City of Greater Dandenong

For other uses of the name Dandenong, see Dandenong (disambiguation).

The City of Greater Dandenong is a local government area in Victoria, Australia in the southeastern suburbs of Melbourne. It has an area of just under 130 square kilometres (50 sq mi) and 166,094 residents in 2018.^[1] 29% of its land area forms part of the South East Green Wedge. It was formed in 1994 by the merger of parts of the former City of Dandenong and City of Springvale.

City of Greater Dandenong Victoria
The City of Greater Dandenong within metropolitan Melbourne
Coordinates	38°01′0″S 145°20′38″E
Population	166,094 (2018)[1] (43rd)
• Density	1,280/km2 (3,310/sq mi)
Established	1994
Area	130 km2 (50.2 sq mi)[1]
Mayor	Jim Memeti
Council seat	Dandenong
Region	Greater Melbourne
State electorate(s)	Carrum Clarinda Dandenong Mordialloc Mulgrave
Federal division(s)	Bruce Hotham Isaacs
Website	City of Greater Dandenong
LGAs around City of Greater Dandenong: Monash Monash Knox Kingston City of Greater Dandenong Casey Kingston Frankston Casey

The Bunurong/Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri peoples are the traditional owners and custodians of the land on which Greater Dandenong is now located.^[2]

History

In 1994, the state government restructured local government in Victoria. The reforms dissolved 210 councils and created 78 new councils through amalgamations. As part of the reforms City of Springvale and City of Dandenong were merged to create City of Greater Dandenong.

Council

Greater Dandenong City Council
Leadership
Mayor	Jim Memeti
Deputy Mayor	Sophie Tan
Structure
Council political groups	Labor (7)   Independent (3)   Greens (1)

Greater Dandenong City Council comprises 11 councillors, elected from single member wards.^[3] Prior to 2020, councillors were elected from four wards: Lightwood, Paperbark, Red Gum and Silverleaf. Councillors are elected to fixed-four year terms in a proportional manner using the STV voting system, with each ward electing Councillors based on their respective population.

Elections are held every four years, in accordance with the Local Government Act 1989, with voting being compulsory. Voter turnout figures by the Victorian Electoral Commission show that 81.7% of eligible voters voted at the council election in 2020.^[4]

Current composition

Party		Councillors
	Independent Labor	7
	Independent	3
	Greens	1
Total		11

The composition of Greater Dandenong City Council is one of the most Labor-dominated in the state, demonstrated by its high percentage of councillors who are members of the party and its below-average number of independent councillors. This political membership is reflected through the local federal and state MPs, both of whom are ALP-affiliated. The most recent elections were held on 26 October 2024 and produced the following results:

Ward	Councillor		Party	Notes
Cleeland		Rhonda Garad	Independent	[5]
Dandenong		Jim Memeti	Ind. Labor	Mayor
Dandenong North		Bob Milkovic	Independent	[6]
Keysborough		Melinda Yim	Independent
Keysborough South		Isabella Do	Greens
Noble Park		Sophie Tan	Ind. Labor	Deputy Mayor
Noble Park North		Lana Formoso	Ind. Labor
Springvale Central		Alice Phuong Le	Ind. Labor
Springvale North		Sean O'Reilly	Ind. Labor
Springvale South		Loi Truong	Ind. Labor
Yarraman		Phillip Danh	Ind. Labor

Mayor

Main article: List of mayors of Dandenong

The mayor is the head of the municipality, leading and coordinating the council's work. The position of mayor is a mostly ceremonial one, expected to represent the City and act as its public spokesperson. The mayor is not entirely a figurehead, however, instead being tasked with chairing council meetings and being involved with a greater number of community events such as citizenship ceremonies.^[7]

A mayor is elected among the councillors for a term of one year, meaning that each period between two local government elections usually sees four mayorships. Clare O'Neil became the youngest female mayor in Australian history when she served as mayor of Greater Dandenong from March to November 2004.

