City of Immigrants

City of Stonnington

The City of Stonnington is a Local Government Area located within the metropolitan area of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It comprises the inner south-eastern suburbs, between 3 and 13 kilometres from the Melbourne CBD. The city covers an area of 25.6 square kilometres and includes the suburbs of South Yarra, Prahran, Windsor, Toorak, Armadale, Kooyong, Glen Iris, Malvern and Malvern East.

Within 20 years of the settlement of Melbourne in 1835, the Prahran Road Board (later City of Prahran) was formed in 1855, followed by the Gardiner Road Board (later City of Malvern) in 1856. The late 19th century saw substantial residential and commercial development such that by 1891 Prahran had a population of almost 40,000 and Malvern 11,000. The election of the Kennett government in the Spring of 1992 heralded a comprehensive reorganisation of local government in Victoria and brought about the amalgamation of the Cities of Malvern and Prahran to form the City of Stonnington. The Malvern Town Hall was renamed the Stonnington City Centre and it became the corporate headquarters of the new Stonnington City Council.

The name Stonnington comes from Stonington mansion, the Charles D'Ebro designed mansion built in 1890 for a founding partner of Cobb and Co, John Wagner, who named the house after his wife’s birthplace in Stonington (sic), Connecticut, USA. The house is located in Glenferrie Road, Malvern.

The city had a diverse (27% born overseas) population of 89,883 at the 2006 census, with a higher proportion of 18 to 34 year olds than the Melbourne average. The population are also greater users of public transport which provides a comprehensive service to the city.

History

Prior to European settlement, the land of the City of Stonnington was occupied by the Wurundjeri, an Indigenous Australian Woiwurrung speaking people of the Kulin nation.

The establishment of European settlers in what was then the Port Phillip District of New South Wales in 1835, was soon followed by pastoralist John Gardiner, together with Joseph Hawdon and John Hepburn, driving cattle south from Yass to Kooyong Koot (later named Gardiner's) Creek, in the area now known as Malvern, and establishing a homestead and grazing property.

The year 1840 was the beginning of Crown land auctions of land to the east of Melbourne and south of the Yarra River and Gardiners Creek. The high ground between Gardiner's Creek Road (now Toorak Road) and the river returned the best prices and it was here that most of the grand mansions of the period were built. Much of the land south of Toorak Road was swampy. This area was subdivided into much smaller blocks for workman's cottages and later to house gold-rush immigrants. The distinction between the two areas remains today in the suburbs of Toorak and South Yarra. Further auctions of land in the Prahran area took place in 1849 and 1850.

The early 1850s saw the return of many miners from the gold diggings to Prahran resulting in increased development and the gazetting as a municipality in 1855. The population of Prahran at the time of the first council elections was about 8,000. Meanwhile, Government land sales within the area bounded by Kooyong Road, Gardiners Creek and Wattletree Road were held in 1854 and a small settlement grew around Malvern and Glenferrie Roads. The area known as Gardiner (later Malvern) was proclaimed a Roads Board District in 1856 and became a municipality in 1871, taking the name Malvern in 1878.

The 1880s and 1890s saw substantial residential and commercial development in the City of Prahran such that by 1891 Prahran had a population of almost 40,000. The development of Malvern followed from 1900 onwards and by 1921 Malvern's population was almost 33,000.

Geography

The western part of the city, around South Yarra, Prahran and Windsor were originally part of the River Yarra flood plain and much of the area was covered by swamps, bogs and creeks formed from the run-off from the Malvern Hills to the East. The Albert Park Lake to the west is a remnant of the original flood plain.

The City of Stonnington is bounded by the Yarra River and Gardiners Creek to the north, Warrigal Road to the east, Dandenong Road and Queens Way to the south, and Punt Road to the west. Stonnington has numerous tree-lined streets and over 120 parks and gardens. Many public reserves occur along the Gardiners Creek valley. The city has some of Melbourne's major shopping precincts in Chapel Street, Glenferrie Road, High Street, Malvern Road and Toorak Road as well as the Chadstone Shopping Centre. Local sporting venues include Malvern Valley Golf Club, Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club and Harold Holt Memorial Swimming Centre.

Demographics

The following demographic information is from the 2006 Census of Population and Housing, Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Population - Stonnington has a population of 89,883, of which 52% are female. There are 40,655 occupied dwellings in the city.

