Jump to content

Shire of Cardinia

Cardinia Shire
Official logo of Cardinia Shire
CountryAustralia
StateVictoria
RegionGreater Melbourne
Established1994
Council seatOfficer
Government
  MayorCr Jack Kowarzik
  State electorates
  Federal divisions
Area
  Total
1,283 km2 (495 sq mi)
Population
  Total118,194 (2021)[1]
  Density92.12/km2 (238.60/sq mi)
WebsiteCardinia Shire
LGAs around Cardinia Shire
Yarra Ranges Yarra Ranges Yarra Ranges
Casey Cardinia Shire Baw Baw
Mornington Peninsula Bass Coast South Gippsland

The Shire of Cardinia is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, in the south-east of Melbourne between Western Port and the Yarra Ranges on the outskirts of Melbourne. It has an area of 1,283 square kilometres (495 sq mi), and recorded a population of 118,194 at the 2021 census.[1]

Cardinia Shire Council Offices are located in Officer.[2] Prior to 17 November 2014, they were located in Pakenham.[citation needed]

History

[edit]

The areas within the present-day boundaries of Cardinia Shire were originally parts of the Cranbourne and Berwick districts, which were incorporated in 1860 and 1862 respectively. The Shire of Fern Tree Gully, later Shire of Sherbrooke, split away in 1889 and included areas to the east of Melbourne. In 1973, the City of Berwick, including Berwick and areas closer to Dandenong, split away from the Shire of Berwick, with the remainder being renamed Shire of Pakenham.[3]

The Shire came into being on 15 December 1994 as the result of statewide local government reform, by merging the Shire of Pakenham with rural sections of the Shire of Sherbrooke and the City of Cranbourne.[4]

The Shire of Cardinia's predecessor LGAs (green) as they were immediately before their dissolution in December 1994

The Shire of Cardinia contains the only area of Melbourne to use telephone numbers beginning with the exchange prefix 5 - this is a leftover from when it used the area code 059-xx xxxx.

Council

[edit]

Cardinia Shire Council is divided into nine wards:[5] Beacon Hills, Bunyip, Central, Henty, Officer, Pakenham Hills, Ranges, Toomuc and Westernport. Elections are held every four years, each ward has one councillor. Before October 2020 the shire had three wards: Central, Ranges and Port.

The Council Offices were originally located in Henty Way, Pakenham.[6] On 17 November 2014, the Council moved to a new office on Siding Avenue, Officer, which it uses presently. The Council holds its meetings and all of the administration staff work there.

Cardinia Shire is part of the Casey Cardinia Library Corporation and there are two full-time libraries in Cardinia, in Emerald and Pakenham. In addition, the Mobile Library visits the suburbs of Bunyip, Garfield, Tynong, Beaconsfield, Upper Beaconsfield, Gembrook, Maryknoll, Cockatoo, Lang Lang and Koo Wee Rup.[7]

Current composition

[edit]
WardPartyCouncillorNotes
Beacon Hills   Independent Brett Owen
Bunyip   Independent Alanna Pomeroy Deputy Mayor[8]
Central   Independent Labor Collin Ross
Henty   Independent Liz Roberts
Officer   Independent Samantha Jane-Potter
Pakenham Hills   Independent Jack Kowarzik Mayor[8]
Ranges   Independent David Nickell
Toomuc   Independent Casey Thomsen
Westernport   Independent Libertarian Trudi Paton

Mayors

[edit]
  • 2008: Bill Ronald
  • 2009: Bill Pearson
  • 2010: Graeme Legge
  • 2011: George Blenkhorn
  • 2012: Ed Chatwin
  • 2013: Brett Owen
  • 2014: Graeme Moore
  • 2015: Leticia Wilmot
  • 2016: Jodie Owen
  • 2017: Brett Owen
  • 2018: Collin Ross
  • 2019: Graeme Moore
  • 2020: Jeff Springfield
  • 2021: Brett Owen
  • 2022: Jeff Springfield
  • 2023: Tammy Radford
  • 2024: Jack Kowarzik

Deputy Mayors

[edit]
  • 2016: Leticia Wilmot
  • 2017: Jodie Owen
  • 2018: Brett Owen
  • 2019: Collin Ross
  • 2020: Graeme Moore
  • 2021: Jeff Springfield
  • 2022: Tammy Radford
  • 2023: Jack Kowarzik
  • 2024: Graeme Moore

Election results

[edit]

2024

[edit]
2024 Victorian local elections: Cardinia[9][10]
Party Votes % Swing Seats Change
  Independent 39,041 67.22 7 Steady
  Independent Labor 9,318 16.04 1 Decrease 1
  Independent Liberal 4,288 7.38 0 Steady
  Independent Libertarian 3,720 6.41 1 Increase 1
  Greens 875 1.51 0 Steady
  Victorian Socialists 834 1.44 0 Steady
 Formal votes 58,076 95.75
 Informal votes 2,575 4.25
 Total 60,651 100.00 9 Steady
 Registered voters 82,745

Townships and localities

[edit]

In the 2021 census, the shire had a population of 118,194, up from 94,128 in the 2016 census.[11]

Population
Locality20162021
Avonsleigh852844
Bayles461445
Beaconsfield^6,7147,267
Beaconsfield Upper2,8612,997
Bunyip2,4683,131
Bunyip North11295
Caldermeade183181
Cardinia376342
Catani294297
Clematis350352
Cockatoo4,2564,408
Cora Lynn243220
Dalmore163142
Dewhurst164151
Emerald^5,7785,890
Garfield1,7862,114
Garfield North194236
Gembrook2,3502,559
Guys Hill382388
Heath Hill^161189
Iona228240
Koo Wee Rup3,5794,047
Koo Wee Rup North4447
Lang Lang^1,5852,556
Lang Lang East7994
Longwarry^2,0042,436
Maryknoll577646
Menzies Creek^998966
Modella^148169
Monomeith7269
Mount Burnett173180
Nangana4454
Nar Nar Goon1,0121,023
Nar Nar Goon North727819
Nyora^1,5271,644
Officer7,13318,503
Officer South751,159
Pakenham46,42154,118
Pakenham South216229
Pakenham Upper1,1721,196
Rythdale3833
Tonimbuk208229
Tooradin^1,5681,722
Tynong456523
Tynong North434440
Vervale3944
Yannathan238272

^ - Territory divided with another LGA

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. 1 2 3 Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Cardinia (Local Government Areas)". 2021 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 6 January 2026. Edit this at Wikidata
  2. "Home Page". Cardinia Shire Council. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  3. Victorian Municipal Directory. Brunswick: Arnall & Jackson. 1992. pp. 639–40, 805–6, 832–3. Accessed at State Library of Victoria, La Trobe Reading Room.
  4. Australian Bureau of Statistics (1 August 1995). Victorian local government amalgamations 1994–1995: Changes to the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (PDF). Commonwealth of Australia. p. 5. ISBN 0-642-23117-6. Retrieved 16 December 2007.
  5. Wards - Cardinia Shire Council
  6. Municipal Association of Victoria – Cardinia
  7. CCLC Branch details Archived 18 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  8. 1 2 "Mayor and councillors". Cardinia Shire Council. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
  9. "Cardinia Shire Council results". VEC. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
  10. Everitt, Corey (17 October 2024). "The Labor and Liberals behind the 'independent' candidates". Pakenham Officer Star News. Archived from the original on 7 November 2024. Retrieved 21 October 2024.
  11. "Census | Australian Bureau of Statistics". www.abs.gov.au. 11 January 2023.
[edit]

38°05′S 145°35′E / 38.083°S 145.583°E / -38.083; 145.583