Shire of Gannawarra

The Shire of Gannawarra is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the northern part of the state. It covers an area of Template:Convert and, in August 2021 had a population of 10,683.<ref name=ABSLGA/> It includes the towns of Cohuna, Kerang, Koondrook, Leitchville and Quambatook.

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

The Shire is named after the locality of Gannawarra, roughly equidistant from the two main towns, which is in turn named for a 19th-century pastoral run.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> The underlying meaning of the name is variously given as "running water"<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> or "geese".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

History

The Shire of Gannawarra was formed in 1995 from the amalgamation of the Borough of Kerang, the vast bulk of the Shire of Kerang and Shire of Cohuna,<ref name="Gazette" /> giving the new LGA a mixed economic base – dairying country to the east of Kerang township and dryland cropping to the west.<ref name=":0" /> The Borough and Shire of Kerang advocated for the inclusion of the Shire of Gordon in the combined LGA,<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> but Gordon was staunchly opposed to a northward merger.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Gordon was instead amalgamated into the Loddon Shire.

The new LGA required a name that did not show bias towards Kerang or Cohuna.<ref name=":1" /> Under the Local Government Board's initial proposal, it was to be called the "Shire of Illoura",<ref name=":0" /> a word meaning "still waters" in an unspecified Aboriginal language that, following inquiries with local groups, was found not to be local to the area.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref> Representatives from the three municipalities agreed to put forward "Gannawarra" – the name of the pastoral run that once covered much of the eastern part of the Shire – to the Board as an alternative.<ref name=":1" />

File:Victoria LGAs pre- vs post-amalgamation Gannawarra.png

Gannawarra Shire's predecessor LGAs (green) as they were in 1994. The administrative centres of the former LGAs are marked by green dots.

Geography

The northeastern border of the shire is the Murray River. The Loddon River flows through the shire, feeding into the Murray. The Gunbower State Forest is a significant source of River Red Gum timber, supplying a historic sawmill in Koondrook. Gunbower Island is the largest inland island in the local area.<ref name="Ref_2003">Template:Cite web</ref> It is between the Murray River and the Gunbower Creek, an anabranch of the Murray.

The western part of the shire is predominantly used for cereal grain production. The north and east have significant dairying and milk processing. Tourists are attracted to the local rivers (for fishing) and lakes (for bird watching and water sports).

Council

Current composition

The council is composed of four wards and seven councillors, with three councillors elected to represent the Patchell Ward, two councillors elected to represent the Yarran Ward and one councillor per remaining ward elected to represent each of the other wards. The current council was elected in October 2020.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Ward	Party		Councillor	Notes
Avoca	Template:Australian party style|	Independent	Charlie Gillingham
Murray	Template:Australian party style|	Independent	Ross Stanton
Patchell	Template:Australian party style|	Independent	Kelvin Burt
	Template:Australian party style|	Independent	Travis Collier
	Template:Australian party style|	Independent	Jane E. Ogden
Yarran	Template:Australian party style|	Independent	Garner Smith
	Template:Australian party style|	Independent	Keith Link

Administration and governance

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

Townships and localities

In the 2021 census, the shire had a population of 10,683, up from 10,549 in the 2016 census.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Template:VICcity	11	12
Template:VICcity^	29	38
Template:VICcity	8	10
Template:VICcity^	44	44
Template:VICcity	45	56
Template:VICcity	5	0
Template:VICcity	14	14
Template:VICcity	22	16
Template:VICcity	35	54
Template:VICcity	2,428	2,415
Template:VICcity	39	36
Template:VICcity	37	57
Template:VICcity	81	99
Template:VICcity	15	14

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Template:VICcity	94	110
Template:VICcity	56	50
Template:VICcity^	15	13
Template:VICcity^	91	93
Template:VICcity	60	57
Template:VICcity	3,893	3,960
Template:VICcity	40	44
Template:VICcity	991	1,101
Template:VICcity	80	63
Template:VICcity	168	147
Template:VICcity^	23	22
Template:VICcity	151	138
Template:VICcity^	558	576

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Template:VICcity^	87	67
Template:VICcity	20	31
Template:VICcity	93	87
Template:VICcity	89	102
Template:VICcity^	20	19
Template:VICcity^	13	12
Template:VICcity	24	31
Template:VICcity	32	16
Template:VICcity	201	230
Template:VICcity	45	41
Template:VICcity	10	17
Template:VICcity	181	212
Template:VICcity	11	13

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Template:VICcity	35	34
Template:VICcity	21	19
Template:VICcity	0	4
Template:VICcity	249	229
Template:VICcity	26	26
Template:VICcity	5	9
Template:VICcity	60	54
Template:VICcity^	3	3
Template:VICcity^	11	4
Template:VICcity	104	83
Template:VICcity	69	67
Template:VICcity	35	31
Template:VICcity	26	27

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

See also

• List of places on the Victorian Heritage Register in the Shire of Gannawarra

External links

• Gannawarra Shire Council official website
• Metlink local public transport map
• Link to Land Victoria interactive maps
• Template:Victorian local government areas pre-1994 vs present map link