Waverley Council is a Local government area in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. First incorporated on 16 June 1859 as the Municipality of Waverley, it is one of the oldest-surviving local government areas in New South Wales. Waverley is bounded by the Tasman Sea to the east, the Municipality of Woollahra to the north, and the City of Randwick in the south and west. The administrative centre of Waverley Council is located on Bondi Road in Bondi Junction in the Council Chambers on the corner of Waverley Park.

The elected Waverley Council is composed of twelve councillors elected proportionally across four wards, each electing three Councillors, and the most recent election was held on 4 December 2021. The current mayor of Waverley Council since September 2019 is Councillor Paula Masselos of Lawson Ward, a member of the Labor Party.^[2]

Suburbs within Waverley Council are:

With the enactment of the Municipalities Act of 1858, which allowed for the creation of Municipalities for areas with over 500 electors, several petitions calling for the incorporation of the Waverley area were received by the Colonial Government and published in New South Wales Government Gazette on 11 November 1858 and 17 May 1859.^[3] One of the earliest meetings of local residents formed to call for a "Municipality of Waverley" was held at the Tea Gardens Hotel on Bronte Road on 20 December 1858.^[4]

The Governor of New South Wales approved the proclamation establishing the Municipality of Waverley on 13 June 1859, and it was subsequently published in the Government Gazette on 16 June 1859.^[5] The first returning officer, Charles St Julian, was appointed to conduct the first meeting of electors a few days later.^[6] The first election was held on 14 July 1859, with nine Councillors elected proportionately, and the Council first met on 23 July 1859 at the Tea Gardens Hotel, with John Birrell elected as the first chairman.^[7][8][9] On 21 February 1860, the council was divided into three wards electing three councillors each: Waverley Ward, Bondi Ward and Nelson Ward.^[10] A fourth ward covering the western corner of Waverley, Lawson Ward, was added on 22 April 1887, thereby bringing the number of aldermen to 12.^[11]

On 6 October 1944, the recommendation of a 1941 NSW Local Government Department Commission of Inquiry removing the Mill Hill area (37 acres) from the Municipality of Randwick and include it in the Waverley Municipality was proclaimed in the Government Gazette.^[12]

At the 2011 census, there were 63,487 people in Waverley, of these 49.2% were male and 50.8% were female. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 0.4% of the population. The median age of people in Waverley Council was 35 years. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 15.4% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 12.0% of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 37.4% were married and 10.0% were either divorced or separated.^[19]

Population growth in Waverley Council between the 2001 Census and the 2006 Census was 3.31%; and in the subsequent five years to the 2011 Census, population growth was 4.57%. When compared with total population growth of Australia for the same periods, being 5.78% and 8.32% respectively, population growth in the Waverley local government area was a little over half the national average.^[20] The median weekly income for residents within the Municipality of Waverley was more than 1.5 times the national average.^[19][21]

The proportion of residents in Waverley who stated their ancestry was Jewish was three times the New South Wales and national averages. The proportion of households where Russian is spoken at home is thirteen times the state and national averages; and of all households where Hebrew is spoken in New South Wales, one third are located in Waverley, and in Australia, one tenth of households where Hebrew is spoken are located in Waverley. The proportion of residents who stated an affiliation with Judaism was in excess of twenty–eight times the state and national averages.^[19]

More information Selected historical census data for Waverley local government area, Census year ...

Selected historical census data for Waverley local government area
Census year			2001[20]	2006[21]	2011[19]	2016[22]
Population		Estimated residents on census night	58,769	60,715	63,487	66,812
		LGA rank in terms of size within New South Wales			36th
		% of New South Wales population			0.92%	0.89%
		% of Australian population	0.31%	0.31%	0.30%	0.28%
		Estimated ATSI population on census night	199	196	245	270
		% of ATSI population to residents	0.3%	0.3%	0.4%	0.4%
Cultural and language diversity
Ancestry, top responses		English			20.9%	29.0%
		Australian			16.1%	20.8%
		Irish			9.3%	12.2%
		Scottish			5.5%	7.3%
		Jewish			3.1%	2.1%
Language, top responses (other than English)		Russian	3.2%	2.6%	2.6%	2.2%
		Spanish	n/c	1.0%	1.3%	2.1%
		Portuguese	n/r	n/r	n/r	1.9%
		French	n/c	n/c	1.3%	1.8%
		Italian	1.5%	1.3%	1.4%	1.7%
Religious affiliation
Religious affiliation, top responses		No religion, so described	16.9%	18.0%	24.3%	33.4%
		Catholic	22.9%	20.8%	22.1%	19.9%
		Judaism	16.1%	16.8%	17.1%	15.1%
		Religion not stated	n/r	n/r	n/r	14.4%
		Anglican	13.5%	11.7%	11.0%	7.9%
Median weekly incomes
Personal income		Median weekly personal income		A$765	A$973	A$1,151
		% of Australian median income		164.2%	168.6%	173.9%
Family income		Median weekly family income		A$1,446	A$2,496	A$2,917
		% of Australian median income		140.8%	168.5%	168.2%
Household income		Median weekly household income		A$1,928	A$1,912	A$2,308
		% of Australian median income		164.6%	154.9%	160.5%
Dwelling structure
Dwelling type		Separate house	17.9%	21.2%	19.9%	16.5%
		Semi-detached, terrace or townhouse	18.7%	16.7%	18.8%	19.0%
		Flat or apartment	51.7%	61.3%	60.5%	62.6%

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NSW Local Government Elections are held every four years on the second Saturday of September as stipulated by the Local Government Act 1993.^[23][24]

The Waverley Council area has a number of heritage-listed items and conservation areas, including those listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register:

• Bondi, 36 Anglesea Street: Electricity Substation No. 269^[189]
• Bondi, Blair Street: Bondi Ocean Outfall Sewer^[190]
• Bondi, 60 Blair Street: St Anne's Catholic Church, Bondi^[191]
• Bondi, Military Road: Bondi Sewer Vent^[192]
• Bondi Beach, Queen Elizabeth Drive: Bondi Beach Cultural Landscape^[193]
• Bondi Junction and Waverley, Paul Street: Waverley Reservoirs^[194][195]
• Bronte, 470 Bronte Road: Bronte House^[196]
• Bronte, St Thomas Street: Waverley Cemetery^[197]
• North Bondi, Ben Buckler Gun Battery^[198]
• Vaucluse, 793 Old South Head Road: South Head General Cemetery^[199]
• Waverley, 240 Birrell Street: St Mary's Anglican Church, Waverley^[200]
• Waverley, 11 Victoria Street: Charing Cross (homestead)^[201]
• Waverley, 45 Victoria Street: Mary Immaculate Catholic Church, Waverley^[202]

The Mark and Evette Moran Nib Literary Award, formerly The Nib Waverley Library Award for Literature, is organised and supported by the council, and the awards ceremony held in Waverley Library each year.^[203]