City of Kingston


The City of Kingston is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, its northern boundary lying approximately from the Melbourne city centre along the north-eastern shorelines of Port Phillip. It covers an area of and has an estimated population of 167,228 people.
With 13 km of coastline abutting Port Phillip, the city has been described as becoming a 'lifestyle capital' of Melbourne, where the municipality features Moorabbin Airport, DFO Moorabbin and Westfield Southland, with two AFL facilities for the respective teams of Hawthorn Football Club and St Kilda Football Club.
Home to a number of golf courses including hosts of international tournaments, such as the World Cup of Golf, Australian Open, Australian Masters and in 2028 the Presidents Cup; the city is dotted by parkland and reserves aside from the expansive 2,070 hectare Green Wedge. Braeside Park, Karkarook Park and Patterson River are all managed through Parks Victoria, with the latter providing access to Port Phillip being the busiest boat launching facility in Victoria.
WWW kingston.vic.gov.au

History

The City of Kingston area was originally governed by the Moorabbin Roads Board, which formed in 1862 and became a shire council in 1871, covering a large area of mixed agricultural and semi-urban land. After years of agitation in 1917 the seaside town of Sandringham became a borough with its own council, and this fuelled the desire of those living in towns further south to combine their efforts and demand self-representation. This finally occurred in May 1920 and the 'Borough of Mordialloc and Mentone' was formed. It became a town in 1923 and the City of Mordialloc in 1926.
The City of Moorabbin had a population of 109,588 by the time of the 1971 census.
In 1994, the state government amalgamated local councils all over Victoria, as part of its local government reform. The new City of Kingston was one result, and on 15 December 1994 the city was formally gazetted comprising all of the City of Chelsea, most of the City of Mordialloc, a substantial portion of the City of Moorabbin, and parts of the cities of Oakleigh and Springvale. The City of Kingston headquarters opened at 34 Brindisi Street, Mentone that remains a property portfolio asset.
An electoral structure for Kingston was introduced in November 2008 to include three wards – North Ward, Central Ward and South Ward, with three Councillors representing each ward. This made a total of nine Councillors instead of the previous structure of seven wards each represented by one Councillor. Further electoral structure changes led to in November 2020 there being a total of 11 wards each individually represented by a Councillor.
Kingston's headquarters since 2005 have been in Cheltenham at the former 7-storey office of Fujitsu Australia built in 1993.

Education

Primary education
Secondary education
Primary and secondary education
Technical and further education

Townships and localities

The city had a population of 158,129 at the 2021 census, up from 151,389 in the 2016 census.
^ - ''Territory divided with another LGA''

Railway stations

Library services

The City of Kingston operates nine free council run libraries.

Major branches

  • Chelsea
  • Cheltenham
  • Clarinda
  • Parkdale
  • Westall

Minor branches

Sport and recreation

The City of Kingston will from 2026 operate two swimming and recreation centres at Mordialloc and Highett:
  • The at Highett has a 50m swimming pool, spa, gym and separate wave pool.
  • The had a 25m swimming pool, spa and a gym.
  • Mordi Aquatics Centre, opening at Mordialloc in 2026 will feature a 50m lap pool, a learn to swim pool, a leisure pool and a warm water pool, along with a spa, sauna, steam room, gym and a café.
  • The indoor-outdoor by Pellicano featuring a surf park, will be the largest of its kind in the southern atmosphere when it opens in 2027 at Dingley Village.
The Kennedy Community Centre, the current training and administrative base of the Hawthorn Football Club is located in Dingley Village, while St Kilda Football Club has their facilities located at RSEA Park in Moorabbin.
The city has produced a number of AFL players including Luke Beveridge, Rex Hunt and Dylan Shiel amongst other athletes, such as international champion swimmers Nicole Livingstone and Toby Haenen. International cricketer, Scott Boland was born in Mordialloc.

Natural environment and parkland

The city has a dozens of sports grounds, aside from the 13 km of Port Phillip coastline, 2,070 hectares of Green Wedge parkland and high prevalence of golf courses, which complements the state parks managed by Parks Victoria including Braeside Park, Karkarook Park and Patterson River; with the latter popular with fishing charter operators as the home of the state's busiest boat launching facility.

