City of Willoughby

Suburbs and Localities in the City of Willoughby are:

The City of Willoughby has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

• Artarmon, 559 Pacific Highway: Chatswood Reservoirs No. 1 and No. 2[4]
• Castle Cove, 14 Cherry Place: Innisfallen Castle and grounds[5]
• Castlecrag, 375 Edinburgh Road: Buhrich House II[6]
• Castlecrag, 8 The Barbette: Duncan House (Castlecrag)[7]
• Castlecrag, 80 The Bulwark: The Glass House (Castlecrag)[8]
• Castlecrag, 15 The Citadel: Fishwick House[9]
• Chatswood, 258-260 Mowbray Road: Windsor Gardens (Chatswood)[10]
• Chatswood, 313-315 Mowbray Road: Hilton (Chatswood)[11]
• Gore Hill, Pacific Highway: Gore Hill Memorial Cemetery[12]
• Willoughby, 85-87 Penshurst Street: Laurelbank[13]
• Willoughby, 2 Small Street: Walter Burley Griffin Incinerator, Willoughby[14]

At the 2016 Census, there were 74,302 people in the Willoughby local government area, of these 48.0% were male and 52.0% were female. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 0.2% of the population. The median age of people in the City of Willoughby was 37 years. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 19.4% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 13.6% of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 54.6% were married and 8.2% were either divorced or separated.[1]

Population growth in the City of Willoughby between the 2006 Census and the 2011 Census was 5.9%; and in the subsequent five years to the 2016 Census, population growth was 10.3%. When compared with total population growth of Australia for the same periods, being 8.3% and 8.8% respectively, population growth in Willoughby local government area has accelerated faster than the national average.[15]

At the 2016 Census, the proportion of residents in Willoughby local government area who stated their ancestry as Chinese was in excess of four times the state and national averages; and the proportion of households where an Asian language was spoken at home was approximately five times higher than the national average.[1]

Map of City of Willoughby local government area.

Selected historical census data for Willoughby local government area
Census year			2001[16]	2006[15]	2011[17]	2016[1]
Population		Estimated residents on census night	58,319	63,605	67,356	74,302
		LGA rank in terms of size within New South Wales		19th	33rd	32nd
		% of New South Wales population			0.97%	0.99%
		% of Australian population	0.31%	0.32%	0.31%	0.32%
Cultural and language diversity
Ancestry, top responses		English			20.5%	18.8%
		Chinese			14.5%	18.6%
		Australian			18.3%	15.6%
		Irish			7.4%	7.3%
		Scottish			5.6%	5.3%
Language, top responses (other than English)		Mandarin	3.6%	5.5%	7.2%	12.1%
		Cantonese	6.7%	7.6%	7.5%	7.4%
		Korean	1.7%	2.7%	3.6%	3.3%
		Japanese	2.4%	2.4%	2.3%	2.4%
		Armenian	n/c	1.4%	1.3%	1.1%
Religious affiliation
Religious affiliation, top responses		No religion	18.6%	22.0%	27.6%	36.5%
		Catholic	26.1%	25.5%	25.0%	21.6%
		Anglican	19.5%	17.6%	15.6%	11.5%
		Buddhism	3.7%	4.4%	4.6%	4.3%
		Not Stated				8.7%
Median weekly incomes
Personal income		Median weekly personal income		A$728	A$858	A$946
		% of Australian median income		156.2%	148.7%	142.9%
Family income		Median weekly family income		A$1,667	A$2,479	A$2,671
		% of Australian median income		162.3%	167.4%	154.0%
Household income		Median weekly household income		A$2,066	A$1,996	A$2,271
		% of Australian median income		176.4%	161.8%	157.9%

The first Willoughby Town Hall, on Victoria Avenue, Chatswood, 1907. Built in 1903, was demolished in 1969 to make way for the new town hall and is now the site of The Concourse.

In May 1865, 67 residents of the rural District of Willoughby sent a petition to the Governor Sir John Young, requesting the incorporation of the Municipality of North Willoughby.[23] This resulted in the Municipality of North Willoughby being formally proclaimed on 23 October 1865.[24] The council first met to elect six Councillors and two Auditors on 16 December 1865, in the house of James Harris French and the first Chairman, James William Bligh, was elected on 1 January 1866.

There were no wards until 1876 when the council was divided into three wards: Chatsworth Ward to the north, Middle Harbour Ward to the east and Lane Cove Ward to the west. Lane Cove Ward became the separate Municipality of Lane Cove on 11 February 1895 and Middle Harbour Ward was divided into Middle Harbour and Naremburn wards.[25] With the passing of the Municipalities Act, 1867, the name was changed to be the Borough of North Willoughby, which then changed to Borough of Willoughby in the Borough of Willoughby Naming Act 1890.[26] In June 1900, a petition to expand the number of wards from three to four, each electing three aldermen, was proclaimed dividing Chatsworth Ward into Chatswood East and West wards in addition to Middle Harbour and Naremburn wards.[27] From 28 December 1906, with the passing of the Local Government Act, 1906, the council area was renamed the Municipality of Willoughby. In August 1941, the Minister for Local Government, James McGirr, approved a proposal to split Middle Harbour Ward, adding Northbridge Ward as the fifth ward electing three aldermen.[28]

The first council meetings were held in a hut located behind the main residence of major landholder and timer merchant, James Harris French, on the corner of Penshurst and Penkivil Streets. Municipal offices were afterwards established in Penshurst Street near Forsyth Street corner. These were in turn followed by the Council Chambers in the old School of Arts building in Mowbray Road from 1877, which then became part of the Mowbray House School. These chambers were replaced in 1903 by the first Town Hall building in Victoria Avenue, designed by Byera Hadley and officially opened by the Premier, Sir John See, on 2 September 1903.[29][30] The first town hall was demolished in 1969 and replaced by the second Willoughby Town Hall with the adjacent Council Administration Centre as the "Willoughby Civic Centre".[31] The council was granted city status and was proclaimed as the City of Willoughby on 17 November 1989.

A 2015 review of local government boundaries by the NSW Government Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal recommended that the City of Willoughby merge with adjoining councils. The government considered two proposals. The first proposed a merger of the North Sydney and Willoughby Councils to form a new council with an area of 33 square kilometres (13 sq mi) and support a population of approximately 145,000.[32] The alternative, proposed by Warringah Council on 23 February 2016, was for an amalgamation of the Pittwater, Manly and Warringah councils. As a consequence of Warringah's proposal, the New South Wales Minister for Local Government Paul Toole proposed that the North Sydney, Willoughby and Mosman Councils merge.[33] In July 2017, the Berejiklian government decided to abandon the forced merger of the North Sydney, Willoughby and Mosman local government areas, along with several other proposed forced mergers.[34]

• Willoughby City Council