Election results

2024

2024 Victorian local elections: Greater Dandenong^{[8][9][10][11][12]}

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Independents		31,088	46.04	+10.12	2	1
	Independent Labor		29,937	44.34	−13.32[a]	7	1
	Greens		5,728	8.48	+5.66	2	1
	Victorian Socialists		766	1.13	+1.13	0
Formal votes			67,519	96.56
Informal votes			2,405	3.44
Total			69,924	100.00		11
Registered voters			93,869

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2024 Victorian local elections in South-Eastern Melbourne § Greater Dandenong results.[edit]

2020

2020 Victorian local elections: Greater Dandenong^[14]

Party			Votes	%	Seats	Change
	Dandenong Labor		41,714	52.83	8
	Independent		28,358	35.92	1
	Independent Labor		3,817	4.83	0
	Independent Liberal		2,828	3.58	1
	Greens		2,234	2.82	1
Formal votes			78,951

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2020 Victorian local elections in South-Eastern Melbourne § Greater Dandenong results.[edit]

Past councillors

2020−present (11 wards)

Year	Cleeland		Dandenong		Dandenong North		Keysborough		Keysborough South		Noble Park		Noble Park North		Springvale Central		Springvale North		Springvale South		Yarraman
	Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor		Councillor
2020		Angela Long (Ind. Labor)		Jim Memeti (Ind. Labor)		Bob Milkovic (Independent)		Tim Dark (Ind. Liberal)		Rhonda Garad (Greens)		Sophie Tan (Ind. Labor)		Lana Formoso (Ind. Labor)		Richard Lim (Ind. Labor)		Sean O'Reilly (Ind. Labor)		Loi Truong (Ind. Labor)		Eden Foster (Ind. Labor)
2024a																						Phillip Danh (Ind. Labor)
2024		Rhonda Garad (Greens / Independent)						Melinda Yim (Independent)		Isabelle Do (Greens)						Alice Phuong Le (Ind. Labor)
2025

Places of interest

• Dandenong Market
• Drum Theatre
• Heritage Hill Museum and Historic Gardens Archived 2 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine
• City of Greater Dandenong Libraries

Townships and localities

The 2021 census, the city had a population of 158,208 up from 152,050 in the 2016 census^[15]

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Bangholme	784	749
Dandenong	29,906	30,127
Dandenong North	22,451	22,550
Dandenong South	160	125
Keysborough	25,785	30,018
Lyndhurst^	6,725	8,926
Noble Park	30,998	32,257
Noble Park North	7,468	7,436
Springvale	21,714	22,174
Springvale South	12,768	12,766

^ - Territory divided with another LGA

Sport

The Dandenong Rangers played in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) at Dandenong Stadium until being rebranded in 2019. The Rangers won three WNBL championships.

The Dandenong Thunder compete in the Victorian Premier League, playing at George Andrews Reserve. In 2012, the team claimed the famous treble of the Victorian Premier League championship, the Victorian Premier League Minor Premiership, and the Football Federation Victoria State Knockout Cup.

The Greater Dandenong Warriors Hockey Club is based at the Bill Toon Playing fields on Cleeland Road, Dandenong North. The club currently fields four men's teams, one women's team, five junior teams and three master teams.^[16]

Community groups

Greater Dandenong has many active community groups.

Service clubs include the Lions Club of Greater Dandenong, the Lions Club of Dandenong, the Lions Club of Dandenong (Supper), the Rotary Club of Dandenong, the Rotary Club of Noble Park and the Rotary Club of Springvale.

Schools

The City of Greater Dandenong has a sister city relationship with Xuzhou, a city in China. Due to this connection the following schools in Greater Dandenong have established relationships with schools in Xuzhou:

• Wallarano Primary School and Minzulu
• Coomoora Secondary College & Xuzhou No. 3 Middle School
• Springvale Primary School & Xuzhou Arts School
• Maralinga Primary School & Jinshinqaun
• Noble Park English Language School & Xinyi Middle School
• Springvale Secondary College & Xuzhou No.1 Middle School

Public Libraries

• Greater Dandenong Public Library Service provides library service through two branch libraries: Springvale and Dandenong.

See also

• List of places on the Victorian Heritage Register in the City of Greater Dandenong

Notes

1. Compared to the combined Dandenong Labor and Independent Labor vote total at the 2020 election.^[13]