City of Ryde

The City of Ryde is a local government area in the Northern Sydney region, in New South Wales, Australia. It was first established as the Municipal District of Ryde in 1870, became a municipality in 1906 and was proclaimed as the City of Ryde in 1992.

The local government area extends from the Parramatta River to the Lane Cove River which encircles the area in the north, and is bounded in the east by the peninsula of Hunters Hill and the City of Parramatta in the west. The City comprises an area of and as at the had an estimated population of .

The mayor of the City of Ryde since 28 March 2024 is Councillor Trenton Brown, a member of the Liberal Party.

Suburbs and localities in the local government area The following suburbs and localities are within the City of Ryde:

Chatswood West (shared with City of Willoughby) Denistone Denistone East Denistone West East Ryde Eastwood (shared with City of Parramatta) Gladesville (shared with Municipality of Hunter's Hill) Macquarie Centre Macquarie Park Macquarie University campus Marsfield Meadowbank Melrose Park (shared with City of Parramatta) North Ryde Putney Ryde Tennyson Point Top Ryde West Ryde

Heritage listings The City of Ryde has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: Denistone, 1-13 Pennant Avenue: The Hermitage Eastwood, Marsden Road: Brush Farm Gladesville, 144 Ryde Road: Gladesville Drill Hall Ryde, 782 Victoria Road: Willandra, Ryde Ryde, 808-810 Victoria Road: Ryde police station Ryde, 813 Victoria Road: Addington House Ryde, 817 Victoria Road: The Retreat, Ryde West Ryde, 135 Marsden Road: Riverview House, West Ryde West Ryde, Victoria Road: Ryde Pumping Station

Demographics At the , there were people in the Ryde local government area, of these 48.8% identified as male and 51.2% identified as female. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 0.5% of the population. The median age of people in the City of Ryde was 37 years. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 16.2% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 14.3% of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 51% were married and 8.3% were either divorced or separated.

Population growth in the City of Ryde between the 2006 Census and the 2011 Census was 6.28%, and in the subsequent five years to the 2016 Census, population growth was 12.87%. When compared with total population growth of Australia of 8.81% during the same period, population growth in the Ryde local government area was approximately 50% higher than the national average. The median weekly income for residents within the City of Ryde was around 25% above the national average. At the 2021 Census, the Ryde local government area was linguistically diverse, with a significantly higher than average proportion (55.3%) where two or more languages are spoken (the national average was 24.8%); and a significantly lower proportion (46.3%) where English only was spoken at home (national average was 72.0%).

Selected historical census data for Ryde local government areaCensus year 2001200620112016 2021Population Estimated residents on census night          LGA rank in terms of size within New South Wales 22  22% of New South Wales population 1.49%  1.48%  1.49%  1.56% 1.59%% of Australian population 0.50%  0.49%  0.48%  0.50% 0.50%Cultural and language diversity Ancestry,top responses Australian 17.0%  14.1% 16.1%English 16.9%  15.1% 16.9%Chinese 15.7%  19.2% 26.1%Irish 6.3%  5.8% 6.1%Italian 5.4%  5.1% 6.1%Language,top responses(other than English) Mandarin3.0%  5.9%  8.6%  12.7% 13.8%Cantonese 6.4%  7.0%  7.1%  7.0% 7.2%Korean2.4%  3.0%  3.9%  4.7% 4.5%Italian3.5%  3.1%  2.8%  2.2% 1.7%Armenian2.1%  2.1%  1.9%--Arabic 1.7% 1.6%Religious affiliation Religious affiliation,top responses Catholic32.1%  30.6%  29.4%  25.3% 22.9%No religion13.7%  17.4%  22.4%  30.2% 36.7%Anglican16.9%  14.2%  12.0%  8.6% 6.6%Buddhismn/c  3.6%  4.4%  4.1%-Presbyterian and Reformed3.9%  3.8%  3.8% --Median weekly incomes Personal income Median weekly personal income $528  $635  $738 $967% of Australian median income 113.3%  110.1%  111.5% 120.1%Family income Median weekly family income $  $  $ $% of Australian median income 112.8%  124.3%  121.5% 118.8%Household income Median weekly household income $  $  $ $% of Australian median income 126.9%  118.8%  120.2% 120.1%Dwelling structure Dwelling type Separate house56.2%  54.5%  52.8%  47.3% 40.8%Semi-detached, terrace or townhouse13.0% 15.1%   15.1%  16.3% 14.3%Flat or apartment29.5%  30.0%  31.9%  35.6% 44.6%

