Shire profile
Cardinia Shire lies on Melbourne's south-eastern edge, about 55 km from the city. It takes in the fast-growing Pakenham and Officer corridor, the Dandenong Ranges hills towns such as Emerald, Cockatoo and Gembrook, and farming districts and towns around Koo Wee Rup, Bunyip and Lang Lang near Western Port.
New to these terms? Read them in plain English
- Local Government Area (LGA)
- The official area a council governs.
- Estimated Resident Population (ERP)
- The official population count for an area.
- Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)
- The national statistics agency behind population figures.
The area at a glance
- Population (ERP, 30 June 2025)
- 133,472ABS Estimated Resident Population (preliminary). The council's Budget 2026–27 cites a separate estimate of 137,278 for 2026 (from its REMPLAN population forecast) and forecasts 184,300 residents by 2041.
- Area
- 1,282.6 km²ABS. The council's draft waste strategy gives 1,280 km².
- Population density
- About 104 people per km²ABS ERP ÷ ABS area: 104.1 per km².
- Wards
- 9, with one councillor each
- Council group (LGPRF)
- Interface
- Traditional Owners
- The Bunurong and Wurundjeri peoplesAs acknowledged by the council in its draft Waste and Resource Recovery Strategy 2026–2036.
Suburbs & postcodes
- Avonsleigh3782
- Bayles3981
- Beaconsfield (part)3807
- Beaconsfield Upper3808
- Beenak (part)3139
- Bunyip3815
- Bunyip North3815
- Caldermeade3984
- Cardinia3978
- Catani3981
- Clematis3782
- Cockatoo3781
- Cora Lynn3814
- Dalmore3981
- Dewhurst3808
- Emerald (part)3782
- Garfield3814
- Garfield North3814
- Gembrook3783
- Guys Hill3807
- Heath Hill (part)3981
- Iona3815
- Koo Wee Rup3981
- Koo Wee Rup North3981
- Lang Lang (part)3984
- Lang Lang East3984
- Longwarry (part)3816
- Maryknoll3812
- Menzies Creek (part)3159
- Modella (part)3816
- Monomeith3984
- Mount Burnett3781
- Nangana3781
- Nar Nar Goon3812
- Nar Nar Goon North3812
- Nyora (part)3987
- Officer3809
- Officer South3809
- Pakenham3810
- Pakenham South3810
- Pakenham Upper3810
- Rythdale3810
- Tonimbuk3815
- Tynong3813
- Tynong North3813
- Vervale3814
- Yannathan3981
On the map
The shaded area is the official Local Government Area boundary.
The 47 localities are the official Vicmap localities with at least 5% of their area inside the ABS council boundary. Nine are shared with a neighbouring council and marked '(part)' (less than 95% inside): Beaconsfield (94% inside), Emerald (94%), Heath Hill (67%), Lang Lang (65%), Menzies Creek (43%), Modella (38%), Longwarry (19%), Nyora (12%) and Beenak (6%). Tooradin (4% inside) is left out. Postcodes come from the Crime Statistics Agency's suburb and postcode table for Cardinia, and from the Vicmap postcode layer for Tonimbuk and Beenak, which that table doesn't list. The shaded area on the map is the ABS council boundary; area and density figures use the ABS area.
Sources — check it yourself
- ABS — Regional population 2024–25, data cube 32180DS0002 Table 2 (Victoria; LGA 21450) · ERP 30 Jun 2025
- ABS — Regional population, latest release · Released Mar 2026
- Cardinia Shire Council — Budget 2026–27, June 2026 (PDF), economic assumptions (population) · 2026–27
- Cardinia Shire Council — Draft Waste and Resource Recovery Strategy 2026–2036 (PDF), acknowledgement and community profile · Feb 2026
- Victorian Electoral Commission — Cardinia Shire Council (9 single-councillor wards) · Sep 2026
- Crime Statistics Agency (CSA) — LGA Recorded Offences, Table 03 (suburb and postcode by LGA) · Jul 2025 to Jun 2026
- DataVic — Vicmap Admin locality polygons · Sep 2026
- Local Government Victoria — LGPRF 2020–2025 Full Council Data Set (council group: Interface) · 2024–25
Figures are current as at the dates shown and may change — always confirm with the linked source. See the notice at the bottom of the page for full details and how to report a correction.