Age - the age structure of the population of Stonnington is different to the Melbourne average with a higher percentage of persons aged 25-54 (47.4%) and a lower percentage of children aged under 15 (13.3%).

Country of birth - Stonnington has a multicultural population with 27.1% being born overseas. The top five countries of birth are United Kingdom, New Zealand, Greece, China, and India.

Language spoken - in 28.0% of homes a language other than English is spoken. The top five languages are Greek, Mandarin, Cantonese, Italian, and Russian.

Religious Affiliation - 21.3% of people stated their religion as Catholic, 20.9% as no religion, 16.9% as Anglican and 6.0% as Eastern Orthodox.

Weekly income - the median household income is $1346. Stonnington has a higher household income when compared to the Melbourne median of $1079.

Occupation - 55.7% of the populations gave their occupation as Professional or Manager compared to the Melbourne average of 35.1%.

Employment - the unemployment rate in Stonnington was 4.1%.

Marital Status - 44.6% of the population have never married compared to the Melbourne average of 34.8%.

Dwellings - Stonnington has a higher proportion of people living in flats or apartments (45.2%) compared to the Melbourne average of 16.1%.

Housing loan repayments - the median monthly housing loan repayment in Stonnington is $1950 compared to the Melbourne average of $1300.

Government

Federal

The Federal Parliament deals with national matters such as defence, international relations, management of the economy, social security, immigration, taxation, overseas trade, telecommunications, postal services, etc. The City of Stonnington is within the Federal Electorate of Higgins. The present Federal Representative is Peter Costello, MP.

State

The State Parliament deals with issues such as health and community services, housing, education, transport, law and order, local government, electricity, gas and water. State Representatives for Stonnington are Tony Lupton, MP, the Member for Prahran and Michael O'Brien, MP, the Member for Malvern. Stonnington's representatives in the Legislative Council (the State's Upper House) are the Members for Southern Metropolitan Region The Hon. Andrea Coote, MLC, The Hon. David Davis, MLC, The Hon. John Lenders, MLC, The Hon. Evan Thornley, MLC and The Hon. Sue Pennicuik, MLC.

Local

Stonnington City Council is the third tier of government and deals with services such as garbage collection, building permits and approvals, roads, drainage, health services, food safety, parks and gardens, library services, pets, street parking permits and the collection of rates and charges. The Council meets at the Stonnington City Centre.

Stonnington has three multi-councillor wards - East, North and South, which are each represented by three councillors. Council elections are conducted by postal voting and votes are counted using proportional representation. Voting is compulsory for residents who are on the voters' roll for local council elections but voters aged 70 years or over are not obliged to vote at local council elections.

Results of Stonnington City Council Elections 2004

Ward	Candidate	Elected order	1st preference votes
East	Anne O'Shea	1st	3300
East	Judy Hindle	2nd	4077
East	Steve Stefanopoulos	3rd	3577
North	Sarah Davies	1st	4250
North	Tas Athanasopoulos	2nd	2029
North	John Chandler	3rd	2903
South	Melina Sehr	1st	4378
South	Chris Gahan	2nd	2222
South	Claude Ullin	3rd	1906

The next election for Stonnington City Council will take place in November 2008.

Past and Current Stonnington Councillors

Ward	1996 - 1999	1999 - 2002	2002 - 2004	Ward	2004 - 2008
Chapel	Roz Wilson	John Chandler	John Chandler	North	John Chandler
Como	Leon Hill	Annette Stockman	Sarah Davies	North	Sarah Davies
Orrong	Annette Stockman	Leon Hill	Leon Hill	North	Tas Athanasopoulos
Greville	John Chandler	Tas Athanasopoulos	Melina Sehr	South	Melina Sehr
Hawksburn	Chris Gahan	Chris Gahan	Chris Gahan	South	Chris Gahan
Armadale	Adam Held	Claude Ullin	Claude Ullin	South	Claude Ullin
Wattletree	Anne O’Shea	Anne O’Shea	Anne O’Shea	East	Anne O’Shea
Hedgeley Dene	Barry Fenton	Sally Davis	Sally Davis	East	Steve Stefanopoulos
Malvern Valley	Denise Wallish	Henry Buch	Judy Hindle	East	Judy Hindle

