City of Knox


The City of Knox is a local government area in Victoria, Australia in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. It is headquartered in the suburb of Wantirna South. It has an area of and recorded a population of 159,103 at the. This municipality is one of only a handful that survived the widespread municipal amalgamations that occurred in Victoria in the early 1990s.

History

The City of Knox was named after Sir George Hodges Knox, a former soldier and speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly. The City of Knox Crest incorporates his family's motto 'Move and Prosper'.
The area which is now Knox was once part of the Scoresby Riding of the Shire of Berwick. On 23 May 1889, the riding was severed to create the Shire of Fern Tree Gully, which extended as far east as Olinda and Monbulk in the Dandenong Ranges. Post-World War II development in the area closer to Melbourne led to rapid urbanisation and population growth—over 21,000 residents lived in the Knox area by the 1961 Census. A plebiscite to determine local residents' views led to the creation of the Shire of Knox on 9 October 1963, which was proclaimed on 16 November 1963 by the Governor of Victoria. It was declared a City on 4 July 1969.
By the 1986 Census, the area was home to over 100,000 residents. Before the local government reforms of the 1990s, the Cities of Knox and Waverley were the state's two most populous municipalities, with around 125,000 residents each.
The City of Knox was one of the few councils to survive the statewide amalgamations. On 15 December 1994, its boundaries were extended to add the suburb of Upper Ferntree Gully and part of Lysterfield from the former Shire of Sherbrooke, while it ceded the locality of Lysterfield South to the City of Casey.

Wards

At present, the City of Knox has nine wards, each electing one councillor for a period of four years.
  • Baird ward
  • Chandler ward
  • Collier ward
  • Dinsdale ward
  • Dobson ward
  • Friberg ward
  • Scott ward
  • Taylor ward
  • Tirhatuan ward
Prior to 1994, the Council had three wards, each of which elected three councillors:
  • Bayswater/Wantirna ward
  • Boronia ward
  • Rowville/Scoresby ward

Council

Knox City Council is composed of nine single-member wards. The mayor and deputy are elected by councillors at an annual meeting in November.

Current composition

The most recent election was held in October 2024. The current council, as of November 2024, is:

Townships and localities

At the, the city had a population of 159,103, up from 154,110 in the.
^ - ''Territory divided with another LGA''

Population

YearPopulation
196121,281
196636,491
197156,786
197674,456
198188,902
1986104,207
1991121,982
1996130,401
2001141,408
2006146,740
2016154,110
2020165,147

Religion

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Transport

There are a number of bus routes that service the city run by Ventura Bus Lines the city has 4 train stations that are run by Metro Melbourne.