (State Route 32)
  • Elgar Road
  • Eastern Freeway (M3)
  • Highbury Road
  • Maroondah Highway (Whitehorse Road) (State Route 34)
  • Middleborough Road (State Route 23)
  • Mitcham Road (State Route 36)
  • Riversdale Road (State Route 20)
  • Springvale Road (State Route 40)
  • Station Street (State Route 47)
  • Surrey Road (State Route 13)
  • Warrigal Road (State Route 15)

Culture
An episode of Neighbours being filmed at Pin Oak Court

Neighbours is filmed in Vermont South; Pin Oak Court is the real cul-de-sac that has doubled for Ramsay Street since 1985.[18][19] 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.[20] 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.[21] The interior scenes are filmed at the Global Television studios in the adjacent suburb of Forest Hill.[22][23]

Box Hill has variously supported an eponymous brass band since 1889.

Sister city relations

On 12 May 1971, the City of Box Hill established a sister city relationship with Matsudo, in Chiba, Japan.[2] In December 1994, when Box Hill amalgamated with Nunawading, the City of Whitehorse re-affirmed its relationship with Matsudo.[2]

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.[24]

Libraries

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

  • Nunawading Library
    Blackburn Library – Located at Cnr Blackburn and Central Roads, Blackburn.
  • Box Hill Library – Located at 1040 Whitehorse Road, Box Hill.
  • Nunawading Library – Located at 379 Whitehorse Road, Nunawading.
  • Vermont South Library – Located at Pavey Place, Vermont South.

See also

References
  1. "3218.0 – Regional Population Growth, Australia, 2017–18: Population Estimates by Local Government Area (ASGS 2018), 2017 to 2018". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Australian Bureau of Statistics. 27 March 2019. Retrieved 25 October 2019. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018.
  2. "Matsudo Sister City". City of Whitehorse. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  3. "Councillors and Wards". City of Whitehorse. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  4. "Changes To Council Electoral Structures". Premier of Victoria. Victorian Government. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  5. "Electoral structure changes for 2020". Local Government Victoria. Victorian Government. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  6. "Whitehorse Wards". City of Whitehorse. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  7. "Whitehorse City Council election results 2020". www.vec.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
  8. "City of Whitehorse Council – BURWOOD LIBERALS". Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  9. "VEC: Whitehorse City Council Election Results 2000". web.archive.org. 2 October 2009. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  10. "VEC: Whitehorse City Council Election Results 2003". web.archive.org. 2 October 2009. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  11. "VEC: Results for the Whitehorse City Council 2005 elections". web.archive.org. 2 October 2009. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  12. "VEC: Whitehorse City Council Election Results 2009". web.archive.org. 16 September 2009. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  13. "Whitehorse City Council election results 2012 - Victorian Electoral Commission". web.archive.org. 13 April 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  14. "Whitehorse City Council election results 2016 - Victorian Electoral Commission". web.archive.org. 13 April 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  15. "VEC: Whitehorse City Council By-Election Results 2004". web.archive.org. 2 October 2009. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  16. "Countback results for the Whitehorse City Council 2017 election - Victorian Electoral Commission". web.archive.org. 2 April 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  17. "VEC: Whitehorse City Council Countback results". web.archive.org. 2 October 2009. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  18. "Neighbours: 25 years young". Holy Soap. Channel 5. 18 March 2010. Archived from the original on 25 May 2010. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
  19. "Love Thy Neighbour". Backpack Melbourne. Archived from the original on 25 May 2010. Retrieved 18 December 2009.
  20. "Neighbours Tour FAQs". Archived from the original on 21 November 2009. Retrieved 18 December 2009.
  21. Conrad, Peter (5 December 2004). "Why everyone wants to be Australian". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 28 August 2013. Retrieved 31 May 2010.
  22. "Studios". Global TV. Archived from the original on 25 March 2009. Retrieved 20 December 2009.
  23. "Where Is Neighbours Filmed?". Neighbours.com.au. Network Ten. Archived from the original on 6 April 2010. Retrieved 17 December 2009.
  24. "Shaoxing Friendship Exchange Agreement". City of Whitehorse. City of Whitehorse. Retrieved 1 July 2020.

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