Major transport routes through the area include the Pacific Highway and North Shore railway line. Because of its good soils and elevated position as part of the Hornsby Plateau, Ku-ring-gai was originally covered by a large area of dry sclerophyll forest, parts of which still remain and form a component of the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. There are also many domestic gardens in the residential parts of Ku-ring-gai.
The Mayor of Ku-ring-gai Council is Cr. Christine Kay, an Independent Liberal politician, elected from amongst her follow councillors in November 2024.
The council comprises an area of 86 square kilometres (33 sq mi), and as at the 2021 census, had an estimated population of 124,076. Ku-ring-gai is the most advantaged area in Australia to live in, at the top of the Index of Relative Socio-economic Advantage and Disadvantage (IRSAD).[5]
Suburbs and localities in the local government area
Suburbs and localities serviced by Ku-ring-gai Council are:[6]
At the 2021 census, there were 124,076 people in the Ku-ring-gai Council local government area, of these 48.2 per cent were male and 51.8 per cent were female. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 0.2 per cent of the population, significantly below the national average of 3.2 per cent. The median age of people in the Ku-ring-gai Council area was 42 years; slightly above the national average of 38 years. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 19.5 per cent of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 19.3 per cent of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 60.7 per cent were married and 7.2 per cent were either divorced or separated; a rate that is more than half the national average.
Population growth in the Ku-ring-gai Council area between the 2001 census and the 2006 census was 0.93 per cent and in the subsequent five years to the 2011 census, population growth was 8.13 per cent. At the 2021 census, the population in the Ku-ring-gai Council area increased by 5.1 per cent. When compared with total population growth of Australia for the same period, being 8.6 per cent, population growth in the Ku-ring-gai local government area is slower than the national average.[7] The median weekly income for residents within the Ku-ring-gai Council area was significantly higher than the national average.
At the 2021 census, the area was linguistically diverse, with Asian languages spoken in more than 20 per cent of households; more than four times the national average.
Selected historical census data for Ku-ring-gai Council local government area
Ku-ring-gai Council is composed of ten councillors elected proportionally as five separate wards, each electing two councillors. All councillors are elected for a fixed four-year term of office. The mayor is elected bi-annually by the councillors at the first meeting of the council, while the deputy mayor is elected annually. The most recent election was held on 14 September 2024, and the makeup of the council is as follows:
Ku-ring-gai was first incorporated on 6 March 1906 as the "Shire of Ku-ring-gai" and the first Shire Council was elected on 24 November 1906. The first leader of the council was elected at the first meeting on 8 December 1906, when Councillor William Cowan was elected as Shire President. There would not be a Deputy President until the council election on 1 March 1920.
On 22 September 1928, the Shire of Ku-ring-gai was proclaimed as the "Municipality of Ku-ring-gai" and the titles of 'Shire President' and 'Councillor' were retitled to be 'Mayor' and 'Alderman' respectively. In 1993, with the passing of a new Local Government Act, council was retitled as simply "Ku-ring-gai Council" and aldermen were retitled as councillors.[21]
A 2015 review of local government boundaries by the NSW GovernmentIndependent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal recommended that Ku-ring-gai Council and parts of the Hornsby Shire north of the M2 merge to form a new council with an area of 540 square kilometres (210 sq mi) and support a population of approximately 270,000.[22] The Ku-ring-gai Council took the NSW Government to court and, on appeal, the NSW Court of Appeal found that the council had been denied procedural fairness. The proposed merger was stood aside indefinitely.[23] In July 2017, the Berejiklian government decided to abandon the forced merger of the Hornsby and Ku-ring-gai local government areas, along with several other proposed forced mergers.[24]
Planning and development
During the term of former Planning Minister, Frank Sartor, planning law reforms were passed that gave development approval to a panel and away from local government. These new laws were controversially implemented in Ku-ring-gai, with immense opposition from the local population who claim that their suburbs, with nationally recognised heritage values in both housing and original native forest, are being trashed by slab-sided apartment developments with no effective protection provided by either the Ku-ring-gai Council or the state government. This has been termed "The Rape of Ku-ring-gai".[25]
The laws are intended to take development approval power away from local councils and to the Planning NSW, via the development panels. Planning panels are about to be introduced across New South Wales under recently passed planning reforms. In 2005–06, Ku-ring-gai had the second highest reported total development value in the state – A$1.7 billion, more than Parramatta, second only to the City of Sydney.
In Rugby League Ku-ring-gai council falls within the district of the North Sydney Bears (The only NRL club without representation to have a junior rugby league district, although there have been ongoing efforts to resurrect the club to the top flight), the team is officially known as the North Sydney District Rugby League Football Club, and clubs compete in a joint district competition with clubs within the districts of the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles, and teams in the competition either play with a Bears or Sea Eagles logo on their jersey, in order to signal whether they belong in the district of the Bears or Sea Eagles, and the Ku-ring-gai LGA is represented by the Ku-ring-gai Cubs, who primarily play their home games at Memorial Park in Turramurra
^Attenbrow, Val (2002). Sydney's Aboriginal past: investigating the archaeological and historical records. Sydney: UNSW Press. pp. 22–35. ISBN9781742231167.
^"KURING-GAI SHIRE COUNCIL". The Daily Telegraph. No. 8443. New South Wales, Australia. 25 June 1906. p. 3. Retrieved 20 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
^"PERSONAL". Wagga Wagga Express. Vol. 52, no. 9129. New South Wales, Australia. 9 November 1911. p. 5. Retrieved 20 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
^"PERSONAL". Daily Advertiser. New South Wales, Australia. 27 November 1911. p. 2. Retrieved 20 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Town Clerk Charged With Theft". The Sun. No. 11, 648. New South Wales, Australia. 26 May 1947. p. 2. Retrieved 20 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
^"KU-RING-GAI MUNICIPAL COUNCIL.—RESIDENTIAL". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales. No. 163. New South Wales, Australia. 28 December 1973. p. 5606. Retrieved 20 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
^"KU-RING-GAI MUNICIPAL COUNCIL". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales. No. 26. New South Wales, Australia. 1 March 1996. p. 997. Retrieved 20 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
^"New GM named for Lake Macquarie council". ABC News. 9 December 2005. Archived from the original on 24 August 2024. Retrieved 19 September 2019. Brian Bell is currently the general manager of Ku-ring-gai council and will take up his new position next February.
^"Fifty years in local government". Local Government Focus. July 2017. Archived from the original on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 19 September 2019. Stints followed at Canterbury, in New Zealand – his wife Cyd's home country – and Ku-ring-gai in Sydney, before Mr Bell landed the GM job at Lake Macquarie in 2006.
^"Civic Management". Civic Management. Ku-ring-gai Council. General Manager: John McKee. Archived from the original on 20 February 2020. Retrieved 19 September 2019.