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.
Cardinia Shire Council Offices are located in Officer. Prior to 17 November 2014, they were located in Pakenham.
Contents
History
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.
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.
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
Cardinia Shire Council is divided into nine wards: 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. 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.
Mayors
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
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
Townships and localities
In the 2021 census, the shire had a population of 118,194, up from 94,128 in the 2016 census.
^ - Territory divided with another LGA