Culture and arts

The City of Kingston has art and theatre facilities in Parkdale and Moorabbin respectively at the Shirley Burke Theatre and Kingston City Hall, with seating for up to 800 occupants. Each year the city hosts the Mordi Fest with live music, the Spring Fair and Carols by Kingston as its key events. Popular rock bands British India and Jet respectively were from Mentone and Dingley Village.
The Heidelberg School was an art movement of the late 19th century with ties to Australian impressionism, which featured scenes of Mentone by respective artists Tom Roberts, Charles Conder and Frederick McCubbin. An international-standard sculpture trail is proceeding at Patterson River, bordering the suburbs of Carrum, Patterson Lakes and Bonbeach.
Mordialloc's Main Street in particular features a diverse restaurant scene with iconic culinary experiences that have become a beacon of pride for the city.

Media and entertainment

The filming at Kath Day-Knight and Kel Knight's 'townhouse' for the Australian comedy television series Kath & Kim was shot in Patterson Lakes at Lagoon Place.
Kath & Kimderella was also filmed at the same location as the original Day-Knight house of the TV series.
The Australian TV series Underbelly Files was filmed in Cheltenham and Rush included an episode filmed in Moorabbin.
Australian television and radio personality, Rex Hunt was born in Mentone.

Economy

The City of Kingston's Gross Regional Product is estimated at $14.23 billion, which represents 2.44% of the state's GSP, where manufacturing is the largest employer generating 16,882 local jobs.
With the industrial sector being one of the largest and most concentrated in Victoria, the city is one of the state's major employment centres.
The Moorabbin Airport, DFO Moorabbin and Westfield Southland are significant economic landmarks for the City of Kingston. is the city's tourism and economic marketing arm.

Council services

The council has an operational expenditure budget of $296.1 million, with works involving areas such as road maintenance and construction, community, cultural and youth activities, town planning and development, waste management and recycling, maintenance of parks and public areas, public health and animal control, library services, and business and tourism support.

Current councillors

Prior to 2020, the City of Kingston had three multi-member wards, however this changed to 11 single-member wards from the 2020 council election.

Councillors and Mayors 1997 - 2024

  • Greg Alabaster 1997 – 2000 / 2005 - 2008
  • Ron Brownlees OAM 1997 – 2000 / 2000 – 2003 / 2008 – 2012 / 2012 – 2016 / 2016 – 2020 '
  • Di Comtesse 1997 - 2000
  • Lesley McGurgan 1997 – 2000 '
  • Bill Nixon OAM 1997 – 2000 / 2003 – 2005 / 2005 – 2008 '
  • John Ronke 1997 – 2000 / 2000 – 2003 / 2005 – 2008 / 2008 – 2012 / 2012 – 2016 '
  • Dalene Salisbury 1997 – 2000
  • Arthur Athanasopoulos 2000 – 2003 / 2003 – 2005 / 2005 – 2008 / 2008 – 2012 '
  • Elizabeth Larking 2000 – 2003 / 2003 – 2005 '
  • David Normington 2000-2001
  • Topsy Petchey OAM 2000 – 2003 / 2003 – 2005 / 2005 – 2008 '
  • Joanna van Klaveren 2000 - 2005
  • Trevor Shewan 2001 - 2003 / 2008 – 2012
  • Andrew Adams 2003 - 2005
  • Rosemary West OAM 2003 – 2005 / 2005 – 2008 / 2008 – 2012 / 2012 – 2016 / 2016 – 2020
  • Justin McKeegan 2005 – 2008
  • Donna Bauer 2008 – 2010
  • Lew Dundas 2008 – 2012
  • Paul Peulich 2008 – 2012 / 2012 – 2016 '
  • Steve Staikos 2008 – 2012 / 2012 – 2016 / 2016 – 2020 / 2020 – 2024 '
  • Dan Maloney 2011 – 2012
  • Tamara Barth 2012 – 2016 / 2016 – 2020
  • Geoff Gledhill 2012 – 2016 / 2016 – 2020 '
  • Tamsin Bearsley 2012 – 2016 / 2016 – 2020 / 2020 – 2024 '
  • David Eden 2012 – 2016 / 2016 – 2020 / 2020 – 2024 '
  • George Hua 2016 – 2020 / 2020 – 2024
  • Georgina Oxley 2016 – 2020 / 2020 – 2024 '
  • Tim Cochrane 2020 – 2024
  • Jenna Davey Burns 2020 – 2024 '
  • Tracey Davies 2020 – 2024
  • Chris Hill 2020 – 2024
  • Cameron Howe 2020 – 2024
  • Hadi Saab 2020 – 2024 ''''''