Council

Current composition and election method

The City of Ryde is composed of twelve councillors elected proportionally as three separate wards, each electing four councillors. All councillors are elected for a fixed four-year term of office. The mayor since 2024 is directly elected for a four-year term. The most recent election was held on 14 September 2024. The makeup of the council is as follows:

PartyCouncillors  Liberal Party of Australia 8  Australian Labor Party 3  Independent 2 Total 13

The current Council, elected in 2024 is:

WardCouncillorPartyNotes Mayor Trenton Brown Liberal Elected 2017, Mayor 2024 - present., First directly elected Mayor of RydeCentral Ward  Daniel Han Liberal Elected 2022, Deputy Mayor September 2023 – present,  Lyndal Howison Labor   Shweta Deshpande Liberal Elected 2021, Deputy Mayor March–September 2023.  Tina Kordrostami Independent Elected as a NSW Greens candidate, resigned from the party in June 2025.East Ward  Penny Pedersen Labor Elected 2017.  Roy Maggio Independent Elected 2008; Mayor 2013–2014; Deputy Mayor 2009–2010, 2014–2016, 2021–2022.  Keanu Arya Liberal   Sophie Lara-Watson Liberal West Ward  Justin Li Liberal Elected 2008–2017, 2022–present; Deputy Mayor, 2012–2014. Jerome Laxale (Labor) resigned on 22 July 2022; by-election held on 15 October 2022.  Kathy Tracey Liberal   Felix Lo Labor   Cameron Last Liberal

Referendum on the position of mayor A referendum was also undertaken at the election held on 4 December 2021, asking residents the following question: "Do you support a popularly elected Mayor where the voters of the City of Ryde elect the Mayor for a four (4) year term, thereby adopting a thirteen (13) Councillor model (including the Mayor)?". The final declared results were: 76.18% YES and 23.82% NO. As a result, the position of mayor was directly elected from the next local government elections scheduled for 2024.

Election results 2024

Council history

In June 1870, 201 residents of the district of Ryde sent a petition to the governor, requesting the incorporation of the "Municipal District of Ryde". This resulted in the municipality being formally proclaimed on 11 November 1870. With a total land area of 40.6 square kilometres, Ryde was the largest Sydney municipality. However, due to an error in the proclamation regarding the western boundary, a new proclamation was made on 11 June 1872.

In June 1894 the northern section of the municipality known as Marsfield, was proclaimed as the "Municipal District of Marsfield". In 1907, Marsfield became known as the Municipality of Eastwood, and lasted until it was re-amalgamated with Ryde following the passing of the Local Government (Areas) Act 1948.

With the passing of the Local Government Act 1906, the council name was changed to be the "Municipality of Ryde". The City of Ryde was proclaimed by the Governor, Peter Sinclair, on 20 September 1991, and with the passing of the Local Government Act 1993, aldermen were also retitled councillors and the town clerk became the general manager.

A 2015 review of local government boundaries by the NSW Government Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal recommended that the City of Ryde merge with adjoining councils. The government proposed a merger of the Hunter's Hill, Lane Cove and Ryde Councils to form a new council with an area of and support a population of approximately 164,000. In July 2017, the Berejiklian government decided to abandon the forced merger of the Hunter's Hill, Lane Cove and Ryde local government areas, along with several other proposed forced mergers.

Town Clerks and General Managers NameTermNotes George Miller Pope 1870 – 18 February 1887 William Short 1 March 1887 – 6 January 1902 Nelson Kirby 20 March 1903 – July 1904 Joseph Parry 18 July 1904 – June 1919 Donald Neil Morrison August 1919 – 11 November 1936 Town Clerk of St Peters, 1913–1919. F. C. Taylor 12 April 1937 – 28 February 1949 E. Gyllies 28 February 1949 – 1951 Mervyn Leslie Donnelly 1951–1968 A. G. Sindel 1968–1975 K. R. Brown 1975–1989 K. J. King 1989–1994 Gerry Brus 1994–2000 Michael McMahon January 2001 – August 2004 Michael Whittaker October 2004 – October 2009 John Neish 4 January 2010 – 12 February 2013 Danielle Dickson (acting) 12 February 2013 – August 2013 Roy Newsome (acting) August 2013 – 22 August 2014 Dominic Johnson (acting) 22 August 2014 – 12 January 2015 Gail Connolly 12 January 2015 – 17 May 2016 Roy Newsome (acting) 17 May 2016 – July 2017 George Dedes July 2017 – 1 July 2022 Acting until 7 February 2018. Wayne Rylands 1 July 2022 – present Acting from May 2022 until 2 September 2022.

International relations Ryde, Isle of Wight

Coat of arms

See also City of Ryde Libraries

References

External links City of Ryde website