Stonnington Mayors

List of Mayors of Stonnington

Chief Executive Officers

	Term
Greg Maddock	1994 - 1995
Frank Tait	1995 - 1998
Hadley Sides	1999 - present

Citizens of the Year

Year	General	Art/Music	Art/Culture	Sport	Youth	Education	Community Service	Community Group
1997	Cyril Pepperell & Sr. Monica O’Leary	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1998	Josh Epstein & Jenny Lawlor	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1999	Norma Flowerday	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2000	Mollie Ormiston-Smith	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2001	Nancy O’Donnell	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2002	N/A	Betty Bruce	N/A	Royce Rout	Susan Barton	Sue Howden	Kevin Biggin & Jane Price	N/A
2003	N/A	N/A	Elizabeth Mansfield	Margaret Connellan	Dolores Collins	Ray Willis	Dr Jean Barrie & Lenore Newnham	N/A
2004	N/A	N/A	Wesley Brown	Len Pratt	Patricia Brincat	Br William Wilding	Pam Weaver	N/A
2005	N/A	N/A	Jane Nigro	Peter Harley	Vicki Vidor	Kathy Hilton	Fr John Barry	N/A
2006	N/A	N/A	Betty Malone	Warren Wheatley	Peter Watson	Sr Ruth Winship	Lesley Kerr	St Joseph’s Emergency Housing
2007	N/A	N/A	Jenny Johnson	-	Greg Marks	-	Alan Freedman	Abbeyfield Society

N/A = Category Not Applicable

Young Citizens of the Year

1999	Michael Monds
2000	Robyn Chambers
2001	Hannah Macdougall
2002	Liesl Woods
2003	Chase Bailey
2004	Owen Stevens
2005	James Conheady
2006	Ben Armstrong
2007	Alessandro Demaio

Education

Australia has a system of public (state government) and private (independent) schools. Most public schools are co-educational. Most private schools are administered by their own boards and receive a government subsidy besides having their own fee structure. Schooling is compulsory for students until the age of fifteen although many students continue on to complete Year 12. The following are Secondary colleges (High schools) in the City of Stonnington:

De La Salle College, Malvern
St Kevin's College, Toorak
The King David School, Armadale
Korowa Anglican Girls' School, Glen Iris
Lauriston Girls' School, Armadale
Loreto Mandeville Hall, Toorak
Presentation College, Windsor
Sacre Coeur School, Glen Iris
St Catherine's School, Toorak
Melbourne High School, South Yarra

Higher education is provided by Universities, Vocational Education and Training (VET) facilities and Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutions.

Deakin University has a campus in Glenferrie Road, Malvern and Swinburne University of Technology has its Prahran campus in High Street.

Monash University's medical school is also attached to The Alfred Hospital on Commercial Road.

Public transport

Stonnington is extremely well serviced by Melbourne's public transport system. Three branches of rail lines and eight tram services pass through the City of Stonnington as well as a number of bus services including 12 services to Chadstone Shopping Centre.

Railways

The Cranbourne, Pakenham and Frankston railway lines provide a regular service to South Yarra, Hawksburn, Toorak, Armadale and Malvern stations. The Sandringham railway line services South Yarra, Prahran and Windsor stations and the Glen Waverley line runs along the northern boundary of Stonnington to Heyington, Kooyong, Tooronga, Gardiner, Glen Iris, Darling, East Malvern and Holmesglen stations.

Trams

All major east-west roads in Stonnington have tram services. Tram route 3 runs along Balaclava Road and Waverly Road to East Malvern and tram route 5 services Dandenong Road and Wattletree Road and ends at Burke Road in Malvern. Tram route 6 runs along High Street and terminates at Malvern Road in Glen Iris while tram 72 services Commercial Road, Malvern Road and Burke Road and tram 8 travels along Domain Road and Toorak Road and ends at Glenferrie Road in Toorak. Trams 78 and 79 run north-south in Chapel Street and tram 16 in Glenferrie Road.

Buses

The suburbs within the City of Stonnington are serviced by the following bus routes:

Suburb	Bus Services
South Yarra	216, 219, 220, 246, 605
Prahran	216, 219, 220, 246
Windsor	246
Toorak	605
Kooyong	-
Armadale	220, 605
Malvern	624
Glen Iris	612, 734
Malvern East	612, 623, 624, 627, 767, 822

Media

In addition to the newspapers, radio and television of the Melbourne media Stonnington has a free local newspaper, the Leader Newspaper Group's Stonnington Leader, which is a part of News Limited. It has a circulation of about 50,000.