Municipality of Woollahra

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 at Redleaf in Double Bay. The mayor of Woollahra Municipal Council is Sarah Dixson.

Suburbs in the local government area Suburbs in the area include:

Demographics

In the 2021 Census, there were people in the Woollahra Local Government Area. 46.6% were male and 53.4% were female. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 0.3% of the population, compared to 3.4% in NSW. The median age of people in the area was 41 years, older than the NSW or Australian median.

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 2016 Census, the proportion of residents who stated a religious affiliation with Judaism was in excess of thirtytwo times the state and national averages.

Selected historical census data for Woollahra local government areaCensus year 2001200620112016Population Estimated residents on census night LGA rank in terms of size within New South Wales 19 42 43% of New South Wales population 1.90% 0.75% 0.73%% of Australian population 0.26% 0.25% 0.24% 0.23%Cultural and language diversity Ancestry,top responses English 23.6% 23.7%Australian 17.7% 16.8%Irish 9.0% 9.5%Scottish 6.9% 7.2%Chinese n/c 3.1%Language,top responses(other than English) Mandarinn/c n/c 0.8% 1.6%French1.0% 1.0% 1.1% 1.3%Greek1.4% 1.3% 1.3% 1.3%Spanishn/c n/c n/c 1.1%Italian1.2% 1.1% 1.0% 1.0%Religious affiliation Religious affiliation,top responses No religion15.1% 16.7% 21.7% 30.2%Catholic19.9% 19.7% 20.2% 19.1%Anglican21.2% 19.8% 17.9% 13.8%Judaism13.4% 14.1% 14.2% 13.0%Not statedn/c n/c n/c 12.8%Median weekly incomes Personal income Median weekly personal income A$976 A$1,145A$1,365% of Australian median income 209.4% 198.4% 206.2%Family income Median weekly family income A$1,917 A$2,832A$3,626% of Australian median income 186.7% 191.2% 209.1%Household income Median weekly household income A$2,654 A$2,398A$2,687% of Australian median income 226.6% 194.3% 186.7%

Council

Woollahra Municipal Council is composed of fifteen councillors elected proportionally as five separate wards, each electing three Councillors. Councillors are usually elected for a fixed four-year term of office. The Mayor is elected by the Councillors at the first meeting of the council. The Council election of 14 September 2024 resulted in the following makeup:

Current composition and election method

PartyCouncillors Liberal Party 9 Residents First Woollahra 5 The Greens 1 Total 15

The council as elected in 2024, in order of election by ward, was:

WardCouncillorPartyNotesBellevue Hill Ward Sean Carmichael Liberal Deputy Mayor, (2024–28 September 2026) Lucinda Regan Residents First Woollahra Hugh Woodgate Liberal Deputy Mayor, (28 September 2026–present) Cooper Ward Sarah Dixson Liberal Mayor (2024–present) Deputy Mayor, (2023–2024) Jeanette Mitchell Liberal Torsten Blackwood Residents First WoollahraDouble Bay Ward Toni Zeltzer LiberalDeputy Mayor, (2011–2012) and Mayor, (2013–2017) Mark Silcocks Residents First James Ardouin LiberalPaddington Ward Alexander Andruska Liberal Harriet Price Residents First Matthew Robertson The Greens Vaucluse Ward Mary-Lou Jarvis OAM Liberal Deputy Mayor, (2018–2019) Merrill Halkerston Witt Residents First Julian Parmegiani Liberal

Election results 2024

History

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. The municipality was expanded in 1949 by uniting with the Municipality of Vaucluse under the Local Government (Areas) Act 1948.

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.

In 2002, 14 square kilometres were transferred from the Area of Woollahra to the Area of Waverley.

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.

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 and support a population of approximately . 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. In July 2017, the Berejiklian government decided to abandon the forced merger of the Woollahra, Waverley and Randwick local government areas, along with several other proposed forced mergers.

Woollahra's population history from the 1960s to 2021 has been stable and slowly risen since the late 1960s to present, rising from 47,326 in 1966 to 53,295 in 1976. It is noted that the area is not comparable between these periods due to a boundary adjustment in the Paddington area in 1968 of approximately 330 acres (1.33 square kilometres) of land. This change removed a portion of land from the City of Sydney, which had been part of an addition made to it twenty years earlier when the entirety of the former Municipality of Paddington had been added to the City of Sydney under the Local Government (Areas) Act 1948, adding it to Woollahra. The population of Woollahra had fallen to 51,659 by 1986. The population was relatively stable between 1991 and 2006, at around 50,000. In 2003 there was a significant land transfer of 0.14 square kilometres of land to Waverley Council. The population then increased slightly, rising to 53,910 in 2021. Most new development in the area is redevelopment (mixed used developments) and infill (medium/high density housing).

In 2026, the Municipality of Woollahra opposed the State-led Rezoning Proposal.

In October 2026, Woollahra councillor Sean Carmichael contested incumbent Mayor Sarah Dixson for the Liberal Party caucus vote. An agreement was believed to hand the mayoralty to councillor Mary Lou Jarvis after one year.

In October 2026, the Mayor of Woollahra Sarah Dickson looked up the value of a pro-housing advocate's home in preparation for a council meeting. The advocate criticised the Mayor for accessing his private address through a form he submitted to the council. and claimed it would have a chilling effect on community consultation. Sarah Dickson stated she does not own a house, but she owns three apartments.

Heritage listings The Municipality of Woollahra has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

Bellevue Hill, 24 Victoria Road: Leura Darling Point, 1a Carthona Avenue: Lindesay Darling Point, 68 Darling Point Road: The Swifts Darling Point, 103 Darling Point Road: Babworth House Darling Point, 11–21 Greenoaks Avenue: Bishopscourt Double Bay, Cross Street: Double Bay Compressed Air Ejector Station Double Bay, 11 Gladswood Gardens: Gladswood House Double Bay, 337–347 New South Head Road: Overthorpe Double Bay, 560 New South Head Road: Fairwater Double Bay, 4 and 6 Wiston Gardens: Houses Edgecliff, 8 Albert Street: Fenton and surrounds Paddington, 1 Ormond Street: Juniper Hall, Paddington Paddington, 56a Ormond Street: Engehurst Paddington, 246 Oxford Street: Paddington Post Office Paddington, 1 Young Street: Paddington Substation Point Piper, 10 Dunara Gardens: Dunara Rose Bay, 3–4 Fernleigh Gardens: Site of Ficus superba var. henneana tree Rose Bay, 1–7 Salisbury Road: Salisbury Court (Rose Bay) Vaucluse, 32b Fitzwilliam Road: Wentworth Memorial Church Vaucluse, Chapel Road: Wentworth Mausoleum Vaucluse, Greycliffe Avenue: Nielsen Park Vaucluse, Old South Head Road: Macquarie Lighthouse Vaucluse, 52 Vaucluse Road: Strickland House, Vaucluse Vaucluse, 69a Wentworth Road: Vaucluse House Watsons Bay, Dunbar (ship) Watsons Bay, Old South Head Road: Hornby Lighthouse Woollahra, 14 Rosemont Avenue: Rosemont Woollahra, Waimea Avenue: Waimea House

Coat of arms

External links

Administrative History, by Woollahra Municipal Council.

Municipality of Woollahra

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