City of Cranbourne

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City of Cranbourne
Victoria

Location in Melbourne

Population:

82,700 (1993)^[1]

Established:

1860

Area:

755 km² (291.5 sq mi)

Council Seat:

Cranbourne

Region:

Outer Southeast Melbourne

County:

Mornington

LGAs around City of Cranbourne:
Dandenong	Berwick	Pakenham
Springvale Frankston	City of Cranbourne	Pakenham
Hastings	Western Port	Korumburra

The City of Cranbourne was a Local Government Area located about 45 kilometres (28 mi) southeast of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The City covered an area of 755 square kilometres (291.5 sq mi), and existed from 1860 until 1994. It was notable for being the last local government area to be declared a City prior to the large-scale amalgamations of 1994—its former designation was the Shire of Cranbourne.

1 History
2 Wards
3 Suburbs and Localities
4 Population
5 References

[edit] History

The Cranbourne Roads District was first incorporated on 19 June 1860 and became a Shire on 6 March 1868. On 27 January 1893, it annexed part of the Shire of Buln Buln around the areas of Koo Wee Rup and Lang Lang, while on 6 May 1919 it lost some of its territory to the Shire of Frankston and Hastings.^[2] From the 1950s onwards, industrial development started to spread southwards from Dandenong and by the 1980s Cranbourne was part of Melbourne's southeastern growth corridor and had essentially become a dormitory suburb of Dandenong and Melbourne. However, eastern parts of the Shire were still rural in character, with dairying, market gardening, potato growing and animal breeding being primary pursuits.^[3]

On 22 May 1994, Cranbourne was proclaimed a city by the Governor of Victoria, Richard McGarvie. However, less than seven months later on 15 December 1994, the City was abolished and split into six portions of varying sizes. The two largest sections were given to the City of Casey which received Cranbourne and Hampton Park, and the City of Frankston which received Langwarrin, Carrum Downs and Skye. Other smaller transfers included:^[4]

Dandenong South and parts of Lyndhurst to the City of Greater Dandenong;
Koo Wee Rup and Lang Lang to the Shire of Cardinia and Bass Coast Shire;
A small part of Pearcedale to the Shire of Mornington Peninsula.

An article in The Age in July 1994 reported that Cranbourne was "losing the fight to remain separate". During the submission process, the council had wanted to remain as is with no merger or loss of territory, as it was fast-growing and needed its entire rate base.^[5] In its final year of existence, Cranbourne was one of the five fastest growing municipalities in Australia, in marked contrast to most of the rest of the state.^[1]

Council met at the Shire Offices in Sladen Street, Cranbourne. The facility is now used as a museum by the City of Casey.