On 16 November 1963, the original municipality of Knox was established with an area of 110 square kilometres and a population of 24,000 people.
The area was originally part of the Shire of Ferntree Gully, which had been formed in 1889. As the population grew, Sir George Hodges Knox (1885-1960), a veteran of WW1 conflicts in Gallipoli and France and speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, observed a shift in the district that worried him. The needs of the increasingly urbanised town centres of Knox conflicted with their mountain dwelling neighbours. This began the push for severance, which as the Knox Severance Association stated ‘will give the people of the Knox area the ability and opportunity to…stand solidly and proudly on their own two feet.’ The City of Knox crest incorporates Sir Knox’s family motto ‘Move and Prosper’.
Knox was proclaimed a City on 4 July 1969, and by then had a population of 50,000 people.
On 15 December 1994, following a review of local government, a new City of Knox was proclaimed. As part of this amalgamation process, sections of Upper Ferntree Gully and Lysterfield became a part of the new City of Knox. Knox comprises 11 suburbs: Bayswater, Boronia, Ferntree Gully, Lysterfield, Knoxfield, Rowville, Scoresby, The Basin, Upper Ferntree Gully, Wantirna, and Wantirna South.
Today Knox is home to over 150,000 people, around a quarter of whom were born overseas. We live in approximately 58,000 homes. Find out more about who we are (link to profile id) click here.
Knox is known for its natural beauty, with plentiful parks and bushland, its sport and recreation, with kilometres of bike paths and of course, shopping. There are a total of 14,000 businesses in Knox, including 5,000 home-based businesses.
Find out how to explore more of Knox in Things to Do