City of South Perth

This article is about a local government authority. For the suburb, see South Perth, Western Australia.

City of South Perth Western Australia
The City of South Perth within the Perth Metropolitan Area
Population	43,405 (LGA 2021)
Established	1892
Area	19.8 km2 (7.6 sq mi)
Mayor	Greg Milner
Council seat	South Perth
Region	South Metropolitan Perth
State electorate(s)	South Perth
Federal division(s)	Swan
Website	City of South Perth
LGAs around City of South Perth: Perth Perth Victoria Park Nedlands City of South Perth Canning Melville Melville Canning

Council chamber buildings

The City of South Perth is a local government area in the inner southern suburbs of the Western Australian capital city of Perth about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) south of Perth's central business district. The City covers an area of 19.9 square kilometres (7.7 sq mi), maintains 203 kilometres (126 mi) of roads and a little over 4.3 km² of parks and gardens, and had a population of about 42,000 at the 2016 Census. The City is the entirety of the state electoral district of South Perth. An area of Kensington joined into South Perth after the 2013 redistribution, although dwindling population growth in Victoria Park may mean that part of the City will move back.

The area broadly forms a peninsula, being bounded on three sides by the waters of the Swan and Canning rivers.

History

The South Perth Road District was formed on 9 June 1892 and the district became a municipality as the Municipality of South Perth on 21 February 1902. It then reverted to a road district on 1 March 1922, but regained municipality status on 1 March 1956. It was granted city status on 1 July 1959.

In 2014, the WA State Government mounted a proposal for local government reform; the City of South Perth was proposed to be amalgamated with the Town of Victoria Park, together with a sizable portion of the City of Canning. A poll took place during January–February 2015, with the question: "Should the City of South Perth and the Town of Victoria Park be abolished and amalgamated to form a new local government?". The informally (non-binding) suggested name for the new entity was 'City of South Park'.

In order for the poll to prevent the amalgamation from proceeding, at least 50% of electors from either local government were required to vote, and of those, more than half needed to vote against the proposal. At the conclusion of the poll at 6.00pm on 7 February 2015, the outcome was that for South Perth, 50.83% of the City's 26,789 electors voted, with 77.75% voting against the proposal. Although only 38.02% of the Town of Victoria Park's 20,136 electors voted, of those, a clear majority (61.58%) voted against the proposal. However, with more than 50% poll returns, the City of South Perth response was sufficient to cancel the amalgamation of these local governments, and they remained as separate entities.

Wards

The City of South Perth is divided into four wards, each of whom directly elect two councillors.

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2023 Western Australian local elections § South Perth.[edit]

Como

2023 Western Australian local elections: Como Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Liberal	Bronwyn Waugh (elected)	unopposed
Registered electors			7,436
	Independent Liberal hold		Swing

Manning

2023 Western Australian local elections: Manning Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	André Brender-A-Brandis (elected)	1,415	51.59
	Independent	George Watts	1,127	41.09
	Independent	Warren Thorne	201	7.33
Total formal votes			2,743	99.17
Informal votes			23	0.83
Turnout			2,766	35.35
	Independent win		Swing

Mill Point

2023 Western Australian local elections: Mill Point Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Liberal	Nic Coveney (elected)	1,820	63.70
	No Mandatory Vaccination	Cam Tinley	1,037	36.30
Total formal votes			2,857	99.24
Informal votes			22	0.76
Turnout			2,879	37.18
	Independent Liberal win		Swing

Moresby

2023 Western Australian local elections: Moresby Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Hayley Prendiville (elected)	1,272	51.39
	Independent	Stephen Russell	1,094	44.20
	Independent	Krissy McGavin	109	4.40
Total formal votes			2,475	99.32
Informal votes			17	0.68
Turnout			2,492	33.40
	Independent win		Swing

Suburbs

The suburbs of the City of South Perth with population and size figures based on the most recent Australian census:

Suburb	Population	Area	Map
Como	14,786 (SAL 2021)	6.5 km2 (2.5 sq mi)
Karawara	1,842 (SAL 2021)	1 km2 (0.39 sq mi)
Kensington	4,627 (SAL 2021)	2.5 km2 (0.97 sq mi)
Manning	4,219 (SAL 2021)	1.7 km2 (0.66 sq mi)
Salter Point	2,913 (SAL 2021)	1.8 km2 (0.69 sq mi)
South Perth	12,596 (SAL 2021)	5.2 km2 (2.0 sq mi)
Waterford	2,460 (SAL 2021)	1.5 km2 (0.58 sq mi)

The suburbs of the City of South Perth are known for being very affluent due to their proximity to the river, private schools and the CBD, all are well above the state's average. The following table contains the suburbs and their median house price, bar Karawara. House prices have dramatically increased in Como and Kensington, while being stagnant in South Perth, Manning and Salter Point, and dramatically falling in Waterford and Karawara.

Suburb	Median house price
Como	$970,000
Karawara	$599,000
Kensington	$965,000
Manning	$825,000
Salter Point	$1,117,500
South Perth	$1,252,000
Waterford	$875,000

Education

The City of South Perth is home to numerous primary schools, and five major secondary schools.

Secondary

• Aquinas College
• Como Secondary College
• Penrhos College
• Wesley College
• Clontarf Aboriginal College

Primary

• Como Primary School
• Collier Primary School
• Curtin Primary School
• Kensington Primary School
• Manning Primary School
• St Columba's Catholic Primary School South Perth
• Saint Pius X Primary School
• South Perth Primary School

Library

The City of South Perth has two libraries with branches in Manning and South Perth.

The two libraries have in excess of 70,000 items over both locations.

The City of South Perth Local History Collection provides and preserves information about the suburbs of South Perth, Como, Kensington, Manning, Karawara and Salter Point.

Picture South Perth is an online collection of historic images dating back to the 1870s. It contains images from the City of South Perth's Local History Collection which have been scanned and catalogued by library staff.

Population

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1903 947 —     1911 1,197 +2.97% 1921 2,960 +9.48% 1933 8,731 +9.43% 1947 15,266 +4.07% 1954 21,214 +4.81% 1961 29,941 +5.05% 1966 32,042 +1.37% 1971 31,702 −0.21% 1976 30,388 −0.84%

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1981 31,524 +0.74% 1986 32,626 +0.69% 1991 34,007 +0.83% 1996 34,819 +0.47% 2001 35,228 +0.23% 2006 38,361 +1.72% 2011 40,739 +1.21% 2016 41,989 +0.61% 2021 43,405 +0.67%

Heritage listed places

Main article: List of State Register of Heritage Places in the City of South Perth

As of 2024, 189 places are heritage-listed in the City of South Perth, of which 20 are on the State Register of Heritage Places, among them the Old Mill, the Clontarf Aboriginal College and the Cygnet Cinema.

References

• The History of South Perth, by F K Crowley. Rigby Limited 1962
• Peninsula City, by Cecil Florey. City of South Perth 1995

External links

• Official website