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 (1885–1960), 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 (and one of only four in Melbourne) 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,

  • 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.

|-

| Collier

| | 

| Independent

| Chris Duncan

|Mayor since 20 November 2025

{| class="wikitable sortable defaultright col1left"

|-

! colspan="3" | Population

|-

! Locality !! 2016 !! 2021

|-

| || 11,758 || 12,262

|-

| || 22,195 || 23,607

|-

| || 26,428 || 27,398

|-

| || 7,462 || 7,645

|-

| ^ || 6,663 || 6,681

|-

| || 33,672 || 33,571

|-

| ^ || 1,061 || 970

|-

| || 6,022 || 6,066

|-

| || 4,416 || 4,497

|-

| ^ || 3,416 || 3,417

|-

| || 13,818 || 14,237

|-

| || 19,271 || 20,754

|}

^ - Territory divided with another LGA

Population

{| class="wikitable col1left col2right"

|-

! Year

! Population

|-

| 1961 || 21,281

|-

| 1966 || 36,491

|-

| 1971 || 56,786

|-

| 1976 || 74,456

|-

| 1981 || 88,902

|-

| 1986 || 104,207

|-

| 1991 || 121,982

|-

| 1996 || 130,401

|-

| 2001 || 141,408

|-

| 2006 || 146,740

|-

| 2016 || 154,110

|-

| 2020 || 165,147

|}

Religion

  • CityLife Church
  • Hills Bible Church - Hills Bible Church is a Reformed Baptist congregation
  • Knox Community Baptist Church
  • St. Jude's Parish, Scoresby
  • Knox Presbyterian Church
  • Our Saviours Lutheran Church
  • Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church
  • The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
  • The Salvation Army
  • Truth and Liberation Concern
  • St.Thomas Anglican Church Upper Ferntree Gully

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.

See also

  • List of places on the Victorian Heritage Register in the City of Knox

References

  • Knox City Council – official website
  • Knox Historical Society Inc.
  • Link to Land Victoria interactive maps. .
  • City of Knox Community Profile
  • Public Transport Victoria local public transport map (archived)