Shire of Colac Otway

Template:Use Australian English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox Australian place The Shire of Colac Otway is a local government area in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia, located in the south-western part of the state. It covers an area of Template:Convert and in June 2018 had a population of 21,503.<ref name=ABSLGA/> It includes the towns of Apollo Bay, Beeac, Birregurra, Colac, Cressy, Forrest, Kennett River, Lavers Hill, Warrion and Wye River.

The Shire is governed and administered by the Colac Otway Shire Council; its seat of local government and administrative centre is located at the council headquarters in Colac, it also has a service centre located in Apollo Bay.

Name

The Shire is named after the combination of the names for the former City of Colac, and Shires of Colac and Otway, from which the majority of the LGA was formed. The name Colac is used for both the main urban settlement and the lake, Lake Colac, which are located in the north-centre of the LGA. Colac is also the most populous urban centre in the LGA with a population of almost 12,000.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The name Otways is used for the major geographical features located in the south of the LGA, which are The Otways and Cape Otway. Cape Otway was originally named by Lieutenant James Grant who was the commander of the vessel, the Lady Nelson.<ref name="VPotway">Template:Cite web</ref> He named it after Captain William Otway who was one of the commissioners of the Transport Board, on 7 December 1800.<ref name="VPotway" />

History

The Colac district is the traditional land for the Gulidjan people and was known as “Kolak” or “Kolakgnat” which means ‘belonging to sand’.<ref name="COSabout">Template:Cite web</ref> The Gulidjan people are of the Easter Maar Nation.<ref name=COSabout/>

The earliest European settlers arrived in the district in the 1830s and settled around Lake Colac.<ref name="HisSocsh">Template:Cite web</ref>

The Shire of Colac Otway came into existence on 23 September 1994 through the amalgamation of the City of Colac, Shire of Colac, the bulk of the Shire of Otway and part of the Shire of Heytesbury.<ref name="Gazette" /> The Birregurra and Barwon Downs districts, historically part of the Shire of Winchelsea, were included in the new Shire as a result of their transfer to the Shire of Colac earlier in 1994.<ref name="Gazette2">Template:Cite web</ref> The name originally proposed for the Shire was "Shire of Gellibrand", after the Gellibrand River and the locality of the same name.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

File:Victoria LGAs pre- vs post-amalgamation Colac Otway.png

A map of Colac Otway Shire showing the predecessor LGAs that overlapped the area before the 1994 local government amalgamations

Council

Current composition

The council is composed of seven councillors elected to represent an unsubdivided municipality. In order of election in 2020, they are:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Ward	Party		Councillor	Notes
Unsubdivided	Template:Australian party style|	Independent	Tosh-Jake Finnigan	Elected on a countback in 2023 to replace Joe McCracken<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>|
	Template:Australian party style|	Independent	Chris Potter
	Template:Australian party style|	Independent	Graham Lesie Costin
	Template:Australian party style|	Independent	Kate Hanson
	Template:Australian party style|	Greens	Stephen Hart
	Template:Australian party style|	Independent	Jamie Bell
	Template:Australian party style|	Independent	Margaret White

Former Wards (1996–2008)

• Colac – had three councillors
• Murray – had one councillor
• Otway – had one councillor
• Warrion – had one councillor

Administration and governance

The council meets in the council chambers at the council headquarters in the Colac Municipal Offices, which is also the location of the council's administrative activities. It also provides customer services at both its administrative centre in Colac, and its service centre in Apollo Bay.

Townships and localities

The 2021 census, the shire had a population of 22,423 up from 20,972 in the 2016 census<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Template:VICcity	0	0
Template:VICcity	132	141
Template:VICcity	1,598	1,790
Template:VICcity	67	59
Template:VICcity	434	458
Template:VICcity	235	291
Template:VICcity	7	11
Template:VICcity	9	10
Template:VICcity	131	136
Template:VICcity	370	394
Template:VICcity	82	125
Template:VICcity^	828	942
Template:VICcity	62	65
Template:VICcity	15	34
Template:VICcity^	135	168
Template:VICcity^	134	115
Template:VICcity^	36	42
Template:VICcity	9,048	9,243
Template:VICcity	217	168
Template:VICcity	81	89

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Template:VICcity	161	171
Template:VICcity	310	358
Template:VICcity	115	119
Template:VICcity^	175	176
Template:VICcity	11	15
Template:VICcity^	9	10
Template:VICcity	55	77
Template:VICcity	30	28
Template:VICcity	2,900	3,260
Template:VICcity	65	43
Template:VICcity	19	13
Template:VICcity	230	257
Template:VICcity	210	230
Template:VICcity^	13	19
Template:VICcity	105	112
Template:VICcity	28	33
Template:VICcity	4	4
Template:VICcity	43	44
Template:VICcity	345	365
Template:VICcity	125	100

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Template:VICcity	76	84
Template:VICcity^	188	185
Template:VICcity	63	85
Template:VICcity	166	189
Template:VICcity	41	74
Template:VICcity	194	200
Template:VICcity	78	87
Template:VICcity	239	272
Template:VICcity	0	0
Template:VICcity	83	95
Template:VICcity	76	72
Template:VICcity^	97	93
Template:VICcity	94	101
Template:VICcity^	86	110
Template:VICcity	0	7
Template:VICcity^	113	132
Template:VICcity	19	28
Template:VICcity^	569	583
Template:VICcity	164	249

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Template:VICcity	16	19
Template:VICcity^	51	65
Template:VICcity	14	20
Template:VICcity	121	127
Template:VICcity	19	15
Template:VICcity	130	146
Template:VICcity	198	204
Template:VICcity	11	15
Template:VICcity	67	62
Template:VICcity	18	25
Template:VICcity^	1,954	2,456
Template:VICcity^	23	26
Template:VICcity	37	47
Template:VICcity	38	55
Template:VICcity	63	67
Template:VICcity	38	40
Template:VICcity	148	124
Template:VICcity	121	107
Template:VICcity	37	49

Template:Columns-end ^ - Territory divided with another LGA

See also

• List of places on the Victorian Heritage Register in the Shire of Colac Otway

External links

• Colac Otway Shire Council official website
• Colac Otway Web – Regional Web Site
• Metlink local public transport map
• Link to Land Victoria interactive maps
• Colac Otway Shire: Know Your Council
• Template:Victorian local government areas pre-1994 vs present map link