Municipality of Woollahra

This article is about the Australian local government area. For the Sydney suburb, see Woollahra, New South Wales.

Woollahra Municipal Council New South Wales
Location in Metropolitan Sydney
Coordinates
Population	52,158 (2011 census)
• Density	4,346.5/km2 (11,257/sq mi)
Area	12 km2 (4.6 sq mi)
Mayor	Toni Zeltzer (Liberal)
Council seat	Double Bay
Region	Metropolitan Sydney
State electorate(s)	Vaucluse Sydney
Federal Division(s)	Wentworth
Website	Woollahra Municipal Council
LGAs around Woollahra Municipal Council: Sydney Harbour Sydney Harbour Tasman Sea Sydney Woollahra Municipal Council Waverley Sydney Randwick Waverley

Woollahra Council Chambers

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.

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.

Suburbs in the local government area

Suburbs in the area include:

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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.

Selected historical census data for Woollahra local government area
Census year			2001	2006	2011
Population		Estimated residents on Census night	49,814	50,161	52,158
		LGA rank in terms of size within New South Wales		19
		% of New South Wales population		1.90%	0.75%
		% of Australian population	0.26%	0.25%	0.24%
Cultural and language diversity
Ancestry, top responses		English			23.6%
		Australian			17.7%
		Irish			9.0%
		Scottish			6.9%
		German			2.7%
Language, top responses (other than English)		Greek	1.4%	1.3%	1.3%
		Cantonese	1.2%	1.1%	1.1%
		French	1.0%	1.0%	1.1%
		Italian	1.2%	1.1%	1.0%
		Mandarin	n/c	n/c	0.8%
Religious affiliation
Religious affiliation, top responses		No religion	15.1%	16.7%	21.7%
		Catholic	19.9%	19.7%	20.2%
		Anglican	21.2%	19.8%	17.9%
		Judaism	13.4%	14.1%	14.2%
		Eastern Orthodox	3.0%	3.1%	3.2%
Median weekly incomes
Personal income		Median weekly personal income		A$976	A$1,145
		% of Australian median income		209.4%	198.4%
Family income		Median weekly family income		A$1,917	A$2,832
		% of Australian median income		186.7%	191.2%
Household income		Median weekly household income		A$2,654	A$2,398
		% of Australian median income		226.6%	194.3%

Woollahra Municipal Council

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:

Party		Councillors
	Liberal Party of Australia	9
	Residents First Woollahra	3
	The Greens	1
	Total	13

The current Council, elected in 2012, in order of election by ward, is:

Ward	Councillor		Party	Notes
Bellevue Hill Ward		Greg Levenston	Liberal
		Andrew Petrie	Liberal
		Jeff Zulman	Residents First
Cooper Ward		Katherine O'Regan	Liberal
		Luise Elsing	Residents First
		Anthony Marano	Liberal
Double Bay Ward		Toni Zeltzer	Liberal	Mayor
		James Keulemans	Liberal
		Deborah Thomas	Liberal
Paddington Ward		Peter Cavanagh	Liberal
		Elena Wise	Residents First	Resigned in 2015
		Matthew Robertson	The Greens
Vaucluse Ward		Anthony Boskovitz	Liberal	Resigned in 2015
		Ted Bennett	Liberal
		Susan Wynne	Residents First	Deputy Mayor

External links

• Woollahra Municipal Council website
• Woollahra Community Profile, including 2011 Census information