Hobart City Council (or City of Hobart) is a local government body in Tasmania, covering the central metropolitan area of the state capital, Hobart. The Hobart local government area has a population of 53,684^[1] and includes the suburbs of West Hobart, Lenah Valley, Mount Stuart, South Hobart, New Town, Sandy Bay and most of Fern Tree, North Hobart and Mount Nelson .

History and attributes

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The present city council was created in 1852 by act of parliament, and the city mayor raised to Lord Mayor in 1934.^[2]^[3]

Mount Wellington and the River Derwent are major features of the natural environment of the City of Hobart. 61% of the area is bushland.^[4]

Former Sister cities

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The City of Hobart is governed by the Hobart City Council, consisting of twelve aldermen headed by the Lord Mayor of Hobart. The current Lord Mayor is Anna Reynolds, after winning the 2018 Council Election.

Hobart City Council
Leadership
Lord Mayor	Anna Reynolds
Deputy Lord Mayor	Zelinda Sherlock
CEO	Michael Stretton
Structure

Council political groups	Liberal: 2 seats Labor: 1 seat Green: 2 seats Independent: 4 seats Your Hobart Independents: 3 seats
Elections
Next Council election	2026

Aldermen are elected every four years. They are elected by use of Single transferable voting.

Name	Position^[10]
Anna Reynolds	Lord Mayor/Councillor	Your Hobart Independents
Zelinda Sherlock	Deputy Lord Mayor/Councillor	Your Hobart Independents
Gemma Kitsos	Councillor	Greens
Will Coats	Councillor	Liberal
Ben Lohberger	Councillor	Independent
Marti Zucco	Alderman	Independent
John Kelly	Councillor	Independent
Mike Dutta	Councillor	Your Hobart Independents
Bill Harvey	Councillor	Greens
Louise Bloomfield	Alderman	Liberal
Ryan Posselt	Councillor	Labor
Louise Elliot	Councillor	Independent

• Battery Point • Dynnyrne • Fern Tree • Glebe • Hobart city centre • Lenah Valley • Mount Nelson • Mount Stuart • New Town • North Hobart • Ridgeway • Sandy Bay • South Hobart • Tolmans Hill • West Hobart

• Kingston • Neika • Queens Domain • Wellington Park • West Moonah

The Hobart City Council estimates that on weekdays "close to 50% of the population of Greater Hobart would be in the City for working, shopping, education, personal business or leisure purposes".^[4]

Major industries by employment:^[4]

Health and Community Services 17%
Retail Trade 13%
Property and Business Services 12%
Government Administration 12%
Education 9%

The City has five major hospitals and fire, police, and emergency service headquarters.^[4]

Hobart is classified as an urban capital city (UCC) under the Australian Classification of Local Governments.^[15]

Selected historical census data for City of Hobart local government area
Census year	2001^[16]	2006^[17]	2011^[18]	2016^[19]	2021^[20]
Population	Estimated residents on census night	46,622	47,700	48,703	50,439	55,077
LGA rank in terms of size within Tasmania		3rd	3rd	3rd
% of Tasmania population	10.25%	10.01%	9.83%	9.89%
% of Australian population	0.25%	0.24%	0.23%	0.22%
Cultural and language diversity
Ancestry, top responses	English			29.6%	29.4%	39.3%
Australian			26.6%	23.7%	30.9%
Irish			9.1%	9.7%	11.9%
Scottish			7.8%	8.3%	11.1%
Chinese			3.2%	4.4%	8.5%
Language, top responses (other than English)	Mandarin	0.7%	1.5%	2.3%	4.0%	6.1%
Nepali					1.9%
Cantonese	0.6%	0.7%	0.7%	0.8%	1.1%
Punjabi					0.7%
Greek	1.1%	1.1%	1.0%	0.9%	0.7%
Italian	1.0%	0.9%	0.8%	0.7%
German	0.5%	0.6%		0.6%
Arabic			0.8%
Religious affiliation
Religious affiliation, top responses	No religion	23.5%	28.5%	37.5%	46.4%	54.6%
Catholic	20.7%	19.5%	17.7%	14.2%	11.9%
Anglican	25.8%	22.2%	18.7%	13.7%	10.3%
Not Stated					5.6%
Hinduism					3.3%
Uniting	4.6%	4.0%	3.0%	2.1%
Presbyterian	2.2%	1.9%
Buddhism			1.9%
Median weekly incomes
Personal income	Median weekly personal income		A$526	A$641	A$718	A$886
% of Australian median income		112.9%	111.1%	108.5%
Family income	Median weekly family income		A$1380	A$1782	A$2023	A$2324
% of Australian median income		117.9%	120.3%	116.7%
Household income	Median weekly household income		A$1036	A$1260	A$1439	A$1842
% of Australian median income		100.9%	102.1%	100.0%
Dwelling structure
Dwelling type	Separate house	67.1%	68.7%	68.3%	68.6%	68.9%
Semi-detached, terrace or townhouse	9.3%	10.6%	10.8%	10.8%	11.4%
Flat or apartment	22.1%	19.9%	20.0%	19.7%	18.8%
Other Dwelling					0.5

Coat of arms of City of Hobart

Crest

On a wreath Argent and Azure a three masted sailing ship in full sail Or, mantled Azure doubled Or.

Escutcheon

Azure an estoile Or on a chief Argent a lion passant Gules.

Supporters

On the dexter side an emu and on the sinister side a kangaroo both reguardant and each gorged with a chaplet of apples leaved all Proper.

Motto

'Sic Fortis Hobartia Crevit.'

Hobart City Council official website
Local Government Association Tasmania Archived 22 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine
Tasmanian Electoral Commission - local government