The South Perth Road District was formed on 9 June 1892 and the district became a municipality as the Municipality of South Perth on 21 February 1902. It then reverted to a road district on 1 March 1922, but regained municipality status on 1 March 1956. It was granted city status on 1 July 1959. In 2014, the WA State Government mounted a proposal for local government reform; the City of South Perth was proposed to be amalgamated with the Town of Victoria Park, together with a sizable portion of the City of Canning. A poll took place during January–February 2015, with the question: "Should the City of South Perth and the Town of Victoria Park be abolished and amalgamated to form a new local government?". The informally suggested name for the new entity was 'City of South Park'. In order for the poll to prevent the amalgamation from proceeding, at least 50% of electors from either local government were required to vote, and of those, more than half needed to vote against the proposal. At the conclusion of the poll at 6.00pm on 7 February 2015, the outcome was that for South Perth, 50.83% of the City's 26,789 electors voted, with 77.75% voting against the proposal. Although only 38.02% of the Town of Victoria Park's 20,136 electors voted, of those, a clear majority voted against the proposal. However, with more than 50% poll returns, the City of South Perth response was sufficient to cancel the amalgamation of these local governments, and they remained as separate entities.
Wards
The City of South Perth is divided into four wards, each of whom directly elect two councillors, elected in four year cycles, in a first-past-the-post methodology. The mayor is directly elected.
Mill Point- Ken Manolas, Mary Choy
Moresby- Stephen Russell, Samantha Bradder
Como- Carl Celedin, Glenn Cridland
Manning- Blake D'Souza, Andre Brender-A-Brandis
All of these councillors are independent/unaligned. Blake D'Souza was 21 when elected in 2017.
The suburbs of the City of South Perth are known for being very affluent due to their proximity to the river, private schools and the CBD, all are well above the state's average. The following table contains the suburbs and their median house price, bar Karawara. House prices have dramatically increased in Como and Kensington, while being stagnant in South Perth, Manning and Salter Point, and dramatically falling in Waterford and Karawara.
Suburb
Median house price
Como
$970,000
Karawara
$599,000
Kensington
$965,000
Manning
$825,000
Salter Point
$1,117,500
South Perth
$1,252,000
Waterford
$875,000
Education
The City of South Perth is home to numerous primary schools, and five major secondary schools.
The City of South Perth has two libraries with branches in Manning and South Perth. The two libraries have in excess of 70,000 items over both locations. The collection contains digital and traditional items including new and popular titles across an extensive range of books, DVDs, talking books and magazines for the whole family. A regular events program run throughout the year is designed to educate and entertain all ages. The City of South Perth Local History Collection is a source of knowledge, ideas, stories and memories. It is developed and managed as a community resource to inspire, educate and inform the community and visitors and to contribute to the conservation of the history and heritage of the City of South Perth. The collection provides and preserves information about the suburbs of South Perth, Como, Kensington, Manning, Karawara and Salter Point. Picture South Perth is an online collection of historic images dating back to the 1870s that showcases the people, places and events that have shaped the City of South Perth. It contains images from the City of South Perth's Local History Collection which have been scanned and catalogued by dedicated library staff.
