Shire of Moira

File:Esmond Western oxbow lake of Ovens River seen from the bridge of B400 to the north.jpg

Ovens River seen from Murray Valley Highway

Moira Shire is a local government area in the Northern Victoria Region of Victoria, Australia. Located in the north-east part of the state, it covers an area of Template:Convert. As at August 2021 the population was 30,522.<ref name=MSCAR21/> It includes the towns of Cobram, Nathalia, Numurkah and Yarrawonga.

The Shire is governed and administered by the Moira Shire Council; its seat of local government and administrative centre is located at the council headquarters in Cobram, it also has a service centre located in Yarrawonga. The Shire is named after the county of Moira, of which the LGA occupies the northern part.

History

The Shire of Moira was formed in 1994 from the amalgamation of the Shire of Cobram, Shire of Nathalia, Shire of Numurkah, Shire of Tungamah (less the Katandra district) and Shire of Yarrawonga (less the Peechelba township area).<ref name="Gazette" />

By the time of the Local Government Board's review of north-eastern Victoria earlier that year, Nathalia and Numurkah had expressed readiness to merge with each other, as had Tungamah and Yarrawonga (who were also open to a three-way merger with the Shire of Rutherglen). These four shires did not support further amalgamation, owing to concerns that travel times would be excessive, and that the irrigated farmers in the west and dryland farmers in the east did not belong in the same shire. However, the Board was ultimately persuaded by a submission from the Shire of Cobram, which proposed a merger of all five councils into a new Shire that would benefit from a diversified agricultural base and a stronger capability in dealing with the area's drainage and flooding issues.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>

In the Local Government Board's initial proposal, the Shire was to be called "Muckatah".<ref name=":0" /> This name, suggested by the Shire of Cobram,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> was taken from the locality of Muckatah situated near the geographic centre of the LGA, and the Muckatah Depression, a drainage basin extending across much of the Shire from Boomahnoomoonah (south-east of Yarrawonga) to Numurkah.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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

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

Council

Current composition

The council is composed of nine councillors elected to represent an unsubdivided municipality.<ref name=Council>Template:Cite web</ref>

In the wake of a report detailing the "preventable" murder of a senior manager, the Moira Shire council was dismissed by the Minister for Local Government, Melissa Horne on 7 March 2023. An interim administrator has been appointed.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Elections for a new council will not be held until 2028.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Administration and governance

The council meets in various locations around the Shire. It also provides customer services at both its administrative centre in Cobram and its service centre in Yarrawonga.

Townships and localities

In the 2021 census, the shire had a population of 30,522, up from 29,112 in the 2016 census.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Template:VICcity	26	31
Template:VICcity	282	229
Template:VICcity	62	76
Template:VICcity	145	167
Template:VICcity	22	14
Template:VICcity	105	108
Template:VICcity	43	42
Template:VICcity	428	512
Template:VICcity	51	42
Template:VICcity	197	241
Template:VICcity	24	24
Template:VICcity	6,014	6,148
Template:VICcity	242	232
Template:VICcity	41	41

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Template:VICcity	9	17
Template:VICcity	610	601
Template:VICcity	85	93
Template:VICcity	401	453
Template:VICcity	35	30
Template:VICcity	996	1,025
Template:VICcity	296	305
Template:VICcity	105	132
Template:VICcity	66	70
Template:VICcity	25	30
Template:VICcity^	111	98
Template:VICcity	213	170
Template:VICcity	119	138
Template:VICcity	14	20

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Template:VICcity	120	122
Template:VICcity	1,880	1,982
Template:VICcity	4,477	4,604
Template:VICcity^	184	177
Template:VICcity	33	29
Template:VICcity	207	206
Template:VICcity	9	14
Template:VICcity	132	123
Template:VICcity	1,052	1,072
Template:VICcity	24	21
Template:VICcity	408	449
Template:VICcity	23	17
Template:VICcity	390	420

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Template:VICcity	40	52
Template:VICcity	166	192
Template:VICcity	334	326
Template:VICcity	101	104
Template:VICcity	27	32
Template:VICcity	206	222
Template:VICcity	7,930	8,661
Template:VICcity	15	15
Template:VICcity	548	551
Template:VICcity	87	93
Template:VICcity	59	56
Template:VICcity	39	34
Template:VICcity	44	52

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

See also

• List of localities (Victoria)
• List of places on the Victorian Heritage Register in the Shire of Moira

External links

• Template:Commonscat-inline
• Moira 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